Asleep at the Wheel remains unique in its overview of American music, with a repertoire ranging from be-bop to western swing to classic rhythm & blues. The only trouble in the past was that, in order to experience the excitement, you had to see them live. Their two previous albums were stiff and forced. Finally, with Texas Gold, they have released an album worthy of their talents.

Since moving from California to Texas, they have established themselves, getting notices in the Texas press that hail them as "the successors to Bob Wills." The tribute is apt because Asleep at the Wheel is likewise concerned with blurring the boundaries that demarcate American popular music into rigid categories. Wills was fascinated by black music and would often go pub-crawling in black ghettos after hours. Thirty-five years later, Asleep at the Wheel mixes tunes by Clifford Brown, Toussaint McCall, Bob Wills, Buddy Emmons, Ernest Tubb, Leroy Preston and Louis Jordan and calls it a night's work.

Texas Gold, which unfortunately boasts one of the worst album covers since the wane of psychedelia, is similarly varied. It reunites AATW with their first producer, Tommy Allsup; "The Letter That Johnny Walker Read," the album's first cut and its initial single, shows that he can cut standard Nashville hits. There's also a boogie medley, "Roll 'Em Floyd" (abridged from the live version), which showcases pianist Floyd Domino's virtuosity. Chris O'Connell sings better than ever on the ballad "Nothin' Takes the Place of You" and the hymn "Where No One Stands Alone." Leroy Preston has two fine originals, "Tonight the Bartender Is on the Wrong Side of the Bar" and "Runnin' after Fools," and also belts out "Let Me Go Home Whiskey," a jump blues by Amos Milburn. Two Bob Wills numbers, "Fat Boy Rag" (recorded with a number of Wills alumni, as was the boogie medley) and "Trouble in Mind" frame the album and highlight guest fiddle-and-electric-mandolin wizard Johnny Gimble. One LP is not nearly enough to display this band's talents. (RS 199)

ED WARD