''Asleep at the Wheel'' is the second album by American

western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United States, South among the region's Western music (North America), Western string bands. It is dan ...

band

Asleep at the Wheel Asleep at the Wheel is an American Western swing group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception, released over twenty albums, and has charted more t ...

. Produced by

Norro Wilson Norris Denton "Norro" Wilson (April 4, 1938 – June 8, 2017) was an American country music singer-songwriter, producer, and member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Wilson wrote or co-wrote numerous hit songs during more than 40 yea ...

at Columbia Recording Studios in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, it was released in September 1974 as the group's first album on

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. As with its predecessor ''

Comin' Right at Ya ''Comin' Right at Ya'' is the debut album by American western swing band Asleep at the Wheel. Produced by Tommy Allsup at Mercury Records, Mercury Custom Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, it was released in March 1973 as the group's only album on Un ...

'', Asleep at the Wheel's self-titled album featured a mix of traditional and original compositions, including songs written by popular country musicians

Rex Griffin Alsie "Rex" Griffin ( – ) was an American country musician and songwriter. Biography Early years Griffin was born in Gadsden, Alabama as the second of seven children to Marion and Selma Griffin. He grew up on a farm and received little schoo ...

Cindy Walker Cindy Walker (July 20, 1918 – March 23, 2006) was an American songwriter, as well as a country music singer and dancer. She wrote many popular and enduring songs recorded by many artists. She adopted a craftsman-like approach to her songwr ...

and

Hank Penny Herbert Clayton Penny (September 18, 1918 – April 17, 1992) was an American musician who played banjo mainly in the Western swing genre. He also worked as a comedian best known for his backwoods character "That Plain Ol' Country Boy" on TV wi ...

. The second album by Asleep at the Wheel was the first to feature bassist Tony Garnier, who replaced Gene Dobkin in early 1974 and would remain with the band for several years. It was also the only album to feature the group's first full-time fiddler Richard "Corky" Casanova, who joined in time for the album's recording but left shortly after its release. Guest contributors include

Johnny Gimble John Paul Gimble (May 30, 1926 – May 9, 2015) was an American country musician associated with Western swing. Gimble was considered one of the most important fiddlers in the genre. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 i ...

on fiddle and mandolin,

Andy Stein Andy Stein is an American saxophone and violin player. He is a member of The Guys All-Star Shoe Band on the radio show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' and the movie. He was a founding member of the country rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Plan ...

on saxophone and fiddle, and

Mickey Raphael Michael Siegfried "Mickey" Raphael (born November 7, 1951) is an American harmonica player, music producer and actor best known for his work with Willie Nelson, with whom he has toured as part of The Family since 1973. He has performed or reco ...

on harmonica. Like its predecessor, ''Asleep at the Wheel'' failed to register on any national or international record charts. However, the band did register on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart for the first time, when second single "

Choo Choo Ch'Boogie "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" is a popular song written by Vaughn Horton, Denver Darling, and Milt Gabler. The song was recorded in January 1946 by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five and released by Decca Records. It topped the R&B charts for 18 weeks fro ...

" (originally recorded by the

Tympany Five Tympany Five was a successful and influential American rhythm and blues and jazz dance band founded by Louis Jordan in 1938. The group was composed of a horn section of three to five different pieces and also drums, double bass, guitar and pian ...

) registered at number 69 in December 1974. Critical reviews of the album were generally positive, with commentators praising the breadth of musical styles on the record and its place within

Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United States, South among the region's Western music (North America), Western string bands. It is dan ...

Background

After being dropped by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

, Asleep at the Wheel signed a deal with

in May 1974. For the recording of their first album on the label, the band wanted to work again with

Tommy Allsup Thomas Douglas Allsup (November 24, 1931 – January 11, 2017) was an American rockabilly and swing musician. Personal life Allsup was born near Owasso, Oklahoma in 1931, and was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Allsup had a son, ...

, who produced their 1973 debut ''

''; however, Don Ellis, head of Epic at the time, assigned Norris "Norro" Wilson to the project. Sessions took place in

again, this time at Columbia Studio B. Speaking about the recording process, frontman

Ray Benson Ray Benson (born Ray Benson Seifert, March 16, 1951 - October 31st 2022) i Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United St ...

recalled that Wilson "let us do what we wanted", describing it as "a good experience". The album was released in September 1974. The ''Asleep at the Wheel''

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

features a photograph of the seven-piece band in front of a vintage 1938

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

, which was taken in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

shortly after the band relocated there from

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. The album was the band's first to feature bassist Tony Garnier, who replaced Gene Dobkin before recording began. It was also the only album to feature the group's first full-time fiddler Richard "Corky" Casanova, who joined for the recording and was credited as an official member on the album sleeve. Two tracks from ''Asleep at the Wheel'' were issued as

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

s in 1974: "You and Me Instead" and "

Reception

Critical response to ''Asleep at the Wheel'' was generally positive. In an uncredited review, ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' magazine credited the band for the "gaining momentum" of

progressive country Progressive country is a subgenre of country music developed in the early 1970s.''Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks: The Countercultural Sounds of Austin's Progressive Country Music Scene'', Stimeling, Travis David. History In the late 1960s and earl ...

, stating: "The group has gained considerable repute for their live act and their first album for Epic marks a worthy label debut as these seven dyed-in-the-wool country buffs confidently rip their way through numbers like "

," "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday," and "Bloodshot Eyes."" In a retrospective review for website

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, James Allen gave ''Asleep at the Wheel'' three and a half out of five stars, praising the "multitude of styles" present on the record including

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

honky-tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano (tack piano) ...

. Music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album a B rating, lower than the A− awarded to ''

'', comparing it to the style of

Bob Wills James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although S ...

. ''Cash Box'' praised "You and Me Instead" as "sweet", and hailed "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" as "an infectious shuffle".

Track listing

Personnel

Asleep at the Wheel *

– lead guitar, vocals *Chris O'Connell – rhythm guitar, vocals *LeRoy Preston – drums, vocals *

Lucky Oceans Lucky Oceans (born Reuben Gosfield, 21 April 1951) is an American pedal steel guitarist and a former member of country and Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel. From 1995 to 2017 he was a broadcaster in Perth, Western Australia with the Austr ...

– pedal and lap steel guitars * Tony Garnier – upright and electric basses *

Floyd Domino Floyd Domino is an American musician known for his work in the genre of Western swing. Biography Born a native of California, Domino was introduced to Western swing by way of the musicians who had migrated from Texas and Oklahoma in the 1930 ...

– piano *Richard "Corky" Casanova – fiddle Guest musicians *

– fiddle , backing vocals , rhythm guitar *Bill Joor – trumpet *

– saxophone , fiddle *Lisa Silver – fiddle *

– harmonica *Bucky Meadows – rhythm guitar *Teddy Irwin – rhythm guitar *Larry Black – rhythm guitar *Bobby Black – pedal steel guitar *

Buddy Spicher Buddy Spicher (born July 28, 1938 in DuBois, Pennsylvania; pronounced “Spiker”) is an American country music fiddle player. He is a member of The Nashville A-Team of session musicians, and is Grammy-nominated. He was nominated as Instrumental ...

– fiddle Additional personnel *

– production *Lou Bradley – engineering *Bill Barnes – design, photography, typography *Phyllis Cortese – additional artwork

References

Footnotes

External links

* {{Authority control Asleep at the Wheel albums 1974 albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by Norro Wilson