The men and the legends

The men and the legends

DANNY CLINCH Willie Nelson joins Ray Price, Merle Haggard and Asleep at the Wheel for the Last of the Breed Tour, coming to Tulsa on Thursday.

By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
3/14/2007

Maybe it's boring to call Thursday's country concert at the Mabee Center a history lesson, but you could at least call it a night of "firsts."

Tulsa is one of only 15 cities hosting this tour, featuring Willie Nelson, Ray Price and Merle Haggard, dubbed the "Last of the Breed Tour," which started Friday in Prescott Valley, Ariz

Haggard, Price and Nelson will be performing together — as well as separately — Thursday, and Nelson and Haggard also plan a special duet. The tour coincides with Tuesday's release of a two-CD set of performances dubbed "Last of the Breed," featuring two new original songs from Haggard and Nelson.

The performers possess some of the most influential careers in music.

Let's start with Ray Price.

The man was a central figure in modernizing country music in the 1950s, said Asleep at the Wheel's towering guitarist and Bob Wills' historian Ray Benson, whose band will back Haggard and Nelson at Thursday's concert.

Price, who gave Nelson his first shot in Nashville with a spot in his band, developed the so-called "Ray Price shuffle," a swinging 4/4 time rhythm in his late 1950s hit, "Crazy Arms." Price, born in 1926 in Perryville, Texas, has hits stretching from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Haggard and Nelson put a grittier, rebellious turn on country music.

By now, the tale of the hard times that hit Haggard's family and drove them from Oklahoma is legendary. Checotah-area tenant farmers in the 1930s, their barn burned down and they lost their livestock, so they fled along with other migrants to

Bakers- field, Calif., where Haggard was born in 1937 in their converted boxcar home. His father died when Haggard was only 9, and his mother went to work, leaving Haggard with little supervision.

Haggard was more than a little wild. A botched burglary earned him a three-year stint in San Quentin prison.

When he got out of prison, Haggard returned to Bakersfield and began making music. His first country hit came in 1963, "Sing a Sad Song." Haggard's run of success continued through the 1980s, propelled by hits such as "Mama Tried," "Okie From Muskogee" and "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink."

Nelson started his career as a Nashville songwriter, whose songs were recorded by some of country music's biggest stars:

"Night Life" by Price; "Funny How Time Slips Away" by Billy Walker; "Hello Walls" by Faron Young; and "Crazy" by Patsy Cline.

By the mid-1970s, Nelson would not only break into the closed Nashville circle with his "outlaw country" movement, but would become a pop culture superstar with the release of his concept album, "Red Headed Stranger."

In 1976, Nelson would release country music's fi rst platinum album, "Wanted: The Outlaws!" which featured fellow outlaw country singer Waylon Jennings; Jennings' wife, Jessi Colter; and Tompall Glaser.

While Price, Nelson and Haggard haven't recorded an album together before, Haggard and Nelson put out a hit album of duets in 1982 called "Pancho and Lefty."

Putting the three superstars together on tour was Nelson's idea, according to Benson, who said Nelson called him asking whether Asleep at the Wheel would be the backing band for the tour.

"I said yes in a heartbeat, you know. And he OK'd it with Merle, only Ray decided he wanted to bring his own band for whatever reason. I don't know what's the matter with him," Benson said, emitting a deep soft chuckle.

Regardless, it's a sweet deal for the Western swing band, because Benson said he and his mates were introduced to Texas country music by the trio.

When interviewed by phone last week, Benson was in Arizona with his band, rehearsing Nelson and Haggard's material. They didn't need much studying up. "We'd know 'em all anyway," he said, laughing.

The Mabee Center show should be swimming with Western swing, Benson said — fitting, because Tulsa's Cain's Ballroom became the home for Western swing king Bob Wills in the 1930s and '40s.

Asleep at the Wheel also has a new album coming out Tuesday. Called "Reinventing the Wheel," the disc features the band performing with the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Benson backed Oklahoma's own Carrie Underwood and fiddler Johnny Gimble at the Grammys last month, performing Wills' "New San Antonio Rose."

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Matt Elliott 581-8366
matt.elliott@tulsaworld.com

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Concert

LAST OF THE BREED TOUR

featuring Willie Nelson, Ray Price, Merle Haggard and Asleep at the Wheel

When:
Doors at 6:30 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Where:
Mabee Center, 81st Street and Lewis Avenue

Tickets:
$38.50-$48.50 plus a service fee, available through www.mabeecenter.com, (800) 678-1353 and the box office, 495-6000

By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer