Willie & The Wheel is a collection of classic western swing standards hand-picked by the legendary music producer Jerry Wexler ("Mr. R'n'B") who sadly passed away in August 2008.
Drawing from a catalogue of nearly forty vinyl selections, Wexler and Asleep At The Wheel founder member Ray Benson narrowed the list down to a relatively modest twelve to make for a total playing time of less than 40 minutes.
Asleep At The Wheel have been producing this style of music since the early seventies seemingly oblivious to fashion trends.
Willie Nelson's 'outlaw' status has softened over the years and, while still something of a maverick, he remains a country artist with a strong sense of tradition so is an obvious choice to lend his vocal interpretations.
The stress here is on nostalgia pure and simple . Wexler insisted that some of the tracks should include horns as well as a return to traditional fiddles and lap steel guitar long associated with the genre. The final list also includes one instrumental, South, (featuring Paul Shaffer and Vince Gill), a tune that one of the genre's founder fathers ,Bob Wills, opened his shows with for a number of years.
It all harks back to a more innocent age when , if the gals said "yessiree" , the guys would "yell ker pow" and their hearts would go "boop boopy doop". Despite the quaintness of such lyrics, the sexual overtones on songs like Bring It On Down To My House or Won't You Ride In My Little Red Wagon are clear harbingers of the raunchier rock'n'roll that was to follow.
And a curiosity for rock fans here is the inclusion of Sitting On Top Of The World, a song which was radically re-worked by Cream for their classic Wheels Of Fire album.
Willie And The Wheel is a record which has already garnered praise in the States where it was nominated for Best Americana Album for the 2010 Grammy Awards (an award won by Levon Helm for Electric Dirt). However, the jazzy cowboy polka style it celebrates is so rooted in the America's musical life that it is unlikely to have the same impact on a UK market.
The album cover promises you will experience "a whirlwind of action and song roaring through your speakers!" although a more accurate meteorological metaphor would be to liken it to a warm summery breeze.
