Asylum Street Spankers was an American acoustic blues and roots rock band from Austin, Texas, United States.

[3] The band was founded by Christina Marrs, William David "Wammo" Walker, and Guy Forsyth after a party at the Dabbs Hotel near the Llano River in Texas in 1994.

In their earliest days, the Spankers' repertoire consisted almost entirely of country, blues, jazz, swing, and Tin Pan Alley songs from the 1890s to the 1950s, with an emphasis on the 1920s and 1930s.

[8] Reconstructing the band, Marrs and Wammo began including more cross-genre experimentation, intricate arrangements, vocal harmonies, and humorous songs, sometimes with pointed social and cultural commentary.

In January 2011, Asylum Street Spankers won the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in the Gospel category for God's Favorite Band.

[citation needed] In March 2011, the band raised over $20,000 from fans in order to create a DVD retrospective and documentary centered around their final performances in Austin.

[10] The Spankers have covered songs by Prince, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Beastie Boys, The B-52's, Black Flag, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Harry Nilsson, The Jazz Butcher, The Violent Femmes, George Jones, Nirvana, Nina Simone, Nine Inch Nails, Oingo Boingo, Otis Redding, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and Johnny Cash.