Grammy Award-winning fiddle player Jason Roberts is bringing his signature style swing music and the Jason Roberts Band to the Lampasas County Museum’s Western Night on Western.
The street dance is the museum’s annual fundraiser to be held Sept. 20.
Roberts, a 1993 graduate of Lampasas High School, has since been on the go playing music non-stop across the state. Music is a family thing in the Roberts clan. His grandfather, Buck Roberts, toured nationally with The Roberts Brothers Rhythmaires in the 1940s and ’50s.
As a 12-year-old, Jason Roberts fronted a band with his grandfather and other Rhythmaires’ veterans.
From the other side of Jason’s family, his grandmother played swing piano and he learned to play on his grandfather Carl’s fiddle -- an instrument Jason still plays today.
Legendary fiddler Johnny Gimble (a relative by marriage) took notice of young Jason’s remarkable natural talent and took Roberts under his wing.
“Every good lick I know, I stole from Johnny Gimble,” Roberts said.
By the time he was 15, Roberts had played with greats like Gimble, Leon Rausch and other members of Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys.
Roberts’ Western swing fiddle style and talent brought him to the attention of Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel. At only 16 years of age, Roberts couldn’t legally enter some of the Wheel’s venues, so he waited until he was 18 and graduated from high school to start his 16-year run with the world-famous swing band. It is with Asleep at the Wheel that Roberts earned two Grammy awards.
While with the Wheel band, Roberts said he was privileged to record with Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Johnny Gimble, Leon Rausch, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley and many others. He played with Van Morrison for a U.S. tour in 2006. Roberts also played on scores of studio recordings for artists across the country.
He has been inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame, Western Swing Society Hall of Fame, Western Swing Music Society of the Southwest Hall of Fame and the Cowtown Society of Western Music Hall of Fame.
Of course, Western swing would not be Western swing without the great Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. After Wills’ death in 1975, the remaining band members continued touring off and on with both veteran and new Playboys members.
In 2018, both the Wills estate and Rausch -- the last great Playboys’ vocalist -- handpicked Roberts as uniquely qualified to take over the band. During his stint with Asleep at the Wheel, Roberts actually played the part of Bob Wills for eight years in a nationally touring musical theater production, “A Ride With Bob.”
In addition to heading Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys under the Direction of Jason Roberts, the fiddle player also tours and performs with The Jason Roberts Band, offering both Wills’ famous Western swing music but also other country music gems including his own self-penned songs.
EVENT INFORMATION
Lampasas is always pleased to welcome home one of its favorite sons, this time as his band headlines the Western Night on Western street dance. The event will be held in front of the museum at 303 S. Western Ave.
Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the museum or online at Eventbrite.com. Tickets also will be available at the gate (cash only).
VIP tickets are $100 and include dance tickets, reserved seating, and admittance and refreshments at the Meet and Greet session with Roberts before the street dance.
General admission tickets are available for $25. These participants are invited to bring their lawn chairs to enjoy the evening.
Beverage coolers will be permitted at the event (no glass, please). Food concessions will be available for cash-only purchase.
The museum is open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For further information, call the museum at 512-5562224.
