By SALINA POST
A musical staple for more than five decades is coming to Salina's Stiefel Theatre in the spring.
Asleep at the Wheel featuring Brennen Leigh and Joshua Hedley: The Past, Present and Future of Country & Western Music is scheduled for 8 p.m. April 7 in the Stiefel Theatre, 151 S. Santa Fe Avenue.
Tickets start at $39 and are now on sale. Buy online at stiefeltheatre.org or by calling the Stiefel at 785-827-1998. The Stiefel box office is open for phone or walk-up sales noon-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
About the musicians courtesy the Stiefel Theatre
All on stage together, all night long. These three artists will take you through all forms of country and western music playing their hits as well as special songs from the past for a non-stop evening of fun. Asleep at the Wheel has been part of the American roots music landscape for more than 50 years. Although the band got its start on a farm in Paw Paw, W.Va., Asleep at the Wheel became a cornerstone of the Austin, Texas, scene upon its arrival in 1973. Inspired by western swing and honky-tonk country, the band has accrued 10 Grammy awards. Ray Benson carries the band back onto the road, where they’ve remained a staple for five decades.
At a towering 6’7”, the Philadelphia-born Benson is considered a giant in the industry. However, it’s his contributions to music history, not his height, that have made him a dominant figure on the music scene since 1970. Benson is the frontman and founder of the world-renowned Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel. For fifty-plus years, Ray has been the driving force behind “The Wheel” and has overseen the release of more than 25 albums, countless tours, and has won 10 Grammy Awards. 2009’s release of Willie & The Wheel with collaborator Willie Nelson garnered another Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album, and 2015’s Still the King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys won a Grammy for Best Recording Package. Asleep at the Wheel’s first original record in more than a decade, New Routes, was released in September 2018.
BRENNEN LEIGH: Leigh is an American songwriter, guitar player, mandolin player, and singer whose to-the-point storytelling style has elevated her to cult icon status in Europe, across the United States, and South America. As renowned for her musicianship as for her writing, it’s easy to see how Leigh caught the ear of greats like Guy Clark, who endorsed her flatpicking. Her new album, Obsessed with the West, is a smart, sexy ode to western swing featuring Asleep at the Wheel as the backing band. On all 12 original songs, Leigh’s supple winking voice and multi-instrument fluency, her interplay with Ray Benson, and the undeniable chops of the Wheel serve up a treat on Leigh's seventh album.
JOSHUA HEDLEY: Hedley is “a singing professor of country and western,” he declares on his raucous and witty new album, Neon Blue. It might sound like a punchline, but it’s not. An ace fiddle player, a sharp guitarist, and a singer with a granite twang, he’s devoted his entire life to the study of this genre. “When all my friends went off to college, I went to Nashville. I was 19 years old playing honkytonks and getting an education.” His 2018 debut, Mr. Jukebox, showcased his deep knowledge of country’s history, in particular the beery ballads of the 1950s and 1960s. His mentors were George Jones, Ray Price, and Glen Campbell, but his most remarkable accomplishment was putting his own spin on their style.