The Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College welcomes the return of Asleep at the Wheel, Aug. 15
Durango, CO – Asleep at the Wheel, the Grammy-awarding winning band revered for sustaining Texas-based Western Swing, returns to the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. The dance floor will be open.
Since the early ‘70s, the Wheel has been the most important force in Western swing – a mix of big band, country and dance music popularized in the 1930s and 1940s by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. Formed out of reverence for Wills’ freewheeling, eclectic sensibility, Asleep at the Wheel and founder Ray Benson are said to have boldly defied the fickle lures of mainstream – and thrived – by keeping the distinctly American art form of Western Swing alive and kicking.
“I think Bob Wills is one of the iconic figures of popular music – one of the people who set the standard in the way we do music today,” Benson said in an interview with CBS “Sunday Morning.”
Typically featuring 8-11 musicians, the group has gone through myriad personnel changes (nearly 100 members have passed through the ranks), but the larger-than-life, 6’7″ frontman Ray Benson has held the band together, keeping Asleep at the Wheel a viable recording and touring concern, maintaining devotion to classic-style Western swing.
Core members currently touring are Benson (lead guitar, vocals), Jason Roberts (fiddle, guitar, mandolin and vocals), David Sanger (drums), David Earl Miller (base, vocals), Dan Walton (piano), Elizabeth McQueen (acoustic guitar and vocals) and Eddie Rivers (steel guitar, sax).
Benson formed Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia in 1970, playing straight-ahead country, but soon shifted to Western Swing, thanks to influences from Merle Haggard and Commander Cody, and moved the band’s base to Austin. Hit singles followed, including “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie,” “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read,” and “One O’Clock Jump.”
The nine-time Grammy award winning band has also been named “Best Country & Western Band” by Rolling Stone, as well as “Touring Band of the Year” by the Academy of Country Music.
Regarding the Wheel’s most recent release It’s A Good Day, which features Leon Rausch (then 82 years young) who performed with Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, Mario Tarradell of The Dallas Morning News wrote, “The musicianship is stellar… expertly produced by the Wheel’s unflappable leader, Ray Benson… What’s not to like? Here’s further proof that down in Austin, Benson keeps Wills’ legacy spit-polished.”
The band’s name is derived from the expression “asleep at the wheel” referencing falling asleep while driving a vehicle – or someone who is blissfully unaware of a dangerous situation.
View the Wheel’s performance of the classic song “Route 66” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6alMntvDZB8&feature=related.
Tickets for Asleep at the Wheel – $25/$32 – are available on the web at www.durangoconcerts.com or by calling 970.247.7657, or visit the ticket office at 7th and Main Ave. in Downtown Durango.
Showtime is 7:30 p.m., with doors to the Concert Hall and concessions, serving beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages and snacks, opening at 6:30 p.m.
The Community Concert Hall is a not-for-profit, multi-use performance venue located on the campus of Fort Lewis College. Its ability to bring a diverse spectrum of shows to Southwest Colorado is made possible through a partnership with the college, a state-supported, independent institution of higher education, and through financial and in-kind contributions from generous members of the community.
