Lutcher Theater kicks off its 42nd Season with 10-time Grammy Award winner, country music legends Asleep at the Wheel. Asleep at the Wheel Coming Right At Ya! Celebrating 50 Years Of Music tour will stop in Orange on Saturday, October 16, 2021, at 7:30 pm. Tickets for the live music event range from $35 to $55 and are available online at Lutcher.org. Call the Lutcher Theater Box Office at 409.886.5535 for more information or to purchase tickets.
With a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Music Association, 31 albums & over 20 singles on the country charts, frontman Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel have sustained a thriving career and entertained fans for more than five decades! It’s no wonder Billboard commented on the band’s catalog most succinctly, “Everything this act has ever released is simply spectacular.” With a fresh new lineup and the release of their latest album, “New Routes,” the band won’t be slowing down anytime soon!
The musicianship of Asleep at the Wheel has come to be the stuff of legends. They were pegged by Reuters as “One of the best live acts in the business.” Throughout its history, the band has become a national touring phenomenon. The band’s roster of alumni numbers over 100 and includes an impressive list of musicians who have gone on to perform with artists such as Bob Dylan, George Strait, Van Morrison, Lyle Lovett, Merle Haggard, and many more.
Most recently, Asleep at the Wheel has been invigorated by a fresh new lineup and the release of “New Routes,” their latest album that is a bracing blend of original songs and vibrant cover material along with some unanticipated new musical tangents. Asleep at the Wheel has demonstrated convincingly, that they are more relevant, enjoyable, and musically nimble than at any time in its 50-year history. The 6’7″ Ray Benson has been the constant in Asleep at the Wheel since 1970. He notes, “I’ve been told that I’m relentless, so I guess I am.. I’m just doing what I believe I’m meant to do – I’m singing and playing and writing better than I ever have. My role and concept of leading a band have never changed, it’s gathering the best musicians I can find or convince to play to the best of their ability, and I just try and make the best decisions possible and rock every night onstage. I’ve made it this far and don’t feel like I or the band will be slowing down anytime soon.”
Asleep at the Wheel and Ray Benson have been the chief practitioners, conspirators, and caretakers of Western swing, carrying the torch lit by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys well into the 21st century, influencing their contemporaries as well as the next generation of artists inspired by the great bandleader. Their bearing of the western swing torch has yielded three Bob Wills tribute albums: “A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills,” “Ride with Bob,” and “Still the King.” These records have won multiple Grammy Awards and have featured a wide range of musical guests including such veterans as George Strait, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, The Manhattan Transfer, Merle Haggard, Huey Lewis, and Garth Brooks as well as young roots artists like The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show and Amos Lee.
