Asleep At The Wheel Down Under
Finally In Australia....the wait was worth every year
Asleep At The Wheel
The Thornbury Theatre
Friday The 13th of October
Summer Dean-Support
Since the 20th Century, I have wanted to see Asleep At The Wheel one more time. On my visits back to my land of birth (USA), they were never nearby for me to jump on their boogie-woogie train.
Lucky Oceans, one of the band’s founding members, had made the move to Australia like I did many decades ago. We cross paths occasionally, he gave me a great bagel recipe and I probably moaned in his ear more than once about having A.A.T.W. come to the land down under and do their thing.
Having seen A.A.T.W. numerous times before I left America, this 45-year break had left me jonesing for some country swing and boogie-woogie. There has only been The Wheel and Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen who have given me this type of thrill in 66 turns around the sun. Having seen a tribute to the Late Commander in 2022 in Troy, New York, another fix seemed a long way off.
Finally, this came to pass in the last few days. The Wheel made its Australian debut at The Thornbury Theatre here in metropolitan Melbourne. Although their tour would only be 5 shows, one of them being a festival set at Out On The Weekend, my feet, heart, and soul wished I could be at each one.
Ray Benson and Lucky Oceans were the only original members on the stage, but they were joined by Joshua Hedley and Brennen Leigh who added their vocals, fiddle and guitar into the mix. Leigh and Hedley are excellent musicians and artists in their own right and they fit into the mix like shrink wrap.
Having seen this outfit on many nights with twin fiddles and dueling saxophones, there had to be more folks to fill the bandstand. Playing some delicious keys, from Iowa City, were Radoslav Lorkovic; Paul Williamson on sax and clarinet; Matt Myers from New Jersey on drums, and Ben Franz on bass.
As this was not the festival set, we were treated to a rollicking setlist of 21 songs. Leigh and Hedley were given space to do some of their numbers, but the highlights were the tunes with Ray singing and Lucky O setting loose on his pedal steel. I can listen to Lucky play just about anything and Ray continues to be a showman and can play those six strings.
Route 66, San Antonio Rose, Take Me Back To Tulsa, and Choo Choo Ch Boogie were superb and everyone was given a chance to solo and get everyone dancing. Many more classics were rolled out and a high time was had by all on and off the dance floor.
I was accompanied by my good friend Nello who was born and raised in Chicago and another transplant to Australia. When he was underage he snuck in to see Asleep At The Wheel at a club in Chicago and as he said, “it changed my life”.
I know that feeling. Discovering swing and big band music as a youngster was where I started and then I heard some Bob Wills music and soon I was deep into seeing the Commander and the folks from The Wheel.
I had a run-in with the band over a two-show night at My Father’s Place on Long Island back in the 70’s. Between shows I ended up in a very small dressing room drinking their beer and smoking a bunch of weed until all I could do was dance. Dancing was good but I wondered, oh I wondered, how the hell they pulled that off. I think my judgment was impacted as I had been there for over 5 hours by the time closing time came around. I was singing their song Am I High as I stumbled homeward.
Nothing has been lost in the 50-odd years this band has been on the road. The lineup has had many members but the love of Texas Swing and the fact that Bob Wills is still the king lives on. Ray Benson should be given some sort of award for keeping this tribe on the road for so long.
If you missed this chance to see them in Australia, I can only shed a tear for your inability to attend.
You still have a couple of chances in Adelaide and Perth.
Asleep At The Wheel has kept Texas Swing alive and I know their generous gift of music will continue to inspire people to create and play these tunes until closing time.
A tip of the hat to Summer Dean, another bright spark from Texas, who made the room warm and loose for the main act.
Enjoy this setlist…..and you might get the bug and jump on a flight to South Australia or WA!