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Asleep at the Wheel are celebrating 50 years in the business with their latest album out this week, “Riding High in Texas.”
Longtime frontman Ray Benson joined Texas Standard to talk about the band’s legacy and the music of the Lone Star State in this extended version of a conversation that first aired in June.
The full transcript of this episode of Texas Standard is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
David Brown [00:00:00] It’s the Texas Standard. I’m David Brown. You’ve heard of bracket competitions, right? Well, back in March, the one we were taking bets on here at the Standard was our very own March Music Madness Bracket and the theme was the best song about Texas. I won’t tell you who won, you’ll have to go to TexasStandard.org for that, but I had no doubt from the outset who’d be in the final round, a little old Grammy award-winning band now celebrating five decades playing music in the Lone Star State called Asleep at the Wheel. Today, the wheel keeps on rolling and coming out of the gate, the first single from an all-new album, ten of their favorite Texas tunes wrapped into a package called “Riding High in Texas.”
Song clip [00:00:44] Let the Lone Star take you, we’ll go riding high in Texas We’ll ride so high in texas We’ll be riding high and taking you past in my mind
David Brown [00:01:01] It is my high honor indeed to welcome back the leader of Asleep at the Wheel, a musician’s musician raconteur without equal, a literal voice you hear at the Alamo, and a longtime friend of the big broadcast, the one and only Ray Benson. Congratulations on the new record, sir!
Ray Benson [00:01:17] Thank you. I’ve been talking about doing this for about 30 years and then finally I said well come on we’re a Texas band that’s what we’re known as. Let’s do a Texas song. And we didn’t want to do just the eyes of Texas and all you know your standard stuff so let’s just pick so the the criteria was does it have the word Texas in it
David Brown [00:01:37] Yeah, I know that you know in fact before we get a little taste of the first single brother Ray I got to ask you straight the ten best Texas songs you steal this idea from us? Did you steal? No, I know you didn’t. You got some tested crowd pleasers on this, “T for Texas,” “All my exes…”
Song clip [00:01:57] All my exes live in Texas Texas is a place I dearly love
David Brown [00:02:11] Your list, though, is more eclectic than our list. How’d you narrow down that canon of Texas songs? You said, you jokingly said that, uh, you know, you were looking for anything with Texas in the title, but there’s some here without Texas in title. Beaumont Rag’s one of my favorite on this.
Ray Benson [00:02:26] Right, well, yeah, for instance, Beaumont Rag, I have to explain that Beaumont Rag was actually a hit for Bob Wills, and in the fiddle world, it’s one of the standard, standard, standard fiddle tunes. And so that’s one reason why we did that. And of course, it’s about Beaumont. But more than that, it is a song that really defies Texas fiddling, which, for those of you who don’t know it, is a subgenre of… Fiddle playing you know and a very popular one one of the main ones it’s not the main one
David Brown [00:03:11] You got a new singer now and you’re 50 years on the road and on the record with Asleep at the Wheel. How many players have passed through that entourage of yours?
Ray Benson [00:03:20] Somewhere about a hundred, you know, is that true for real? Absolutely. No, there’s we have the list and Listen, first of all, it’s 55 years. Some have passed away number of them. Listen, Tony Garnier. He’s been with Bob Dylan now 35 years. Larry Franklin. He’s in Nashville on everybody’s record including the new Post Malone record We’ve got you know junior Brown people don’t even realize junior was in Asleep at the Wheel. I mean so It’s been an incredible experience, you know, to have these incredible people.
David Brown [00:03:54] I’ve got my signed copy of Willie and the Wheel on the wall above my stereo, Ray. One of the things I know you like to do is collaborate. And I saw you’ve got some pretty amazing collaborations going on here too. Who’s that on the title track?
Ray Benson [00:04:08] The title track is a Peter Rowan song, and I called up my pal Billy Strings, who’s such a great guitar player, because that’s the kind of guitar that I’m not the best at, which I call, you know, almost bluegrass. Yeah, and who’s the best today? I think Billy String, so I called Billy up. I had just appeared with Billy in one of his videos, and so he’s been a great friend.
David Brown [00:04:33] Well, he’s the hottest thing at the moment.
Ray Benson [00:05:03] Ha ha ha, yeah!
David Brown [00:05:05] And you’ve got a lot of love out here too.
Ray Benson [00:05:07] Yeah, Lyle Lovett. Our neighbor, again, you know, he lives in Austin for the most part now. And so Lyle, and we did this song, I’m a Long Tall Texan. Well, of course I am.
Song clip [00:05:24] Well, I’m a long, tall Texan, I ride a big white horse.
Song clip [00:05:33] He rides from Texas on the big white horse
Song clip [00:05:37] I’m a long tall Texan I ride a big white horse
Song clip [00:05:44] He rides from Texas on a big white horse
Song clip [00:05:48] People look at me, yeah, they say
Song clip [00:05:52] Oh Ray, oh Ray, is that your horse?
Ray Benson [00:05:57] And Lyle had recorded it with, um, Randy Newman many years ago. And he heard we were doing it. He said, Hey, you want me to do the answer part? I said, Oh, hell.
David Brown [00:06:07] That’s great, that’s great. You know, Ray, I had an experience as a kid where I got to meet one of my musical heroes And I asked him what’s the best song he’d recommend that someone like me probably wouldn’t know and He sized me up for a minute and said you ever heard of Vanda and Young? Vanda& Young and I said no, he said try Friday on my mind and that was a really cool experience. Now here I am talking with another music legend named Ray Benson, and I want to ask you a similar question. What’s the best song about Texas that most folks probably wouldn’t know but should?
Ray Benson [00:06:42] You know, of course, the one I say normally is our state song, Texas, Our Texas.
David Brown [00:06:48] Be surprised how many people don’t know that, yeah, that’s right.
Ray Benson [00:06:51] Yeah, but although I was in a show the other night, because I make a joke, you know, but let me answer your question. Of the older variety, you know, beautiful, beautiful Texas written by W.E.O. Daniel, our crooked governor. W. E. O. Daniel. It’s a wonderful song where the beautiful blue bonnets grow. I’m proud of our forefathers who fought at the Alamo.
Song clip [00:07:15] We’ll live on the plains or the mountains, or down where the sea breezes blow. And you’ll feel a beautiful lesson, the most beautiful face that we know.
Ray Benson [00:07:30] That’s a great old one. I would… No, see, because they all know the George Strait ones. I can’t say Amarillo By Morning, but yeah, it’s a great song. I think the Ernest Tubb, there’s a little bit of everything in Texas.
Song clip [00:07:47] There are forty-seven states around it And each of them have treasures of their own And everything they boast of I sure found it But we’ve got them all right here at home
David Brown [00:08:08] Ooh, I like that. That’s a great selection, yeah, for sure. Best song you’ve ever done, Ray. I mean, with all these years with Wheel, I mean is there one that you’re proudest of, maybe one you never get tired of playing?
Ray Benson [00:08:22] Uh… That i sang or that I produced?
David Brown [00:08:24] Well, I’ll tell you what, it sounds like you’ve got something else in mind that you didn’t sing.
Ray Benson [00:08:30] Yeah, one of the one of the greatest cuts that I ever did was a Cindy Walker song. And I know you know who Cindy.
David Brown [00:08:35] One of the greatest Texas songwriters ever from Mejia, Texas.
Ray Benson [00:08:40] That’s right. And she wrote a song called Going Away Party, which was her tribute to Bob Wills, actually. She wrote it. And I cut it with Asleep at the Wheel, Willie Nelson, and the Manhattan Transfer. Wow. What a lineup. And it is a big production. It’s got, obviously, four singers and Willie, Asleep at the Wheel. It is, it’s gorgeous.
Song clip [00:09:11] Don’t worry They won’t be allowed a party
Song clip [00:09:22] I feel too low to get too high party
Song clip [00:09:41] For a dream that I’m tellin’ goodbye
Ray Benson [00:09:55] My favorite that I actually sang…
David Brown [00:09:58] Is there one that you do on stage that’s like, I’d never get tired of this? I could play this all night.
Ray Benson [00:10:02] Yeah, the Guy Clark. Dublin Blues.
David Brown [00:10:05] Dublin Blues. That’s the one in the Chili Parlor Bar, right? That’s correct.
Ray Benson [00:10:08] Yeah, right.
David Brown [00:10:09] Every time I go in, I think of that song.
Ray Benson [00:10:12] One of the greatest songs ever written and I get to sing it live and it’s, it’s very low key. So, you know, and I did the other day, I did it at DelFest, which is outdoor Bluegrass Festival. It’s a very slow, very, very intense song and they quiet down and listen. It’s got that effect on people.
