Asleep at the Wheel
Bands / Ensembles
Asleep at the Wheel (1970–present) is an Western swing band formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and based since the 1970s in Austin, Texas. Guitarist and singer Ray Benson and steel guitarist Lucky Oceans, both from Philadelphia, started the band in January 1970 with LeRoy Preston, Rob Silver and Danny Levin, and singer and guitarist Chris O'Connell soon joined. The band moved to Oakland, California, in 1971 and then settled in Austin around 1973 / 74, where it played early episodes of the public television series Austin City Limits. Its 1978 album Collision Course included its first Grammy-winning recording, a version of Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump." The band has had more than 80 members over the years, with Benson the only constant.
In the newsletter
- No. 6 Winter 1996