Asleep at the Wheel celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2021 and the band is still going strong. Frontman, bandleader, and singer Ray Benson has been there from the beginning and will be for the foreseeable future. Recently, Benson sat down with American Songwriter to discuss what that future looks like and revealed that he has a solo reggae album on the way.
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At the top of the conversation, Benson revealed the secret to the band’s longevity. “When people ask me ‘What’s your secret?’ I tell them, ‘Don’t quit. Just keep going.’ If what you’re doing is quality it’ll survive and become popular again or at least recognized if not popular.”
Benson went on to say that he and Asleep at the Wheel plan to do just that.
Ray Benson on the Future of Asleep at the Wheel
Benson said that he and the band have a loose plan for the coming years. “We’re going to keep playing, obviously. We have a three-year plan to continue to tour. At the end of three years, we’ll look at the state of things,” he said. The band will, “probably cut back on the touring but not on the playing,” after that three-year period.
“The technologies and the acceptance of the technologies, I think are going to take a quantum leap three years from now and I don’t know that we’ll touring as much, but I think we’ll be performing as much in different ways. So that’s what I’m envisioning,” Benson said. He went on to explain that touring continues to get harder to do.
Due to regulations and limitations on CDL holders, Asleep at the Wheel employs two drivers to helm their tour bus. Gone are the days when Benson could hop behind the wheel and drive through the night to make the next tour stop. “I can’t drive [the bus] anymore. I don’t want to and I shouldn’t,” he said.
The conversation turned to pandemic-era streaming concerts. Benson said that’s likely the direction the band will be going. However, he knows that will never truly replace a live show.
“One band standing onstage playing to an audience is a whole other thing. The human effect of one human to the other, whatever that is, will still be the gold standard for performance. But, just the cost of travel makes ticket prices so ridiculous that those will be for special occasions.”
A Solo Reggae Record Is Coming
Benson revealed that he and Tony Garnier, Bob Dylan’s current bassist and former member of Asleep at the Wheel went to Jamaica to work on a reggae record together. “Tony and me went down with Sly Dunbar (Sly and Robbie) and three really great older ska and reggae musicians and cut a Ray Benson reggae album. Lucky Oceans played steel on it. It’s really cool,” he said, with a note of pride in his deep voice.
Benson also shared a little about the tracklist of the album. It will include reggae versions of classics like “On the Road Again,” “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,” and Asleep at the Wheel’s “Boogie Back to Texas,” among others. The collection will also contain covers of a few Bob Marley songs. They even combined Theophilus Beckford’s “Easy Snappin’” with Marley’s “Easy Skankin’” for the album.
“That’s another little area that I’ve always wanted to do that I’m getting to do,” Benson said of the album.
“Having Sly Dunbar was a dream come true. It was really cool,” he said of the famed Jamaican drummer. Dunbar isn’t the only special guest Benson has on the album. He also enlisted Willie Nelson and Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Allman Brother Band) to play guitar on the album.
When asked about a release date for the project, Benson jokingly said “When it’s done,” before noting that he’s hoping for a fall release.
Featured Image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for A+E Networks
