Ray Benson Brings Out The Stars for Annual Birthday Bash
For the benefit of the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, or HAAM, Ray Benson hosted his 19th annual birthday bash Tuesday night (3-12) in downtown Austin, which also acts like an unofficial kickoff party for the country side of SXSW. Benson assembled one hell of a talented lineup to come out and play, with each participant offering a few songs backed by one of the best, and one of the most versatile bands in music, Asleep At The Wheel.
Katie Pruitt and Robert Ellis kicked things off as the crowd began to arrive, and by the time Jamie Lin Wilson took the stage to perform “Stars in Oklahoma” written with Evan Felker of the Turnpike Troubadours, the crowd was full. Ben Dickey, who portrayed Blaze Foley in the recent biopic about the Austin musical legend came out to play a few songs after Ray complimented him on his acting job. “When I saw the movie, I said ‘Whoa, are you sure you’re not akin to Blaze?'” Benson knew Blaze, and lived down the street from him at one point.
Wade Bowen, who took time from recording Hold My Beer, Vol. 2 with Randy Rogers, showed up to play the Guy Clark classic “Dublin Blues” and Lefty Frizzell’s “If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got The Time.” Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters and a part-time country career, and a popular country music podcast Walking The Floor, played the podcast’s namesake made popular by Ernest Tubb. Ray Benson’s appearance on Shiflett’s podcast is considered one of the best episodes by many.
Dale Watson, who recorded a duets album with Ray a couple of years ago, came out to sing “Feeling Haggard” from that record, as well as one of his signature songs, “I Lie When I Drink,” and a pretty killer version of “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” that Asleep At The Wheel absolutely mauled.
Then crowd was thrown a curve ball, but one they were quite appreciative of when Ed Roland of Collective Soul came out, accompanied by Brendon Anthony, who is the director of the Texas Music Office on fiddle. Roland sent the crowd back to the 90’s with renditions of “The World I Know” and “Shine,” which Rowland sang with his son and songwriter Lindsey Kris. They finished with “December,” with Ray Benson unabashedly shifting into rock star mode, and blazing out a solo with a big smile on his face. Ray said “December” was the first song his own son had learned on guitar, and he knew it well.
Robert Earl Keen was also one of the big names to show up at Ray’s behest, playing “If I Were King,” and Willie Nelson’s “The Party’s Over.” But the two performers who arguably made the biggest impression were Waylon Payne, and Randy Houser. Payne—who is the son of Jody Payne and Sammi Smith—is a songwriter who has written for Miranda Lambert and Lee Ann Womack recently, but proved why he had a major label deal back in the early 2000’s, and probably should still to this day. Such passion and musicianship should not be relegated to the liner notes of records.
Randy Houser is the leader in the clubhouse at the moment for Comeback Artist of the Year in 2019, and he proved why with incredibly soulful and twangy performances of “What Whiskey Does,” “No Stone Unturned,” and then an homage to Willie with “Good Hearted Woman.” A year or two ago, Randy Houser would have stuck out like a sore thumb on a Ray Benson Birthday Bash lineup. In 2019, he felt like the superstar of it.
High compliments also must be given to Asleep At The Wheel. Katie Shore‘s fiddle and 1000-watt smile kept things hopping all night. And when your stand up steel player can pick up a saxophone and wail on “Seven Nights To Rock” like Eddie Rivers can, you know you’re in the company of a musical legend. Asleep At The Wheel finished with “Happy Trails” and the “Texas Playboys Theme,” and much money was raised for HAAM, which helps give Austin’s working musicians health insurance they may otherwise not receive.
March 14, 2019 @ 3:26 am
Wow it really looks like it was a wild Texas night!
By the way how old is Benson?
God save ATTW.
March 14, 2019 @ 6:50 am
He’ll be 68 Saturday.
March 14, 2019 @ 5:32 am
Texas is the last place in this country with any sort of functioning culture. I’m jealous.
March 14, 2019 @ 6:23 am
Southwest Louisiana cajun culture is still alive and kicking
March 14, 2019 @ 6:57 am
Are they able to assimilate all of the interlopers that move in?
March 14, 2019 @ 7:10 am
We’re still kicking here in North Carolina.
March 14, 2019 @ 1:21 pm
Unfortunately there’s very little true Country Music culture in NC anymore. If you’re not Bluegrass, Americana or a string band, there’s really very few places left to play. My band and I have to fight and scrap to have anyone take a chance on us, but we always get great crowd response.
March 14, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
Well, RD said functioning culture in general, which we’re doing alright in, not country music specifically. That said, I think you’re being a bit too down on us. Bluegrass is king here, true, but that ain’t new, it’s always been that way. We’ve been a fiddle and banjo state since before the Revolution. Still, though, we’ve got John Howie Jr, the Malpasses, Jonathan Parker and the like, & it’s easy enough to scrape up a few-hundred-dollar bar gigs on the weekend. Now that ain’t great, mind you, but that’s hardly a problem specific to country, that’s everyone that ain’t bluegrass.
