Asleep at the Wheel is an American country band based in Austin, Texas. Formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia in 1970, the group originally consisted of vocalist and guitarist Ray Benson, vocalist and drummer LeRoy Preston, steel guitarist Lucky Oceans, bassist Rob Silver, and pianist Danny Levin, who were joined later by bassist Gene Dobkin, and vocalist and guitarist Chris O'Connell. The band's current lineup includes Benson alongside vocalist and fiddler Katie Shore (since 2014), fiddler and mandolinist Dennis Ludiker (since 2016), pianist and keyboardist Connor Forsyth (since 2016), bassist Josh Hoag (since 2017), steel guitarist Flavio Pasquetto (since 2019), drummer Jason Baczynski (since 2020), and saxophonist Joey Colarusso (since 2021). History 1970–1980 Asleep at the Wheel (AATW) was originally formed in January 1970 in Paw Paw, West Virginia. The band's initial lineup featured lead vocalist and guitarist Ray Benson, second vocalist and drummer LeRoy Preston, pedal and lap steel guitarist Lucky Oceans (real name Reuben Gosfield), and pianist Danny Levin. By the time they made their live debut a few months after forming, the band included Gene Dobkin on upright and electric bass, replacing Richard Fitzhugh who left after he "kind of went nuts", according to Benson. By the end of the year the group had added two female backing vocalists, Chris O'Connell and Emily Paxton, although the latter had to leave after a few months due to "family matters". In August 1971, the band relocated to Oakland, California and Levin remained in West Virginia. After adding pianist Floyd Domino (real name Jim Haber) to the lineup in 1972, AATW signed with United Artists Records and issued its debut album Comin' Right at Ya the following year. In February 1974, the group moved to Austin, Texas. Dobkin was replaced by Tony Garnier, Richard Casanova joined on fiddle, and in the summer the group released its self-titled second album on Epic Records. The next year saw the release of Texas Gold on Capitol Records, featuring original pianist Levin returning on fiddle, new drummer Scott Hennige (Preston switched to rhythm guitar) and saxophonist Ed Vizard. For the 1976 album Wheelin' and Dealin', the group added second fiddler Bill Mabry and replaced Vizard with Link Davis Jr. Shortly after its release, Chris York replaced Hennige and Pat "Taco" Ryan joined on saxophone. Two years and two more albums (The Wheel and Collision Course) for Capitol later, AATW suffered its first major lineup