CMT News

Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson is working on the followup to the band's Grammy-winning Bob Wills tribute album, Ride With Bob. He tells country.com it'll be a "best of the Wheel" album, and it'll be released on his own independent record label. "I've had it with these major labels," Benson said Tuesday (Nov. 7). "I don't need them and they don't need me. We're in that time period where everything is changing in terms of how you make records, so we're real excited." The Wheel has worked with major labels Columbia, Epic, Lucky Dog, MCA-Dot, Capitol and DreamWorks Nashville, which released Ride With Bob. Benson said he hopes to have the "best of" collection out in March on the as-yet-untitled label. "We're going to re-record a lot of tunes that aren't available anymore," he said. The bandleader also is working on a special album of "just Texas songs." Asleep at the Wheel will hit the road early next year with the George Strait Music Festival for the fourth consecutive year.