Willie and the Wheel

Bringing Willie Nelson and Western Swing revivalists Asleep at the Wheel together for an album of Western Swing classics was a dream project for legendary producer Jerry Wexler, who had wanted to do it back in the 1970s, when Willie was still with Atlantic. (It wound up being one of the last recordings he worked on before his death in 2008.) Better late than never, Nelson and the band finally teamed up for WILLIE AND THE WHEEL.The Wheel had recently backed Willie up on tour, so they knew just how to make their sound work for the singer, and sure enough, Nelson's vocals fit the band's tight-but-swinging sound like the proverbial glove. Tackling tunes made famous by Bob Wills and others, they keep it traditional, staying within the stylistic template established some six decades earlier, but still stamping the project with plenty of their own distinctive personality.