Music Review – Asleep at the Wheel – Half a Hundred Years

Celebrating the golden anniversary of the seminal Texas swing band Asleep at the Wheel by listening to their latest release appropriately titled Half a Hundred Years, a record featuring Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, George Strait, Lee Ann Womack, Lyle Lovett, and more!

Founded by suburban-Philly native Ray Benson back in 1970, Asleep at the Wheel has been a part of the American roots music landscape for more than 50 years. The band got its start on a farm in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but it wasn’t until they moved down to Austin, Texas in 1973 that their Western swing and honky-tonk country found its voice. Critical acclaim and numerous recognition (in the form of 10 Grammy Awards) followed as they have continued to cut it up in live performances and carved out a special musical niche for traditional music staple for five decades.

From day one, Benson and Asleep at the Wheel set out to bear a torch and carry the roots of American popular music into the future. Fifty years later, and they’re still walking that same road. This is most evident in their cover of Bob Wills’ classic “Take Me Back To Tulsa,” the first Bob Wills song Asleep at the Wheel recorded way back in 1972. This time around, the band is joined by fellow Bob Wills and Western Swing aficionados, George Strait and Willie Nelson. Benson jokes, “To me it doesn’t get more Texan than George, Willie, and Asleep at the Wheel doin’ a Bob Wills classic!” And he’s not wrong, though Asleep at the Wheel doing their classic “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read” with Lee Ann Womack—the very next track on Half A Hundred Years—is a close contender. Additionally, three original members of Asleep at the Wheel—Chris O’Connell, Leroy Preston, and Lucky Oceans—returned after forty years to lend their voices and musicianship to a number of tracks on the record.

Another stand out track (among the many found here) is “There You Go Again” with an assist from Lyle Lovett, another genre-defying Texas legend and a few classics like “Miles and Miles of Texas,” “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” and “The Road Will Hold Me Tonight” (with Emmylou Harris & Willie joining in the proceedings) thrown in for good measure.

All in all, it’s been a tremendous ‘half a hundred years’ – Here’s hopin’ for ‘half a hundred’ more!