Nine-time Grammy award-winners Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel’s newest Bob Wills tribute album, Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, is out now on Bismeaux Records.
The critically acclaimed album debuted at #1 most added at Americana Radio, #1 country album on Amazon and #9 country album on iTunes. Yesterday, the group performed on “Late Show with David Letterman.”
Currently on a full U.S. tour, the band confirms additional summer dates including a performance at Bob Wills Day in Turkey, TX on April 25 and at Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic in Austin, TX. See full tour dates and track listing below. Tickets for select shows are available at asleepatthewheel.com/tour.
For Record Store Day on April 18, the band is releasing a limited edition signed 7” with new bonus tracks from the album: “New Spanish Two Step” with Willie Nelson and “The Devil Ain’t Lazy” with The Blind Boys of Alabama. The full album is available via PledgeMusic, Amazon and iTunes.
The album features genre-spanning collaborations with critically acclaimed artists, old friends and new favorites including Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Merle Haggard, George Strait, The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lyle Lovett, Kat Edmonson, Robert Earl Keen and Tommy Emmanuel, among many others.
The album features genre-spanning collaborations with critically acclaimed artists, old friends and new favorites including Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Merle Haggard, George Strait, The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lyle Lovett, Kat Edmonson, Robert Earl Keen and Tommy Emmanuel, among many others.
“The idea was to get people who were contemporary artists to play the Bob Wills music the way that we play it, which is close to the original,” says Ray Benson, frontman of Asleep at the Wheel. “We don’t resurrect it, we play close to it, with our own inspiration.”
For over 40 years, Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel have been the chief practitioners, conspirators and caretakers of Western swing, carrying Wills’ traditions well into the 21st century, reaching both their contemporaries and the next generation of artists inspired by the great bandleader. This album marks the band’s third full-length Bob Wills tribute album following 1999’s Ride with Bob and 1993’s A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills, with four Grammy awards and over 500,000 copies sold collectively.
Owned by Ray Benson, Bismeaux Records has won “Best Local Record Label” three years consecutively in the Austin Music Awards. Between 2005 and 2012, Ray Benson wrote, produced and starred in the Bob Wills musical A Ride With Bob. The production sold 70,000 tickets in 18 cities nationwide including the Kennedy Center in 2006. In 2007, Benson performed with Carrie Underwood & Johnny Gimble on the Grammy Awards Telecast in a special Grammy Salute to Bob Wills.
Tour dates:
For over 40 years, Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel have been the chief practitioners, conspirators and caretakers of Western swing, carrying Wills’ traditions well into the 21st century, reaching both their contemporaries and the next generation of artists inspired by the great bandleader. This album marks the band’s third full-length Bob Wills tribute album following 1999’s Ride with Bob and 1993’s A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills, with four Grammy awards and over 500,000 copies sold collectively.
Owned by Ray Benson, Bismeaux Records has won “Best Local Record Label” three years consecutively in the Austin Music Awards. Between 2005 and 2012, Ray Benson wrote, produced and starred in the Bob Wills musical A Ride With Bob. The production sold 70,000 tickets in 18 cities nationwide including the Kennedy Center in 2006. In 2007, Benson performed with Carrie Underwood & Johnny Gimble on the Grammy Awards Telecast in a special Grammy Salute to Bob Wills.
Tour dates:
April 16 Dallas, TX Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
April 17 Kansas City, MO Knuckleheads
April 18 Iola, KS Bowlus Fine Arts & Cultural Center
April 25 Turkey, TX Bob Wills Day
April 25 Roscoe, TX The Lumberyard
April 30 New Braunfels, TX Gruene Hall
May 1 New Braunfels, TX Gruene Hall
May 2 Spring, TX The Centrum
May 9 Canadian, TX Canadian River Music Fest
May 15 Angels Camp, CA Calaveras County Fair
May 16 Grass Valley, CA Center for the Arts
May 17 San Francisco, CA Slim’s
May 18 Napa, CA City Winery
May 20 Santa Cruz, CA Rio Theatre
May 23 Bakersfield, CA Bakersfield Rockin’ Country Festival
May 25 Phoenix, AZ Musical Instrument Museum
May 29 Alto, NM Spencer Theater for P.A.
May 30 Taos, NM KTAOS Solar Center
June 12 Austin, TX Republic of Texas Motorcycle Rally
June 20 Eldon, MO Shawnee Buff Winery
June 21 Bloomington, IL The Castle Theater
June 22 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
June 25 Ridgefield, CT The Ridgefield Playhouse
June 26 Sellersville, PA Sellersville Theater
July 4 Austin, TX Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic
July 16 Stephenville, TX Texstar Ford Summer Nights
August 22 Nicasio, CA Rancho Nicasio
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