Benson's Not Asleep At The Wheel

On his 56th birthday, Ray Benson may have been sharing the stage with Willie Nelson, but this moment belonged to him.

Benson was almost speechless. But normally, as they say in Texas, Ray Benson has a ten-gallon mouth that he pours into his music. With his band Asleep at the Wheel, the life Benson loves really is making music with his friends.

Asleep at the Wheel started rolling in 1970, and never stopped. Benson quit college to start the band. Within a couple years, they had a hit record. Later came gigs on the TV show, "Austin City Limits."

They play a style of music called Western Swing, which is infectious and eclectic.

"I loved jazz. I loved swing. I love blues. I love fiddle music and it was jazz with a fiddle — Count Basie with a cowboy hat," he told CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman.

Western Swing is a mix of big band, country and dance music. It was popularized in the 1930s and '40s by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

"I think Bob Wills is one of the iconic figures of popular music — one of the people who set the standard in the way we do music today," Benson said.

In 1973, Benson finally shook hands with his musical hero. But the night before they were supposed to have a real talk, Wills had a massive stroke. He never recovered.

More than 30 years later, Benson had that conversation he had always imagined. He wrote it in his play about Wills, a traveling musical called "A Ride with Bob."

"So I wrote this play to explain what mighta, coulda happened," Benson said. "But it's been a very strange thing as to why did I either get chosen or choose to carry this mantle of Bob Wills on."

Still, Western Swing sounds like just the sort of music you'd expect this tall Texan would play ... except Ray Benson's not from Texas. He was born Ray Seifert, a Jewish kid from Philadelphia.

He took to singing and playing the guitar early. Little Ray grew into a booming baritone, with a big hat and a Texas-sized sense of humor.

"I call it the geographical imperative," Benson said. "Do you have to be from the South to play country music? No. Do you have to be from Texas to play Texas music? You have to know Texas to do it."

In the '70s, another Bob Wills disciple — Willie Nelson — first heard Benson play and he was impressed.

"So I invited him to come to Texas," Nelson said. "I knew he'd do well down here. I knew that a lot of people down here were hungry for that kind of music."

"Where did he hear it, you know? Where did he grow up? what was he on?" Nelson said.

While their musical approach hasn't changed, the band has. Asleep at the Wheel started with vocalist Chris O'Connell. Now singer Elizabeth McQueen and fiddler Jason Roberts join Benson on stage. He likes to say they are "Reinventing the Wheel," which just so happens to be the title of their new CD.

"I never wanted my name on the marquee," he said. "I wanted the band name. I like bands. It's tough. It's the hardest kind of collaboration to have a band. But it's the most satisfying."

The rest of the band members are also devoted to the group.

"For me just getting to play with some of the best musicians that I've ever met is a real thrill," McQueen said.

"And for me it's the style of music that we play," Roberts said. "We get to play a nice mixture of blues, jazz, Western Swing, boogie-woogie."

Over the years, Benson says he has played with 90 musicians in his band. The reason behind the high turnover rate?

"I'm a son of a bitch," he said. "It's a tough road. Let me tell you something. They don't make a lot of money. We travel a lot."

A lot of wear and tear on family life, too. Benson is divorced with two grown sons. Asleep at the Wheel is on the road 200 days a year — playing mostly one-nighters.

In Santa Fe, the crowd at the Brewing Company boogied to the beat, and the next night, in Denver, the band added a few strings, performing with the Colorado Symphony.

"I work with an arranger and we put together a really neat show," Benson said. "And you know, nobody spills beer on ya' at the symphony."

Benson also has a hobby. He collects everything that has anything to do with Route 66. He is also surrounded by guitars, pictures and nine Grammy awards at his home studio in Austin. He has made more than 30 albums and is also a sought-after record producer.

"He'll leave a pretty wide mark, I guarantee you, 'cause he's been a lot of places, done a lot of things, recorded all of it," Nelson said. "Ray Benson and Alseep at the Wheel, our Ray Benson will, you know, he'll leave a mark."

But for Benson, it's not about the spotlight, it's about keeping music of the Southwest alive and on the upswing.