As the founding member of Asleep At The Wheel, Ray Benson regularly urges crowds to “Boogie Back To Texas.” Now he’s asking the Country Music Television network to boogie into Austin.
On Thursday night, Benson taped a pilot for Country Music Television in front of a local audience of 1,300 at the Riverbend Centre. His idea for a new series combines music, comedy and interviews, a good ol’ fashioned variety show.
"The format is somewhere in between the Grand Ol' Opry and David Letterman,” Benson said. “It's not a talk show by any means, but there will be talking. I don't have a desk. I don't have a sidekick. Are there too many talks shows? Yes. That's why I didn't want a talk show. I wanted a music show where we talk,” Benson said.
It's still unclear whether CMT will give a green light to the as-yet-untitled series. Television networks routinely tape pilots for shows that never make the airwaves. But should Benson’s variety show make the cut, it's actually the talk show and comedy elements that will separate it from Austin City Limits, the gold standard for country music programming.
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Ray's variety show
Ray Benson taped a pilot for a country music variety show.
 
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"Austin City Limits is wonderful because its 28 minutes of music, period,” said Benson, who’s appeared on Austin City Limits a half dozens times and sought help from the show’s producers when formulating his plan. “On that show, if the performers want to say something it's fine, but it's pretty much what you do on stage. With our show there’s interview and a house band the people will appear with. That band will include a lot of Asleep At The Wheel alumni and local luminaries."
According to Wendy Morgan of the Austin Convention and Visitor's Bureau, should CMT pick up the series it could still wind up sharing something important with Austin City Limits -- a considerable economic impact on the city of Austin.
"Anytime you couple anything as sexy as live music with entertainment and television bringing to an audience of music fans, it's going to bring traffic into the city,” Morgan said. “It will also generate lots of talk about the city, more commentary and articles. All of that really helps boost Austin's reputation as a music center."
Already, the show has brought two folks to Austin: country stars Dolly Parton and Vince Gill. Benson said it didn't take any arm-twisting to get them to appear in the pilot.
"It was wonderful,” said Benson, who also invited Austin songwriter Bruce Robison to perform on the show. “Vince said 'Yeah, I'm down.' Dolly did the same. I have a longer list of people that are waiting to do it. We just have to get this thing off the ground first."
And with any luck it's off the ground and straight onto the air; once again bringing Austin music to a national television audience.
