Asleep at The Wheel is set to play the historic Cains Ballroom this Friday night at 7pm.
The nine-time Grammy Award winning band fronted by lead singe Ray Benson has been entertaining country and western swing music fans since 1969. They have released some 20 albims and placed some twenty singles on the Billboard country music charts over their 40 years. The band has appeared ten times on the PBS music program Austin City Limits and were voted as the Best Country Western band in 1977 by Rolling Stone magazine. They have opened for a number of acts, including an improbable opening for Alice Cooper, over the years.
During the band’s lifetime they have made commercials, produced soundtracks for movies, and performed with several names in music like the Dixie Chicks, and have opened for other acts like Bob Dylan and George Strait. Ray Benson has brought together artists like Dwight Yoakam, Oklahoma’s own Vince Gill, and Willie Nelson to record a tribute to Bob Wills, the recognized pioneer of the western swing music genre.
The band takes it’s roots in western swing music seriously. In addition to featuring many songs written by Bob Wills in their set, it’s not for nothing that their current tour is taking them into one of the storied venues made famous by Bob and the Texas Playboys. Asleep at The Wheel even celebrated the 100th birthday of Bob Wills by creating a play called "A Ride with Bob" which features Benson, playing himself, boarding a bus to Tulsa to play a show and encountering the spirit of Bob Wills during the trip.
The doors of the Cain’s Ballroom will open at 7pm and the show will start at 7:45 with the opening act The Round Up Boys. Tockets are available at protix.com right now for $23 each or at the door for $26. The show is billed as an "all ages" show.