Asleep At The Wheel's Bob Wills Tribute Album Out Today

Today Relix is premiering Asleep at the Wheel's "The Girl I Left Behind Me" with The Avett Brothers from the upcoming Bob Wills tribute album Still The King: Celebrating The Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.

"When [The Avetts] came in the studio they were primed and ready to roll," says Ray Benson, frontman of Asleep at the Wheel. "The result is a joyous romp with hilarious lyrics!" Stream the track via Relix HERE.

Out March 3 on Bismeaux Records, the LP is available for pre-order now via PledgeMusic and iTunes with the new track delivered as an immediate download. See full track listing for the album below and watch a video teaser for the album here.

In celebration of the release, Asleep at the Wheel will perform March 4 in New York at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, with a full spring U.S. tour to follow. Tickets for select shows are available at asleepatthewheel.com/tour. Please see full tour dates below.

For over 40 years, nine-time GRAMMY award-winners Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel have been the chief practitioners, conspirators and caretakers of Western swing, carrying Wills' traditions well into the 21st century, reaching both their contemporaries and the next generation of artists inspired by the great bandleader. The new album features genre-spanning collaborations with critically acclaimed artists, old friends and new favorites including Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Merle Haggard, George Strait, The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lyle Lovett, Kat Edmonson, Robert Earl Keen and Tommy Emmanuel, among many others.

This album marks the band's third full-length Bob Wills tribute album following 1999's Ride with Bob and 1993's A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills, with four GRAMMY awards and over half a million copies sold collectively. Widely considered "The King of Western Swing," Bob Wills (1905-1975) and his Texas Playboys performed thousands of shows across the United Sates for nearly six decades and recorded prolifically in the late '30s and early '40s. Early stars of American country music, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys were a dance band with a country string section that played pop songs as if they were jazz numbers.

"After 45 years of traveling and playing, it still amazes me how well this music, born in the 1920s and '30s, thrives in the present day," says Benson. "The artists playing and singing on this collection range in age from folks in their 20s to former Texas Playboys 92-year-old Billy Briggs and 86-year-old Leon Rausch...certain evidence that Western swing music is alive and well as it cruises through the next millennium."

Bob Wills was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and the National Fiddler Hall of Famein 2007.

Based in Austin, Asleep at the Wheel formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia in 1970. Since their inception, the band has won nine GRAMMY awards, released more than 20 studio albums and charted more than 20 singles on the Billboard country charts. In 1972, the band signed their first record deal after Van Morrison mentioned they "play great country music" in an interview in Rolling Stone. Their debut record, Comin' Right At Ya, was released in 1973 on United Artists. The release of Texas Gold in 1975 brought the band national recognition, with the single "The Letter That Johnny Walker Read" becoming a top-ten country hit. The band has been awarded "Touring Band of the Year" (CMAs, 1976) and the "Lifetime Achievement in Performance" (Americana Music Awards 2009). In 2010, they earned a GRAMMY nomination in the newly minted Best Americana Album category for their critically acclaimed Willie & The Wheel, on Bismeaux Records.

Owned by Ray Benson, Bismeaux Records has won "Best Local Record Label" three years consecutively in the Austin Music Awards. Between 2005 and 2012, Ray Benson wrote, produced and starred in the Bob Wills musical A Ride With Bob. The production sold 70,000 tickets in 18 cities nationwide including the Kennedy Center in 2006. In 2007, Benson performed with Carrie Underwood & Johnny Gimble on the GRAMMY Awards Telecast in a special GRAMMY Salute to Bob Wills.

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL 2015 SPRING U.S. TOUR DATES:

March 4 New York, NY New York Society for Ethical Culture
March 5 Hartford, CT Infinity Hall
March 6 Fall River, MA Narrow Center for the Arts
March 7 Brownfield, ME Stone Mountain Arts Center March 8 Albany, NY The Egg/Sawyer Theatre
March 10 Alexandria, VA Birchmere
March 12 Chicago, IL City Winery
March 20 Bloomington, IL Castle Theater
March 21 Kent, OH Kent Stage
March 22 Cincinnati, OH The Ballroom
March 23 Lexington, KY Woodsongs
March 24 Nashville, TN Grand Ole Opry
March 26 Asheville, NC New Mountain Theatre
March 27 Nashville, TN CMA Theatre
March 29 Savannah, GA Savannah Music Festival
March 30 Savannah, GA Savannah Music Festival
March 31 Savannah, GA Savannah Music Festival
April 1 Durham, NC Carolina Theatre
April 14 Newport Coast, CA Pelican Hill Resort
April 16 Dallas, TX Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
April 18 Iola, KS Bowlus Fine Arts & Cultural Center
April 30 Gruene, TX Gruene Hall
May 1 Gruene, TX Gruene Hall
May 2 Spring, TX The Centrum
May 9 Canadian, TX Canadian River Music Fest
May 15 Angels Camp, CA Calaveras County Fair
May 23 Bakersfield, CA Bakersfield Rockin' Country Festival
May 29 Alto, NM Spencer Theater
June 20 Eldon, MO Shawnee Bluff Winery
July 14 Dallas, TX Gilley's Dallas

STILL THE KING: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF BOB WILLS AND HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS TRACKLIST:

1. Intro-Texas Playboy Theme (with Leon Rausch)
2. I Hear Ya Talkin' (with Amos Lee)
3. The Girl I Left Behind Me (with The Avett Brothers)
4. Trouble In Mind (with Lyle Lovett)
5. Keeper Of My Heart (with Merle Haggard and Emily Gimble)
6. I Can't Give You Anything But Love (with Kat Edmonson)
7. Tiger Rag (with Old Crow Medicine Show)
8. What's The Matter With The Mill (with Pokey LaFarge)
9. Navajo Trail (with Willie Nelson and The Quebe Sisters)
10. Silver Dew On The Bluegrass Tonight (with The Del McCoury Band)
11. Faded Love (with The Time Jumpers)
12. South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way) (with George Strait)
13. I Had Someone Else Before I Had You (with Elizabeth Cook)
14. My Window Faces The South (with Brad Paisley)
15. Time Changes Everything (with Buddy Miller)
16. A Good Man Is Hard To Fine (with Carrie Rodriguez and Emily Gimble)
17. Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas (with Robert Earl Keen and Ray Benson)
18. Brain Cloudy Blues (with Jamey Johnson and Ray Benson)
19. Bubbles In My Beer (with The Devil Makes Three)
20. It's All Your Fault (with Katie Shore)
21. Three Guitar Special (with Tommy Emmanuel, Brent Mason and Billy Briggs)
22. Bob Wills Is Still The King (with Shooter Jennings, Randy Rogers and Reckless Kelly)

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