Correspondent Tom Wilmer met up with music legend, Ray Benson in his tour bus between sets at the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Music Festival in Bristol, Virginia this past September. Come along and join the conversation with Ray Benson.
In 1969, Ray Benson and Lucky Oceans (Reuben Gosfield) co-founded Asleep at the Wheel in rural Paw Paw, West Virginia, and soon after found themselves opening for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna in Washington, D.C.
A year later, they moved to East Oakland, California at the invitation of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Benson accepted his longtime friend, Willie Nelson invitation to move from Oakland for Austin in 1974 and he’s been home ported there ever since.
Asleep at the Wheel has won nine Grammy Awards, released more than twenty albums, and garnered more than 21 singles ranked on Billboard’s country charts.
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