'I just love doing this': Asleep at the Wheel to perform at Inn of the Mountain Gods

Ready to two-step? Head on down to Mescalero and catch Asleep at the Wheel.

The Austin, Texas-based group, which recorded classics such as Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys’ “Faded Love” and “Take Me Back to Tulsa,” will be at the Inn of the Mountain Gods on Saturday, Sept. 13.

The show will not be Ray Benson’s first rodeo in New Mexico.

“I have played all over the state for 50 years and it has been so welcoming,” said Benson, 74, the only remaining original member, in a phone interview. “So what can I say? I love New Mexico.”

Over the years, the band has played at places such as Route 66 Casino, the KiMo Theatre and Golden Inn.

“The Golden was a legendary place in the ’70s and I’ve had many, many shows there,” he said. “Those folks who (were) around in the ’70s will certainly remember those legendary shows.”

Benson, who founded the group in 1970, said he attributes his long career to an “inability to quit.”

“I just love doing this,” he said.

At Inn of the Mountain Gods, people will get a chance to hear the band play songs that Benson said will cover “the entire history of Asleep of the Wheel.”

“So, we’ll play something from the first album (“Comin’ Right at Ya”), and we’ll play a bunch from the new album,” he said. “There’s obviously Bob Wills’ western swing music, but there’s also all the different things that we do, which is pretty wide ranging.”

Fans can expect to hear classics such as “Miles and Miles of Texas” and “Route 66” along with tunes from the band’s latest record, “Riding High in Texas,” their first new release since their 50th anniversary project “Half A Hundred Years” in 2021, according to the group.

“Riding High in Texas,” which was released in late August, includes covers of George Strait’s “All My Exes Live in Texas” and “Texas in My Soul,” which was written by Ernest Tubb and popularized by Willie Nelson.

Benson said on the group’s website they weren’t trying to make a Texas greatest hits album.

“That would have been too on the nose — and daunting,” he said. “We picked songs that fit this group the best and that Ian (Stewart) and I felt we could do justice to.”

Benson said three criteria were used in selecting the album tracks.

“One, (they were) songs we hadn’t done before,” he said. “It’s not a Bob Wills song and then it was just what we liked and what fit our voices.”

On Saturday, Benson said he hopes people tap their feet and have a good time as they listen to Bob Wills classics or two-step to Asleep’s latest Texas hits.

“That seems to be what we’re all about,” he said.

After Mescalero, Asleep at the Wheel will head back to Texas for a couple of shows.

Benson said he plans to continue performing “as long as my voice holds up and our bus holds up and people keep coming to see us, you know?”