Notes & Personnel Info |  | Full Title: Tribute To The Music Of Bob Wills And The Texas Playboys. | | Asleep At The Wheel: Ray Benson (guitar, background vocals); Cindy Cashdollar (Hawaiian steel guitar); Rickey Turpin (electric mandolin, fiddle); Michael Francis (saxophone); Tim Alexander (piano, background vocals); David Miller (bass, background vocals); Tommy Beavers (drums). | | Additional personnel: Huey Lewis, Brooks & Dunn, Marty Stewart, Suzy Bogguss, Johnny Rodriguez, Jody Nix, Leon Rausch, Riders In The Sky (vocals); Larry Sayers (guitar, bass); Eldon Shamblin, Clint Strong, Bucky Meadows, Mark Casstevens, Chris Leuzinger (guitar); John Ely, Tommy Morrell, Bruce Bouton (steel guitar); Reuben "Lucky Oceans" Gosfield, Herbie Remington (Hawaiian steel guitar); Johnny Gimble (mandolin, fiddle); Larry Franklin (fiddle, background vocals); Rob Hajacos (fiddle); Floyd Domino, Bobby Wood (piano); Mike Chapman (bass); Milton Sledge, Dave Sanger (drums); Chris O'Connell, Dawn Sears (background vocals); Chet Atkins, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Lyle Lovett, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard. | | Recorded at Bismeaux Studio, Austin, Texas and Jack's Tracks Recording Studio, Nashville, Tennessee. Includes liner notes by Ray Benson and Robert K. Oermann. | | "Blues For Dixie" won 1995 Grammy Awards for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, and TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC OF BOB WILLS AND THE TEXAS PLAYBOYS won the Grammy for Best Recording Package. The album was also nominated for Best Country Album. | | Although Texas' Asleep at the Wheel spent their career keeping the music of Bob Wills alive, the band waited 20 years before recording their first full-fledged tribute to Western swing's king. 1993's star-studded TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC OF BOB WILLS is an absolute gem, one that perfectly captures the spirit of Wills' music while avoiding the too-reverent approach that has handicapped similar efforts by others. | | From the opening instrumental number "Red Wing," TRIBUTE carves out a happy medium between tribute and jam session. "Red Wing" is kicked off in the traditional manner by Playboy alums Eldon Shamblin and Johnny Gimble, who are soon joined by Chet Atkins and Vince Gill, each of whom turns in a tasteful, blistering guitar solo. Next up is George Strait singing "Big Balls in Cowtown" and sounding like he's having the time of his life. Before the party is over, Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, and plenty of others have contributed understated, elegant performances. Next to Wills' original recordings, country doesn't get much better than this. |
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| Q (1/94, p.89)
- 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Current Nashville fashion favours dance tunes, traditional instruments and crooners, so this star-studded tribute could well do for western swing what the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN did for country in 1972...."Musician (12/93, p.87)
- "...amidst the current glut of `tribute' records out today that suggust thinly disguised marketing schemes, this one is the real thing....Asleep At The Wheel is a model of taste and economy, yet capable of surprising emotional force...." |
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