POP MUSIC REVIEW : Asleep at the Wheel Is Live and Kickin’

It’s more than apt that Asleep at the Wheel did a tour last year commemorating the 66th anniversary of Route 66. Although the venerable two-lane road that spans the country is now left along the dusty wayside of the U.S Interstate system that supplanted it, there is still something about it that speaks of the heart and spirit of the nation. You don’t necessarily see people getting dewy-eyed and writing songs about the interstates, either.

As usual, Asleep at the Wheel opened its show Monday night at the Crazy Horse Steak House with Bobby Troup’s “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66,” done up Texas-swing style.

Like the road it was singing about, the seven-piece group is historic (playing the great Western swing and jump blues music of a bygone era), weather-beaten (averaging 250 to 300 days a year on the road in its 20-plus years, with attrition adding up to more than 60 member changes), bypassed (you sure don’t hear them on the radio) yet beloved and respected (as evidenced by their three Grammys and the loyal fans that turn out for their every Orange County appearance).

If anyone has earned the right to be jaded and burned out, it’s bandleader Ray Benson. While other members come and go (half his band has changed since 1991), the 6-foot-6 singer-guitarist is always there, riding out the band’s numbing schedule and often unvarying song lists. Yet even when looking dead on his feet and going through songs he’s played thousands of times, Benson manages to coax an engaging performance out of himself and his band mates.

Their early show at the Crazy Horse was far more than that. The group looked relatively rested, as if it might actually have had a few days off over the holidays, and Benson allowed some fresh material into the show. Rather than follow the familiar road map that usually constitutes their show--encapsulated on last year’s “Greatest Hits, Live ‘N Kickin’ ” album--nearly half the songs were unexpected gems, such as Guy Clark’s “Blow Like a Bandit.”

Even when assaying familiar fare, the group usually did just fine, recreating the warmth and spirit of the bouncy, jazz-influenced Western swing music pioneered by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys in the 1930s and ‘40s. The songs were further spiced by the ample and inventive solos the band members took. Even Wills’ “Take Me Back to Tulsa,” the first song Asleep at the Wheel recorded (back in 1972), sounded fresh off the griddle, with a solo from fiddle player Ricky Turpin that sailed over the melody. That song segued into Wills’ “Stay a Little Longer,” for which Benson offered an antic vocal, his words expertly rushed together, and a guitar solo that buzzed like a bumble bee.

Other highlights included the instrumental “The Black and White Rag,” “Miles and Miles of Texas,” which boasted some lightning guitar runs doubled by Benson and steel guitarist Cindy Cash Dollar, and the encore of Louis Jordan’s “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie,” where band members traded fiery four-bar solos. The band’s current lineup isn’t yet as hot as some previous ones. The songs particularly missed the fire and expertise of recently departed steel guitarist John Ely and fiddler Larry Franklin. New fiddler Turpin had some stellar solos but wasn’t up to speed on matching Benson’s guitar lines on their unison passages. New steel guitarist Cash Dollar still seems tentative in much of her playing, but once she got going on a solo, she proved both melodic and wildly inventive on her triple-neck Fender.

This year the group will realize its longest-held dream and get its best shot at commercial success in years when it records a tribute album of Wills tunes. While modern country fans may not know Western swing from hip-hop, they may be induced to buy the album--due next fall--by its roster of guest stars, which is slated to include Garth Brooks, Bonnie Raitt, Marty Stuart and Merle Haggard, among others.

Wills’ mildly glum “Misery,” due to be on the album, was one of the unexpected songs in Monday’s set. Another pulled from deep in their songbook was the Fred Rose tune “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” which Benson said they were dusting off because they’re slated to back Willie Nelson on the tune at President Clinton’s inauguration. Although his weathered voice did a surprisingly good job with the lyric, Benson’s jazzy guitar solo wound up being too busy to convey much feeling. The same problem applied to his version of Eddy Arnold’s 1956 hit “You Don’t Know Me”