Willie Nelson 'Willie And The Wheel' album

Willie and the Wheel is a CD whose time has come. It was somewhere around 30 years ago that legendary music man, the late Jerry Wexler, got the idea to record Willie Nelson doing classic Western Swing songs on an album. Willie had been on Jerry’s label, Atlantic, and it was not a hard stretch to see why Jerry wanted to do this. Although Jerry was known as “Mr. R&B,” he was a closet fan of the great Western Swing bands like Bob Wills, Milton Brown, Cliff Bruner etc., and Willie had grown up on Western Swing which figured heavily into his approach to music, but before the record could be made, Willie left Atlantic for CBS records and so the idea was put to rest.

Fast forward to 2003. Jerry is retired and living in Florida and I get a call from him! "Ray" he says! "I am getting rid of my LP’s! They collect dust and it bothers me. I have recorded them all and I am sending you all my Western Swing albums!" I told Jerry thank you very much and how much I appreciated him thinking of me. Well, a few weeks later a box arrived with 20 or so LP's of Western Swing music from Jerry. They were collections of the music originally on 78rpm records reissued on 33 1/3 rpm LP's and although I had a few of them, they were a welcome addition to my collection of Western Swing material. I noticed that a number of the song titles had 2 initials written in next to them. “WN!” I didn't think much about it but when I talked to Jerry to thank him I asked what they were. He explained they stood for Willie Nelson! He had put the initials next to songs he had selected to record with Willie on the aforementioned Western Swing album that had never been done.

Fast-forward again to 2007. Asleep at the Wheel was tapped to backup Willie, Merle Haggard and Ray Price on the Last of the Breed tour and TV show. Willie’s manager and Willie envisioned a concert showcasing classic Western Swing, Texas country music and classic Willie Merle and Ray Price material. After a very successful tour and TV show Mark and Willie called me up: "Jerry Wexler thinks now’s the time to do the Willie Nelson Western Swing CD; you've got the LP's don’t you?" It took me a second to realize what they were talkin' about and of course once I put two and two together I answered, "Yes of course!" I went to the shelf that held the aforementioned LP's and pulled them out! Sure enough there were the penned in "WN's" by certain songs and so I went to work.

I called Jerry numerous times and we picked 14 songs that we felt would work. Jerry was involved in every way insisting, with my agreement, that some of the tracks should include horns as well as the usual fiddles and lap steel guitar associated with Western Swing.

As the sessions concluded and Willie finished his vocals I sent the tracks to Jerry. To my delight he loved them. I continued to finish the tracks and realized we had no instrumental in the collection and thought of all the tunes that might fit into this collection. One tune kept comin' up. “South!” This tune originally done by Bennie Moten was also the instrumental that Bob Wills opened his shows with for a number of years. I called Jerry up and he was in total agreement. He also informed me that “South” was a million seller when it came out in 1927. We recorded the song in December and as it happened we were doing a benefit for Habitat for Humanity with David Letterman and so our good friend Paul Shaffer was in town and joined us for the session.

It was a sad day indeed when the news came in that Jerry Wexler had passed away. I had called him a week before but he never returned the call.... He was dying (and had been for a number of months or even years). But all through the making of this CD Jerry was alert, helpful, right on the money and always ready to tell or hear a good dirty joke!

-Ray Benson

Willie Nelson history
The music that we know now as Western Swing was born and raised in Texas and Oklahoma in the 1920’s and 30’s. Its’ best-known star was Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, known as “The Kings of Western Swing” but in fact Western Swing was practiced all over the country by dozens of great bands and bandleaders. The selections on this recording have their origins in the recordings of some of these legendary bands. Milton Brown & his Musical Brownies (who was really “The Father of Western Swing”), Cliff Bruner and the Texas Wanderers, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Spade Cooley, The Light Crust Doughboys, The Hi-Flyers, Adolph Hofner, and many, many more! Great instrumentalists like Moon Mullican, JR Chatwell, Jimmy Wyble, Eldon Shamblin, Tiny Morer, Link Davis Sr., Johnny Gimble, Jesse Ashlock, etc., mirrored their Black counterparts in the American Southwest (such as Charlie Christian, Walter Paige, Earl Hines, Count Basie) by demonstrating virtuoso soloing, swinging improvisations, and sophisticated arrangements.

More than half of the selections on this CD were originally done by either Milton Brown or Bob Wills so their importance can’t be overstated, however, the other practitioners of Western Swing were equally impressive on their own. The repertoire of these territory bands spanned a wide variety of musical styles. The most important element though was the danceability of the music. Two-step, jitterbug, foxtrot, waltzes, folk dances like the schottich, the bunny hop, the cotton eyed joe, the Paul Jones, all were prerequisites for playing the dancehalls of the Southwest and West.

So, whether it’s the jazz and blues of the early recordings or the fiddle-heavy Western Swing of the 40’s and 50’s, Western Swing was and remains a uniquely American music form with one boot in the country and one foot in jazz and blues!

-Ray Benson

song by song
1) Hesitation Blues
This song has been around since close to the beginning of the twentieth century or before in one form or another. Recorded by everyone from Lead Belly to Steely Dan, it was a staple of the early Western Swing bands.

2) Sweet Jennie Lee
This swingin’ up-tempo version of a Cab Calloway tune is the perfect example of what the early Western Swing bands were doing. They took this song originally slow and horn laden and fitted it with fiddles and guitars, moved the tempo up for the dancers and voila, a Western Swing classic!

3) Fan It
Franky “Half Pint” Jaxon recorded this in the 1920’s. This was an early addition to the repertoire of the Fort Worth western bands. When I met Mrs. Wills in 1974, she told me it was her favorite song of Bob’s!

4) I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None O’ This Jelly Roll
This double entendre is a classic New Orleans style song that must have been slightly risqué in its time. It is Western Jazz for sure.

5) Oh! You Pretty Woman
I remember talking to one of the old Texas Playboys many years ago and he commented on how fast and furious the young dancers were back in the 1930’s. Well, this one woulda kept their feet a flyin’! Our version was inspired by Milton Brown who really swung it!

6) Bring It On Down To My House
Another “gut bucket” New Orleans version of this standard. I imagine all of the early Western Swing bands played this one! There are many different verses for this song, some risqué, some double entendre and some just plain funny!

7) Right Or Wrong
This is one of the tunes Bob Wills learned from the obscure, but important, Emmitt Miller. Later recorded by George Strait, it is one of the Western Swings standards.

8) Corrine Corrina
Another old blues tune, Corrina has been recorded as a country, rock ‘n roll song and R&B song and is still being recorded and updated today.

9) I’m Sittin’ On Top Of The World
This classic blues/jazz tune is one of the standards that most of the Western Swing bands played. Our version with Willie and Elizabeth reprises the dropped meter style of Bob Wills.

10) Shame On You
This was a BIG hit for Spade who was the king of West Coast Swing in the early fifties. His TV show in Los Angeles was the number-one rated show locally during that time. His demise came after he brutally murdered his wife and he passed away in 1969 before being released from jail.

11) South (Featuring Paul Shaffer and Vince Gill)
A million seller for Bennie Moten in the late 20’s this was one of Bob Wills signature instrumentals. He replaced the sax section with fiddles setting the format for many Western Swing arrangements.

12) Won’t You Ride In My Little Red Wagon
I first heard Wade Ray play this and Wade played with Willie who recorded it early on in his recording career. Willie recollected this song as a dance hall standard when he was coming up.

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Willie Nelson - Willie And The Wheel