Ray Benson
Award-winning comedian Rich Hall takes a country music journey from Tennessee to Texas to look at the movements and artists that don't get as much notoriety but have helped shape the genre over the years. With the help of prominent performers and producers including Michael Martin Murphey, Robbie Fulks and Ray Benson, Rich explores the early origins of country music in Nashville and Austin. He visits the rustic studios where this much-loved sound was born and discovers how the genre has reinvented itself with influences from bluegrass, western swing and americana.
The story of Doug Sahm, the wild man musicians' musician and unsung hero of Texas music. A country music child prodigy and teenage rhythm & blues dynamo who caused a riot at his San Antonio high school, Sahm emerged as an international rock star leading the Sir Douglas Quintet. He landed in San Francisco just in time for the Summer of Love in 1967. He returned to Texas as the cowboy hippie rocker who built a burgeoning music scene in Austin in before forming the Tex-Mex supergroup The Texas Tornados. A kinetic, quirky character with a solid sense of place as well as an innate wanderlust, Doug Sahm’s story is the story of Texas music.
Texas has a rich history of music, so there are lots of resources for "The Texas Music Scene," a half-hour series that presents performances by and interviews with some of the best Lone Star State talents. There's no discrimination here, as both up-and-coming artists and veteran acts perform. Even the host has a prolific resume in the recording industry: Ray Benson, founder and lead singer of Asleep at the Wheel, has won nine Grammys throughout a career that has lasted more than 40 years. Unlike Austin City Limits and many other live music programs, TMS gives the viewer unique access to these artists. “I wanted to give our viewers an experience that’s different than when you are out at a concert,” said Tom Hoitsma, the executive producer of the show. “It’s great fun to see these acts live but you can’t really get up close and personal with them at a live show. With the television series we’re focused on delivering a more intimate viewing experience.”
Traditional Western swing and good ol' fashioned honky-tonk music just doesn't get any better than this. With a short run of 15 performances in 2007, the Last of the Breed tour united Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price to celebrate their elder-statesmen status as Country Music Hall of Famers with over 150 years of shared experience between them.
Wild Texas Wind is an 1991 American made-for-television drama film distributed by Sandollar Productions, directed by Joan Tewkesbury and starring Dolly Parton, Gary Busey, and Ray Benson. Parton co-wrote the story with Mark Kiracofe, as well as multiple songs from the film with Benson.
