Benson was inspired to record an album based on the Battle of Alamo after learning that there was to be no soundtrack produced for the upcoming film The Alamo (2004). The band recorded several songs based on the event, and inspired by the state of Texas generally, including one original composition based on Ozzy Osbourne's infamous visit to the Alamo cenotaph in 1982. Remembers the Alamo was the band's last album to feature guitarist Jim Murphy and fiddler Haydn Vitera.
Background
Asked by Lone Star magazine about the link between Asleep at the Wheel Remembers the Alamo and the 2004 film The Alamo, Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson explained that "the movie was the whole idea. A friend of mine from L.A. [actor Billy Bob Thornton, who stars in the film][1] said "They're not doing a soundtrack record" ... you'd think with an Alamo movie, some prominent Texas artists might be used, but they didn't ever call anybody up. So we thought, well, if they're not going to do it, we will! Because there's such great music involved. And I knew all the songs."[2] All the songs recorded for the album were linked with the Battle of the Alamo or Texas in some way, including songs from the original 1960 film The Alamo, popular compositions about the state, and traditional pieces dating from the time of the Battle.[3]
Remembers the Alamo includes one original composition, "Don't Go There", which was written by Benson and the band's drummer David Sanger about the infamous event in 1982 in which heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne was arrested for urinating on a memorial for the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio.[4] Benson, who has described it as "the pièce de résistance" of the record,[3] recalled that "We were doing the album and said, "We've got to do a song about Ozzy." So David went home and thought up the title and most of the words, and I finished it," adding that "We sent a copy of the song to Sharon Osbourne, but nobody has called back."[2]
Media response to Asleep at the Wheel Remembers the Alamo was generally positive. Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Thom Jurek described it as "a wonderfully wrought, engaging, enlightening, and thoroughly delightful listening experience," praising Benson for "humaniz[ing] the Alamo for the listener, giv[ing] it faces, feelings, context, and a new kind of endurance that is certainly romantic, but is also far more realistic than most historic accounts."[4] Similarly, Jim Abbott of the Orlando Sentinel wrote that "Benson and his band are well-acquainted with Texas spirit ... That ultimately transforms this album from a lesson into something more memorable."[5]
Reviewers noted the range of material included on the album. Jurek highlighted the mix of "traditional melodies ("Remember the Alamo"), old fiddle tunes ("Soldier's Joy") ... nationalistic anthems ("Davy Crockett"), classic cowboy tunes ("Yellow Rose of Texas") [and] modernist hits (Bob Wills' "New San Antonio Rose")" in his praise of the album, concluding that "Benson's sound world is one that crisscrosses time and space and employs many textures ... as well as his ready (corny) sense of humor".[4] Abbott added that the album successfully mixes "faithful renditions of soundtrack songs ... with the occasional reworked standard or wry original."[5]
