Name: Chandler Hall Health Services
Width: 3.625"
Depth: 9.75"
Color: Black plus one
Comment: Good Life
Benson Continued from Page 17
Benson is a longtime friend and collaborator of some of the
biggest names in country music, including Dolly Parton.

Benson’s own career as a performer began at age 10, when he and
his sister Sandy performed with a folk music group called The Four
G’s. Benson, who played guitar, found himself hooked on performing
when the children’s group played with the Philadelphia Orchestra
in front of 5,000 people.

While he excelled at music, mastering the sousaphone and bass
and playing in orchestras and marching band, Benson had a tough
time in school; although highly intelligent, his attention deficit dis-
order made it hard for him to concentrate, and he frequently got in
trouble for talking in class.

After graduating from Penn Charter in 1969, Benson enrolled
in Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, as a filmmaking student,
but dropped out in 1970 to start Asleep at the Wheel with friends
Reuben Gosfield and LeRoy Preston. The idea was to bring every-
thing they loved about Western swing music, which developed in
the 1920s in the Southwest, to a new generation of fans who would
appreciate its combination of jazz and blues accented by trombone,
trumpet, clarinet, guitar and steel guitar. Benson describes it as “a
great amalgamation of Afro-American, jazz, blues, swing and Texas
country fiddling.”
Some 100 musicians have played with Asleep at the Wheel over
18 DECEMBER 17, 2015
THE GOOD LIFE
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM