Photo by Gabriel Pérez
All this week, the Song of the Day highlights ACL Fest 2016 artists.
Nothing quite captures the Austin Music Experience in the same outspoken way Ray Benson does. On Willie Nelson’s recommendation, Benson and his band Asleep At the Wheel relocated from Philadelphia to Austin in 1974 where the group has since accrued nine Grammy awards over the course of their four-decade career. While Benson has always remained at the front of Asleep At the Wheel’s momentum across an ever-changing lineup (while also collaborating with a bevy of other musicians), his efforts as a solo artist have only been deeply explored in more recent years.
Following his 1991 single, “Four Score and Seven Beers Ago,” Benson released his first solo full-length, Beyond Time in 2003, establishing his powerful songwriting presence outside of the Wheel. Years later and now an influential board member of The SIMS Foundation, HAAM, and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation (the latter two of which he founded), Benson stopped by the KUTX tent backstage at Austin City Limits for an intimate performance of the title track from his 2014 sophomore solo album, A Little Piece.
Catch Asleep At The Wheel at ACL Fest 2016:
*Friday, Oct 7, 12:15 p.m. – 1 p.m., Honda Stage
–Jack Anderson // host, Saturdays 6-10 a.m., producer, SoundCheck