{image1}Eddie Rivers didn't recognize the number on his caller ID, but he picked up the call anyway. It's a damn good thing he did, because on the line was Ray Benson, lead member of the western swing band Asleep at the Wheel.
Benson called Eddie Rivers to ask him to move to Austin, Texas, and join the Grammy-winning band. Rivers, who plays steel guitar and tenor sax for The Western Box Turtles, Milwaukee's only western swing band, thought it was a joke. Afterall, Asleep at the Wheel is one of his all-time favorite bands.
"I thought someone in the band (The Western Box Turtles) was messing with me," says Rivers who has played guitar for 30 years. "Once I realized it was really him (Benson), I was floored. He asked me if I wanted to join the band right over the phone and I said 'why sure.'"
Rivers was asked to audition for the band years ago, but declined because his children were young. Now that they're grown, it seems like the ideal time to adopt a new lifestyle and move to a new location.
Although he has lived in Beaver Dam his entire life, the 50-year-old Rivers plans to relocate to Austin permanently. At first he will flop with friends until next spring or summer, at which point his fiancée will join him in Texas and the two will find a place together.
Rivers joined Asleep at the Wheel in New York last Tuesday to play the first gig of their summer tour that will eventually lead him back to Milwaukee for a June 26 Summerfest gig.
Asleep at the Wheel travels more than half the year, which Rivers says will take some getting used to, but he's thrilled to make the adjustment and already feels confident with the band's material.
Rivers, who worked for 18 years as a prison guard at the Waupun State Prison, will make more money playing with Asleep at the Wheel.
"There's just lots of work in Austin in general," he says. "It's not like around here."
Rivers replaces Jim Murphy, who is very ill with cancer and no longer able to endure the rigorous tour schedule.
"He's a fine steel guitar player," says Rivers.
Western swing music dates back to the '30s and '40s. The genre is a combination of blues, Dixieland, ragtime, big band, country, pop and jazz, relying on improvisation, beat and dance ability. Or, according to the Western Box Turtles Web site, western swing is "fiddle music with a big band beat."
Despite the loss of Rivers, the campy-and-jump-jivin' Western Box Turtles continue to crawl from gig to gig.
"The Western Box Turtles are in fact continuing to play western swing music to midwestern masses," drummer and vocalist Andy Pagel assures.
Asleep at the Wheel got its record deal when Van Morrison raved about them in Rolling Stone in the early '70s. The band was an instant hit with the same fans that embraced Willie Nelson and the rest of the outlaws. Although they only scored one Top 10 country hit --1975's "The Letter That Johnny Walker Read" - they've collected eight Grammys since then.
"I'm really excited about all of this. I never thought I'd get a break," says Rivers. "And then out of the blue came the call."
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
