Swinging Asleep

A little advance birthday celebrating last night. I had never seen Asleep At The Wheel live, though their music has been a staple in the family for years. So when they came to The Cedar, I had to seize the moment and grab a couple of tix. Based on the demographic of the audience, a lot of other fifty-somethings had that same idea. :)



The Cedar Cultural Center is an all-volunteer place, and volunteers get into shows free, so...

hey, I can work the food stand or merch table as well as anyone. :)



And I plan to. I've signed up for the next volunteer orientation, maybe in December. There's an indie radio station also affiliated with The Cedar, and they do their on-air shows all with volunteers as well. Hm.. maybe I'll get behind the studio microphone again someday. It's only been... 25 years! :)



We had good seats this time. Close, but side aisle.

The opening act was unremarkable. Local boys trying for a break.



But when the headliners came on - instant professionalism. Wow, were they crisp and hot. Like fresh tacos. :)



Ray Benson, the big guy in the middle (who signed my CD later), has led the band since 1970, back when they were decidedly counter-cultural. Western Swing was passe' then. But these guys have become keepers of the flame, and now have a Broadway musical on the life and times of Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys, which has been running for 4 years now. Wow.



They'll be on PBS's "Austin City Limits" on 11/14, with Willie Nelson, with whom they recently made an album that has "Grammy" written all over it. That, um, would make #10 for these guys. They have 9 already! (Grammys, I mean, not CDs).



Anyway, they were terrific, and it was great to see the mix of ages on stage. The piano player looked like a high schooler but played like a veteran; the girl singer, Elizabeth McQueen (nice beehive, hun..), is late 20's and has an indie pop career as well with a couple of CDs on iTunes. And - ha - I knew the steel player! Really.

Eddie used to play pedal steel with The Western Box Turtles, who now and then came to the Milwaukee Ale House. Chatting with him afterwards, he was stunned that anyone would remember him from that gig. Made him feel like he had a real fan base, I think. :)