The Sweet Pea Festival is right around the corner and so is its impressive slate of live performances. Legendary country group Asleep at the Wheel is among the talent and will perform in the Bowl at Lindley Park on Friday, August 5th at 8pm. Ray Benson founded Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia 46 years ago.
Now based in Austin, Texas, the band holds 10 Grammy awards, 20 studio albums, and 20 singles on the Billboard country charts with over 1.5 million records sold. Grammy Award-winning Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys is the band’s most recent release and marks their third full-length Bob Wills tribute album. Asleep at the Wheel is bringing a fresh look and sound into 2016. Now traveling as an 8-piece band, recent additions Katie Shore (fiddle, vocals), Dennis Ludiker (fiddle, mandolin) and Connor Forsyth (keyboard, vocals) have instilled a newfound energy and their own unique style within the band. Between those Texas Twin Fiddles and Boogie Piano, you can bet you’ll be dancin’ down the aisles and swingin’ all night long when the Wheel rolls into town! The musicianship of Asleep at the Wheel has become the stuff of legends. Reuter’s pegged The Wheel as “one of the best live acts in the business.”
Taking a page from Bob Wills’ book, the band has constantly toured at a national level throughout its history with anywhere from 7-15 of the finest players Ray Benson could talk into jumping in the bus to play a string of dates. The alumni roster is well over 80+ members, and includes an impressive list of musicians who have gone on to perform with artists such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Lyle Lovett, Ryan Adams, and many more. A quick scan of awards, such as “Touring Band of the Year” (CMAs, 1976) and “Lifetime Achievement in Performance” (Americana Music Awards 2009), not to mention near dominance of the Grammy “Country Instrumental” category over the years, reflects the reputation of the band’s musicianship. Ray Benson fell in love with western swing because of its unique combination of elements of American blues, swing and traditional fiddling but also for its demanding musical chops. Western swing is what Benson calls “jazz with a cowboy hat,” is a thrill to hear live, and thanks in large part to the Wheel’s 40 years of promotion, is a living and creative genre of music today.
For a complete list of performances, further festival information, or to pre-purchase wristbands to the 2016 Sweet Pea Festival, visit sweetpeafestival.org/. •
