Ray Benson Swingin' And Skankin'

When Doctor Dread first approached Ray Benson from Asleep At The Wheel about doing a reggae/western swing mashup they both looked at each other and said “well, that could be interesting”! and as Tom Ray from Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis so perfectly phrased it “It will be where the two step meets the one drop”. This had never been attempted and Doctor Dread was prepared to go where no man had ever gone before in his quest to create a music collaboration that had never been heard before. So Dread made plans to have Ray and former Asleep At The Wheel bass player (and current bass player with Bob Dylan for over 30 years) Tony Garnier both come to Jamaica to record with Jamaica’s top session players to lay down the reggae riddims necessary for this exciting new project. It was like the Wrecking Crew were all assembled at famed music recording studio, Music Works, in Kingston Jamaica. Sly Dunbar (Jamaica’s most prolific and “famous” drummer of all time), Dwight Pinkney and Steve Golding from the Roots Radics on guitars and Robbie Lyn as keyboardist and arranger were all ready to make things happen. It took only two days to record the ten tracks for the album. Both Ray and Dread picked out which tracks would be included and there are some great versions of songs from Bob Wills, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan (that’s a lot of Bobs!) and many other as well. The vibes were great and the Jamaica part was complete. Now it was up to Ray to voice the songs and add the elements of Western Swing that would take this into another dimension., and he killed it. With his instantly recognizable baritone delivery, this became a Ray Benson record like no one has ever heard before. Adding Asleep At The Wheel co-founder and pedal steel player Lucky Oceans (all the way from Australia). AATW fiddle Player Katie Shore and others on accordian, sax, and background vocals, this was becoming a tour de force with a sonic element that was very exciting. And to top things off we added guest spots from Willie Nelson, Warren Haynes, Pato Banton and Stanley Jordon. It was now time to put a mix to this incredible project. So Dread, Jim Fox (from Lion & Fox) and Steve Mazure (who is Ray’s engineer) all convened in Austin to put in a Reggae vibe while at the same time highlighting the western swing elements into completing the album. Mission accomplished! Yes, the two step and the one stop are finally united!