Song clip [00:10:33] Well I wish I was in Austin A chilly part of bar, drinking mad dog margaritas and not caring where you are. But here I am in Dublin, uh-huh rolling cigarettes and holding back and choking back the shakes with every breath
David Brown [00:11:11] I feel like you’re doing a lot of looking in the rear-view mirror with this one. This isn’t a best-of package, but for all the fun here, it seems like you are taking stock of the Texas you’ve traveled. What’s on your mind, Ray?
Ray Benson [00:11:25] Exactly, you know, I wasn’t born here, even though in the song it says, I’ve been to Texas since my birth. I just say, I’ve been to texas since my rebirth. I’ve been here 53 years. You and I both know Texas is so many different things and it’s such a huge topic that I’m just proud to have been accepted as a Texas musician and as a Texas citizen.
David Brown [00:12:08] It means a lot to you, I know you were really proud of becoming the voice at the Alamo and who wouldn’t be, but you know, that’s quite an honor right there.
Ray Benson [00:12:18] Absolutely, you know, and to tell the whole story and to tell the story of Texas to me is the story of this incredible country that became a state of this country. But it is so many things, the immigrant experience of everybody from my people to Germans, Czechs, Mexicanos, every Scottish Irish. It’s this incredible tapestry of beautiful cultures.
David Brown [00:12:48] I know the album doesn’t come out for a few more weeks, I listened to a preview of it last night though, put it on in the truck and when I pulled into the driveway, I pulled back out so I could get back on the road and keep listening. This is an album that seems like it was tailor-made for road tripping. You do that on purpose?
Ray Benson [00:13:13] It’s just the way it goes, I guess, because I’m on the road all the time. I understand that thing. And so when we’re driving down the road, I know what you want because I am there all the time.
David Brown [00:13:22] What is it about certain music that just sort of makes it just perfect for a drive?
Ray Benson [00:13:27] Well, part of it is the tempo, and the other, you know, it’s just got a moving tempo that moves you, that’s all I’m saying. You know, I’ve been doing our song, Get Your Kicks on Route 66, the same thing. That’s what it’s all about. You get in the car and drive, well, you got the scenery, and you got your radio. You know nowadays, the radio is larger than life. There’s plugs, the blogosphere, there’s the satellite, there is a terrestrial radio. And so you’ve got this whole soundtrack of what’s going by. It’s like a movie to me, and the movie needs a soundtrack.
David Brown [00:14:22] As I was listening last night, I thought, I sure hope there’s a volume two. Would you do it?
Ray Benson [00:14:29] Absolutely. It’s not like there’s a lack of them. That was our problem. I mean we didn’t do any of the ones. We didn’t my song Boogie Back to Texas. We did Miles and Miles of Texas. We did do so many of the songs. You know the other day we recreated the Red Headed Stranger album on stage up in Garland, Texas. And of course all of those songs could be Obviously conceived could be good considered Texas.
David Brown [00:14:59] The first single tell us a little bit about it. Maybe we can listen to it on the way out here
Ray Benson [00:15:06] Gotta go, I got Texas in my soul. Willie Nelson, it’s Ernest Hubb recorded. Basically it’s just a list of Texas cities. The rest of the world ain’t worth a pound of good old Texas earth. I mean, those are great chauvinistic lines. We certainly wanna continue to perpetuate that. Everything’s bigger in Texas, absolutely. We really wanna overstate the obvious.
Song clip [00:15:33] Amarillo, San Antonio, any old place I call my home. I gotta go, I got Texas in my soul. Dallas, Fort Worth, San Angelo, Houston, Austin, or El Paso. I gotta Go, I Got Texas in My Soul.
David Brown [00:15:52] The forthcoming Asleep at the Wheel album is Riding High in Texas. It features Lyle Lovett, Billy Strings, comes out on August 22nd, and the first single, Texas In My Soul, drops today. We’re going to have all the links that they’ll let us put up over at TexasStandard.org. We’ll have an extended version of our conversation there, too. This new record is a blast. Ray Benson, thanks so much for sharing some of your time with us on the Texas Standard.
Ray Benson [00:16:17] Thank you, Dave. We’re gonna head up to where we started filming the video of Riding High in Texas, so that’ll be out in a little bit, so watch out. Can’t wait for it.
Song clip [00:16:56] Corpus Christi del Rio, west of the Pagel, said, oh, Waco, I gotta go, I got Texas in my soul. Sweetwater, Beaumont, Wichita Falls, Port Arthur, Brownsville, I hear you call, I gotta go. I got texas in my sole. Where the tumbleweeds are growing. I know it’s there that I’ll be going with this day I’ve been to Texas since my birth No place like it on this earth I gotta go I got Texas in my soul I’ve been a tech
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
