Nine-time Grammy award-winners Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel honour the legendary Bob Wills - one of the few artists in history to be inducted both into the Country Music and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - with their tribute album Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys...

For over 40 years, Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel have been at the forefront of Western swing, carrying Bob Wills’s traditions well into the 21st century, reaching both their contemporaries and the next generation of artists inspired by the great bandleader.

Still the King marks the band’s third full-length Bob Wills tribute album following 1998’s Ride with Bob and 1993’s A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills. The new album features genre-spanning collaborations with critically acclaimed artists, old friends and new favourites including Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Merle Haggard, George Strait, The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lyle Lovett and Kat Edmonson, among many others.

The one aspect that is annoying about this otherwise flawless album, to the point of distraction, is the way Benson introduces each song and then adds descriptive vocals like some awful hospital radio DJ. And, for good measure, every now and then he pipes in with what sounds like an impersonation of a crow's "caw".

The album contains 22 tracks (1 hr, 10 min, 30 sec) and there are some impressive tracks here, certainly carried on in the tradition that Wills would have been proud of. The only downside is that Benson ruins the album quite a bit by making it all about him, rather than a loving tribute to Wills. Some may find it charming, but for me it was a major turn off.

Track listing:

01 - 'Intro - Texas Playboy Theme' (with Leon Rausch)
02 - 'I Hear Ya Talkin’' (with Amos Lee)
03 - 'The Girl I Left Behind' (with The Avett Brothers)
04 - 'Trouble In Mind' (with Lyle Lovett)
05 - 'Keeper Of My Heart' (with Merle Haggard and Emily Gimble)
06 - 'I Can’t Give You Anything But Love' (with Kat Edmonson)
07 - 'Tiger Rag' (with Old Crow Medicine Show)
08 - 'What’s The Matter With The Mill' (with Pokey LaFarge)
09 - 'Navajo Trail' (with Willie Nelson and The Quebe Sisters)
10 - 'Silver Dew On The Bluegrass Tonight' (with The Del McCoury Band)
11 - 'Faded Love' (with The Time Jumpers)
12 - 'South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way)' (with George Strait)
13 - 'I Had Someone Else Before I Had You' (with Elizabeth Cook)
14 - 'My Window Faces The South' (with Brad Paisley)
15 - 'Time Changes Everything' (with Buddy Miller)
16 - 'A Good Man Is Hard To Fine' (with Carrie Rodriguez and Emily Gimble)
17 - 'Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas' (with Robert Earl Keen and Ray Benson)
18 - 'Brain Cloudy Blues' (with Jamey Johnson and Ray Benson)
19 - 'Bubbles In My Beer' (with The Devil Makes Three)
20 - 'It’s All Your Fault' (with Katie Shore)
21 - 'Three Guitar Special' (with Tommy Emmanuel, Brent Mason and Billy Briggs)
22 - 'Bob Wills Is Still The King' (with Shooter Jennings, Randy Rogers and Reckless Kelly)

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Nick Smithson