The legendary Ray Benson, founder and singer-songwriter for Asleep at the Wheel, stopped by Studio 1A on Thursday, February 11th, and shared some of his music and plenty of musings from his 40 plus year career . A career that includes 10 Grammy awards with the Wheel countless colaboration with talented musicians such as Willie Nelson, Aaron Watson, Merle Haggard and has also gone on to tour with George Strait, Bob Dylan and Dwight Yoakam. Benson has been quite the anomaly, a Jewish native from Philadelphia, has had one of the most successful careers in the Texas country music scene, having been named Texan of the Year (2011), Texas Musician of the Year (2004) and now hosts the Texas Music Scene. Needless to say, Benson’s impact has been huge, his latest project, Still the King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, received glowing reviews as well as his latest solo album, A Little Piece.
Ray will be performing tonight, February 13th, at The Cactus Cafe to commemorate his memoir, Comin’ Right at Ya: How a Jewish Yankee Hippie Went Country, or, the Often Outrageous History of Asleep at the Wheel, so make sure to get tickets while you can. You can also stream his music here on KUTX.
-Andrew Conroy
