POP MUSIC REVIEW : Asleep at the Wheel Rolls Into the Greek

On the “Tonight Show” last week, comedian George Carlin put a twist on an old adage, saying, “Some people see the glass as half full, some people see the glass as half empty. I see the glass as too big.”

Asleep at the Wheel might have had similar feelings about finding itself at the Greek Theatre on Sunday--the end of the road for a Route 66 anniversary tour that wound from Chicago to L.A., with stops at most of the cities cited in Bobby Troup’s classic song about the Mother Road.

The Austin band, which has been keeping the ‘40s Western swing and jump blues traditions hopping for 22 years, was in over its head at the 6,000-seat outdoor theater, whose seats were mostly empty and whose scale is inimical to Asleep’s liveliness and intimacy.

The evocations of Louis Jordan and Bob Wills were pure and affectionate, but the musical sparks didn’t really fly, and the sextet doesn’t have the presence to fill that kind of space. The same set at a club like the Crazy Horse in Santa Ana, where the band was due to play on Monday, could have been a wild delight.

In partial compensation, Sunday’s concert included a sweetly sincere tribute--complete with low-tech slide show--to Route 66, which was opened 66 years ago, and some guest performers.

Country singer and former Asleepster Jann Browne brought a riveting vocal authority to both driving boogie and a big ballad, Billy Vera went through his pop-soulster paces, and 73-year-old Bobby Troup himself ambled out for a cocktail-swing rendition of the evening’s signature song, as well as his other Nat King Cole hit “Baby, Baby All the Time” and his Little Richard rock ‘n’ roll hit, “The Girl Can’t Help It.”