March 14, 2019 @ 8:27 pm
Your’re right, general culture, is still in decent shape, especially as you move away from urban areas.
As far as the music scene, it wasn’t too long ago that there were many nice Country dance clubs all across the state bringing in lots of people. I know, I played them all. Those are gone. Even the bar gigs have dried up, which is fine. It’s not worth paying to play anyway. While bluegrass and string music have a long history here, their audiences are really not that big, it’s just what we’re force-fed in live music settings. As a matter of fact, Carlton Haney, the father of the modern bluegrass festival, always used Country acts at his festivals because of the draw. My father’s Country band played most of Haney’s festivals at Camp Springs, NC throughout the 70’s.
There are some really good true Country performers in this state. The Malpass Bros. are great. We’ve done several shows with them and they’re a lot of fun. They’ve done a great job of parlaying their TV appearances into a successful touring schedule and I’m proud of them for that. Parker is really good. Eric Strickland is good, although I don’t know what he’s up to these days. I’m not as high on Howie as some, but that’s OK.
The bottom line is, there’s just not many (if any) places left where you can go and hear good live Country Music (or play it.) That’s fine we’ll just keep scrapping and clawing and doing the best we can. We always seem to land a few cool gigs each year. Hope to see you at one of them. If you do, come say hello.
March 15, 2019 @ 7:12 am
I think the test of a functioning culture is if it can assimilate transplants/migrants, or if these people become a competing culture, separate enclave, or come to dominate the native culture. Sadly, it appears that Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, etc. have been overrun, and can no longer assimilate the vast numbers of cultural Visigoths streaming into their states. The native culture has taken a subordinate role and is dwindling. Huge areas of these states are basically Columbus, Ohio, a bland, dismal Potemkin Village of fast food restaurants, planned subdivisions, and mundane uniformity. Texas, on the other hand, has, to this time, effectively assimilated hordes of these people, and, though wounded, the native culture still predominates.
March 15, 2019 @ 7:26 am
Michael,
I checked out your album. I hear some Boland in there. Good stuff.
March 15, 2019 @ 8:26 am
Yes you hit the nail on the head in the urban areas, Raleigh, Charlotte, Winston-Salem/Greensboro (where I am) are becoming overrun with transplants. Luckily, we still have a lot of rural areas in our state where the native culture has survived because the people are stubborn (in a good way in my opinion) and refuse to change their ways of doing things to cater to those new to the area.
March 15, 2019 @ 8:30 am
Oh and thanks a lot. Definitely take that as a compliment. Boland is great!
March 15, 2019 @ 8:42 am
Boland is one of my favorite artists. Country music is at a low ebb if an artist like Jason Boland isn’t near the top of the heap. He should be regarded as a modern Waylon. But, sadly, bums like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and other white rappers are the exemplars of the genre.
March 14, 2019 @ 8:06 am
What a great collection of Texas talent in one place. Thanks for taking us there Trig with all the cool pictures. I love that symbol in the shape of Texas! ????????
March 14, 2019 @ 9:39 am
Really cool event.
I don’t know about Randy Houser. It’s tough to backtrack on some of these artists once one moves on. There’s too many good ones out there.
I’ll heed your proclamation about Waylon Payne, though.
Chris Shiflett is EVERYWHERE these days! I listened to his country album in 2013 and thought it was ok… kind of generic and predictable… but harmless. Should I be paying more mind to him?
March 14, 2019 @ 10:15 am
I spent some time looking up Waylon Payne. I’ve seen his face a lot lately. Opening for Lee Ann Womack – I originally thought that he was Lee Ann Womack’s husband because I thought her husband was in the video for “I May Hate Myself in the Morning” (but that was Jack Ingram). I remember the night of the Grammy Awards wondering who was that man in crystal-crusted jeans. He was also in the music video for Miranda Lambert’s, “We Can Be Friends.” He’s a dead ringer for True Detective’s Stephen Dorff’s character Roland West.
His documentary looks interesting if I could find somewhere to stream it.
March 14, 2019 @ 2:17 pm
If you have an iTunes account – ALL podcasts are free and once you click SUBSCRIBE – they all show up on you iPhone in the Podcasts app.
March 14, 2019 @ 4:03 pm
Would Ray Benson say “Hi” to you or shake your hand, Kyle–or is he still pissed at you?
March 29, 2023 @ 2:30 pm
This year’s birthday bash was so much fun! Did you go? I was covering it for a story, so I got to be in the media pit. Great way to enjoy the shows! 🙂
March 29, 2023 @ 2:44 pm
Something personal came up last minute and I was unable to go. Hoping to make it next year.