were a major influence on the music of Asleep at the Wheel during its formative years. According to frontman Ray Benson, the band was initially "pretty primitive... playing hippie-country-western-rock", before he heard Merle Haggard's tribute to Wills, A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World, which was released in 1970. Describing the album as "the Rosetta Stone I'd been looking for", Benson added that he was drawn to Wills' Western swing because it "incorporated both jazz solos and blues songs". As a result, almost every album since the group's 1973 debut Comin' Right at Ya has featured at least one recording of a song composed or made popular by Wills, which Benson claimed "the public has always zeroed in on responded very strongly to". Benson pitched his idea of a Bob Wills tribute album to several record labels with which the band was formerly signed, but was turned down as they did not predict that the project would be commercially successful. It was eventually picked up by Liberty Records. Production of the album took approximately seven months in total. Benson intentionally selected less well-known songs to record for the album, approaching numerous popular country music performers to contribute to each. The band's frontman noted that he "could have done a four-record set" due to the level of interest from other artists, including numerous musicians who did not feature such as Reba McEntire, Leon Redbone and Lee Roy Parnell. A making-of video documenting the record's production was later released by Liberty in promotion of the album's release.
Reception
Commercial
Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys entered the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number 159 and the Top Country Albums chart at number 36. A few weeks later it peaked at number 35 on the country chart. On the Cash Box magazine Top Country Albums ranking, it peaked at number 21 in December 1993. Outside the US, the album spent four weeks on the Canadian RPM Country Albums chart and peaked at number 17. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Tribute... had sold over 193,000 copies in the US by January 1995.
Critical
Media response to Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys was overwhelmingly positive. Writing about the album for The Tennessean, country journalist Robert K. Oermann suggested that the band had "prove that the diversity, flexibility and breadth of Bob's western-swing sound can still astound young listeners," praising the added "star-power" of the featured artists. Similarly, Indianapolis Star columnist John Hawn wrote that "bandleader Ray Benson has outdone himself here by recruiting a diverse group of 18 musicians... All perform within the framework of Bob Wills-style fiddlin' and yodelin', yet all inject their personalities". Shirley Jinkins of the Casper-Star Tribune called the release "one of the must-haves for any serious music collector", while AllMusic's Michael McCall dubbed it an "exemplary album". Several writers for Billboard magazine included Tribute... in their end-of-year lists for best album of 1993. Eric Boehlert, Radio Features Editor at the time, ranked it at number 1, reviewing it as "An all-star lineup doing drop-dead gorgeous country swing". New York Correspondent Jim Bessman included it at number 4 on his list, writing that "Ray Benson & Co.'s love affair with Bob Wills and Texas Swing is celebrated merrily." Two other editors for the magazine also included the album in their top fives. The publication's review of lead single "Red Wing" described the song as "a sprightly rendition of the class fiddle tune, adorned considerably by the playing of" its featured performers. Its review of the follow-up "Blues for Dixie" called the track "one of the best moments from one of last year's best albums".
