Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson on Keeping the Texas Band Alive, Alert and Swinging for 50 Years
Chris Willman Music Writer“It’s just a number,” says Ray Benson, waxing modest about a couple of big ones that are arriving this year for himself and his group, “but as you know, being in the business, publicists need something to hang their hat on.” Then again, honoring significant round numbers feels appropriate for someone who invented the Wheel — Asleep at the Wheel, that is, the progressive Western-swing group that will be commemorating its 50th anniversary with an all-star show, God and vaccinations willing, in Austin in the fall of 2021.Benson, meanwhile — seemingly a native Texan, but who really came to Austin by way of California, by way of his truly native Philly — will be celebrating his 70th birthday on March 16.