Asleep At The Wheel

Asleep At The Wheel

Since 1969, Asleep at the Wheel has boldly defied the fickle lures of the mainstream - and thrived - by sticking to their noble cause of keeping that distinctly American of art forms, Western Swing, alive and kicking. For their efforts through the years, they’ve managed to pick up nine Grammy© awards.

WILLIE AND THE WHEEL

Bismeaux Records is very pleased to announce that Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel have teamed up to release an album collaboration due in February 2009.  A concept thirty years in the making, Willie & The Wheel is a collection of classic western swing songs hand-picked by the late Jerry Wexler. 

"Jerry wanted us to do this album and I'm glad we got to do it for him, “says Willie Nelson. “And that he heard it before he passed on."

“Willie & the Wheel is a CD whose time has come,” says Ray Benson.  “Jerry Wexler originally came up with this concept back when Willie was on the Atlantic label. But, before the record could be made Willie left Atlantic for CBS records and so the idea was shelved.”

Better known as ‘Mr. R&B’, Jerry Wexler was a great fan of the original Western Swing bands like Bob Wills, Milton Brown, Cliff Bruner – all first introduced to him while he was studying journalism in Kansas City.  Willie Nelson also had grown up on western swing and it has always figured heavily into his approach to music. Finally Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel (hailed as the modern kings of western swing) were added, resulting in a sublime album, surefooted in its mastery but still as playful and daring as the originals. Such a fitting collaboration certainly begs the question as to why this hasn’t happened already. - Source: www.reverbnation.com

Chris Duarte Group

Artist Bio
Duarte was first inspired by music at age 8 after seeing Fiddler On The Roof on television. Duarte began playing his brother's guitar, and got his first electric guitar at the age of 14 and played with bands in San Antonio. In 1979, Duarte moved to Austin, Texas and purchased a 1963 Fender Stratocaster guitar for $500. Duarte began exploring the jazz music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

Duarte won a label recording contract with Silvertone Records and released Texas Sugar/Strat Magik in 1994, and was named "Best New Talent" in Guitar Player’s 1995 Reader's Poll.[citation needed] He finished fourth in the magazine’s "Best Blues Guitarist" category behind Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and B.B. King.

Though Duarte has played a limited number of U.S. dates in recent years with the Japanese band Bluestone Company backing him, he performs primarily as a power trio, the 'Chris Duarte Group'. Originally formed with long-time friends and collaborators John Jordan on bass and Jeff Hodges on drums, the current incarnation features Matt Stallard on bass and Chris Burroughs on drums. Apart from his band, Duarte has performed with Julie Burrell, Diana Cantu, Bobby Mack, Tracy Conover, Indigenous, and Omar & the Howlers.

Duarte's concert dates in Asheville, Charlotte and Greenville were filmed for "The PBS Project". This side-project featured Steve Bailey on bass and Jeff Sipe on drums.