Asleep at the Wheel brings Texas swagger to Carmel.

After 45 years, 30 records and nine Grammys, Asleep at the Wheel retires tonight.

Not really. But this Austin, Texas, Western swing outfit could.

That’s because they’ve already amassed enough to carry a career. Their most recent accomplishment: a bonanza of 22 amazing special guests appearing on their latest album.

Just two days before the Weekly caught up with Asleep at the Wheel founding frontman, Ray Benson, they finished recording a tribute to fellow Texan Bob Wills, featuring everyone from Willie Nelson and Old Crow Medicine Show to Merle Haggard and the Avett Brothers.

But Benson is tight-lipped about giving away any additional details until the record comes out in March 2015.

“You’ll just have to wait for it,” he says in a deep Texas drawl as long as his 6-foot-7-inch frame.

Benson’s been recording a lot as of late. Earlier this year, he released his first solo record in a decade, A Little Piece, which he says is his most personal.

“Asleep at the Wheel is more in the realm of dance music and entertainment,” Benson says. “[A Little Piece] is about what’s going on in my life and in my head.”

The one tune on the record that Benson didn’t pen, “It Ain’t You” by Waylon Jennings, has as deep of a personal connection as the originals.

“It deals with the process of aging,” he explains.

But Benson, 63, isn’t moving at an AARP pace. He’s touring and recording full-time, adding that regular performances are the only way for a band to make a living in the Spotify age. He also hosts a weekly television show The Texas Music Scene With Ray Benson (available in 100 U.S. cities and YouTube), featuring interviews with various rising talents.

After decades of touring, Benson has made tons of friendships, even writing a musical, A Ride With Bob, to commemorate singer-songwriter Wills’ 100th birthday. More recently he has brokered a fruitful collaboration with ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro. Last year, the two jammed in Denver. Recently, Shimabukuro joined Asleep at the Wheel in Austin for a surprisingly potent ukelele-Western swing fusion.

“The language of music is universal,” Benson says. “We’ve jammed with musicians in Brazil and throughout Europe. We didn’t speak the same language, but we spoke the language of music.”

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL 8pm Saturday, Nov. 15. Sunset Center, San Carlos and Ninth, Carmel. $29; $39; $49. www.sunsetcenter.org.