LOVINGTON, N.M. — After almost 40 years on the road and after performing in Europe and from the east coast to the west coast in Canada and America, the iconic western swing band Asleep at the Wheel will roll into Lovington on Thursday, July 2.

Continuing the grueling schedule he started in the 1970s, AATW founder Ray Benson will pull the band out of the county seat late that Thursday night to go on and perform in Woodward, Okla., on July 3, at Gruene Hall in New Brunsfels, Texas, on July 4, and in Tuskee, Calif., on July 5.

Wildly successful at keeping Bob Wills’ western swing music alive, Benson says, “Every time that I figured I was going to quit, we’d have a wonderful, incredible show where the people were so appreciative that we were doing this music that it’s like, ‘Well, this beats working, so why not keep doing it?’”
And after dozens of AATW albums, the CDs just keep coming year after year.

This year, 2009, the band released “Willie and the Wheel,” the work of a legendary Texas artist and a groundbreaking and enduring band.

Over the years Benson has continued to reinvent the band, having over 80 different musicians and singers in AATW’s long life.

In addition, Benson created a stage play called “A Ride With Bob,” that quickly became a huge hit across the country. It was first performed at the State Theater in Austin in 2005, the centennial for Bob Wills’ birthday. Reviewers called the show a “raucous, spirited and joyous as the music that inspired it.” The New York Post said the play was “the most entertaining night in Texas.”

The play includes performances of Wills’ most famous songs, including “San Antonio Rose,” “Faded Love” and “Take Me Back to Tulsa.”

Benson is not a native Texan, having been born in Philadelphia in 1951, but he has now lived most of his life in the Lone Star State.

Benson says of his career, “My goal was to be more different than anybody, and that’s what Asleep at the Wheel was all about: doing roots music that was different and eclectic.” Benson says, “We’re a dance band. That’s what we’re about. And that’s plenty.”

AATW has toured with many different groups and individuals, including with Bob Dylan in 2004. From those experiences Benson has come to terms with the band’s success and what makes him happy as a musician and singer.

“This is improvisational music, which I think is the whole ball of wax,” he says, “because that’s where the rubber really meets the road -and it’s why we play it.”

The Lovington street dance is one of six summer music concerts put on by the Lea County Museum and sponsored by several local businesses and a generous grant from the J. F Maddox Foundation in Hobbs.

Opening for AATW will be the acclaimed West Texas country and cowboy band Knights of the West from Levelland.

The concert will be held on the Lea County stage on Love Street on the east side of the courthouse on the town square in Lovington. There will be some concession stands.

There is no charge for this free concert.

Folks should bring lawn chairs, unless they plan on dancing the entire night and never sitting down.

For more information, call the museum at 575-396-4805.

« Top »