Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium
Thursday, October 9 - 2008 Entertainment Schedule
The Thursday night concert (7:00 pm to 11:00 pm) is another stellar lineup of Country and Western Music legends. Tickets are $75 for premium-reserved seats and $40 for reserved seats. Premium-reserved ticket holders are invited to a pre-concert party.
7:00 - 8:00 PM: Leon Rausch & the Texas Playboys featuring Tommy Allsup
Much as been said and written about the legendary Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.
They are synonymous with the style of music called "Texas Swing". Today,
33 years after Wills death, many of the former members (there have been 600 over
the years) still play and perform.
In 1956, Leon Rausch was in Tulsa following his love and talent for Western
Swing music when he met Bob Wills. Bob asked Leon to become a Texas Playboy
as lead vocalist. Leon soon joined Bob’s band on St. Patrick’s Day in 1958. From
that point on, things were never the same for Rausch.
After Wills died in 1975, Betty Wills, his widow, decided to put together some
dates for the Playboys. The band was called “Bob Wills’ Original Texas Playboys”
and their collective mission was to keep Bob's music alive! The members of this
band were some of Bob's greatest and most liked musicians and they named Rausch
as the lead vocalist.
Having worked with the legends of our time in country music. Leon Rausch is a
first-class strictly country artist. His smooth, solid voice and western swing
delivery make him one of the more popular artists in the country. Leon has
appeared with such artists as Glenn Campbell, Roy Clark. Loretta Lynn, Waylon
Jennings, Willie Nelson, George Strait, Jim Reeves, the son's of the pioneers,
Ernest Tubb, Patsy Cline, Mel Tillis, Roy Acuff, and many more.
Tommy Allsup started his musical career in Claremore, Oklahoma in 1949 with the
"Oklahoma Swingbillies." In 1950, he went to work with fiddle player Art Davis in
Miami, Oklahoma; from there to the Cowboy Inn in Wichita, Kansas with singer,
fiddle player Jimmy Hall. In 1952 and 1953, he moved back to Tulsa, Oklahoma to
join the "Johnnie Lee Wills Band." From 1953 to 1958, he had his own band, "The Southernaires" in Lawton, Oklahoma with homebase being the Southern Club.
In 1958, Tommy's career would take a different direction. On a trip to Clovis,
New Mexico to record at Norman Petty's famous studio, he met the late Buddy
Holly. In April, he started playing lead guitar with Holly and the Crickets. He
continued playing with Buddy until the fatal plane crash that took Buddy's life,
along with the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. It was Allsup who flipped a coin
with Ritchie Valens for a seat on the ill-fated plane.
After Holly's death, Allsup moved to California to join Liberty Records as A & R
Director of all Country and Western product to begin producing the great Bob
Wills and the Texas Playboys. His association with Wills lasted through Wills'
"For The Last Time" LP, recorded on December 2-3, 1973, in Dallas, Texas, where
Bob Wills recorded his first records in 1935. Allsup used some of the original
Texas Playboys on the last recording (McAulliff, Shamblin, Dacus, Strickland).
Bob Wills directed the sessions from his wheel chair.
Tommy still lives in Azle Texas where he remains active in the music business.
He has played guitar or bass on over 6500 recording sessions. All of this is
good enough for Tommy Allsup, who has few regrets. "I never really wanted to be
a big star, I figured I'd leave that to someone else."
8:15 - 9:15 PM: The Quebe Sisters Band
The Quebe Sisters Band is one of the most exciting new groups to come on the music scene in years. Formed in 2000, the Quebe Sisters Band (pronounced Kway-bee) performs a refreshing blend of western swing (Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys), hot jazz and swing standards (Benny Goodman), western (Sons of the Pioneers), vintage country and traditional Texas style fiddle tunes.
The group features the intricate triple fiddles and vintage style 3-part harmony vocals of Grace, Sophia, & Hulda Quebe, along with the swinging rhythm guitar of Joey McKenzie, and upright bassist Drew Phelps.
9:30 - 11:00 PM: Asleep at the Wheel
In 1969, Ray Benson co-founded
Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia.
Soon after, they found themselves opening for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna in
Washington, DC. A year later, they moved to East Oakland, CA at the invitation
of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. After being mentioned in Rolling
Stone magazine by Van Morrison, they landed a record deal with United Artists.
In 1973, their debut album, Comin' Right At Ya was released by United Artists.
In 1974, at the request of Willie Nelson, they left Oakland and moved to Austin,
TX.
Asleep at the Wheel is not just your typical dance band, they're an institution:
an ever-shifting lineup (over 80 members to date) of like-minded musicians
united under Benson's crusade to carry the torch of big band Western Swing music
into the 21st Century. If you want to hear what Texas sounds like, all you need
to do is pop in an Asleep at the Wheel CD.
The band's biggest success was in 1999 when their critically acclaimed album
Ride with Bob struck gold on the charts and at the Grammys.
"This is improvisational music, which I think is the whole ball of wax, because
that's where the rubber really meets the road -- and it's why we play it," says
Benson. "I think it's interesting to listen to updated versions of what people
do, hearing how they have evolved. People change, and I love to have the luxury
of having a career this long to do it. Part of the impetus was touring with Bob
Dylan a couple of years ago. Every night, Dylan would do those songs a little
differently, and it made it very exciting to see where they were going to go
each night."
After 39 years, Asleep at the Wheel's importance in today’s music cannot be understated as they have continued
to carry the torch of western swing and pack venues across the globe.
Founder Benson sums it up, "We're a dance band. That's what we're about. And
that's plenty."