Willie & The Wheel

It's a match made in honky-tonk heaven. Outlaw-country icon Willie Nelson and Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel have teamed up for an album, "Willie and the Wheel," which comes out today, and will kick off a joint tour February 11, 2009.
The album was conceived by legendary R&B producer Jerry Wexler, who got to hear the finished product before he passed away in August. Wexler first tried to make a Western swing album with Nelson in the '70s, when Nelson was recording for Wexler's label, Atlantic. The project was shelved when Nelson moved to the Columbia label, but revived after Nelson toured with Merle Haggard, Ray Price and Asleep at the Wheel in 2007.
info & album available HERE

R.I.P.: Jerry Wexler

Pioneering music executive Jerry Wexler, who helped build Atlantic Records into a rhythm and blues powerhouse in the 1950s and 1960s with artists like Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, died in Florida on Friday at age 91.
His influence was not limited to R&B. He helped guide the careers of many artists, including rockers Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits and the B-52's, as well as Bob Dylan and country star Willie Nelson.
obit HERE