Billy Lee Riley

Another great artist that like several others, didn't get the fame and glory he deserved, nor became well known in our region nor the era he wrote and played his music. Although people are familiar with the hits he scored, they often have no clue who the artists was.

Young Billy Lee began playing harmonica at age six, and learned blues guitar in his early teens. "Blues is the music I grew up hearing on the plantation. There were black families and white families all living together, far from town. We were poor, and playing music was our main form of entertainment."

Proficient at harmonica, guitar, bass, and drums, Riley contributed as a sideman to many a classic Sun session, and his combo the 'Little Green Men' (most notably guitarist Roland Janes and drummer James Van Eaton) in time became the Sun house band.

Introduction:

Billy Lee (Pocahontas, 5 oktober 1933 - Jonesboro, 2 augustus 2009) grew up in a large family with 7 brothers and sisters. He learned to play the guitar from black cotton pickers and farm workers, and got influenced by the surrounding country, hillbilly and blues music.
After four years in the Army, he first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1955, before being persuaded by Sam Phillips to record for Sun Studios. He then recorded "Trouble Bound", produced by Jack Clement and Slim Wallace. Hij played as session musician with some of the greatest Sun-artists, but als recorded al lot under his own name, with little to none success and left SUN around 1959. He became the victim of Jerry Lee Lewis, who got all attention when he started selling records and became famous.

The records he recorded early sixties for Rita Records, Mojo Records, Pen Records, GNP after he had left SUN were also not sold very well.

Success

For Billy Lee Riley succes came when Elvis died and the Rockabilly revival in the eighties caused that popularity for the music he had played all that time, gained. Although due to the lack of commercial successes, he had already stopped as professional musician, but when in 1978 "Red Hot" and "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll" were covered by Robert Gordon and Link Wray, he got the opportunity for a one-off performance in Memphis in 1979. Now the music he wrote and played end fifties got noticed and led to further recording at Sun Studio and a full-time return to performing. Since then, he has been revered by fans worldwide as a living rockabilly legend and has performed regularly at international rockabilly festivals. He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997 for his blues album "hot damn!", nadat Bob Dylan hem bewonderde, and steun gaf. In 2009 it was announced that Riley was suffering from cancer, from which he died later that year.

Some titles:

Rock with me Baby - 1956 (SUN245)
Trouble bound - 1956 (SUN245)
Flyin' Saucers Rock & Roll - 1957 (SUN260)
I want you Baby - 1957 (SUN260)
Red Hot - 1957 (SUN277)

There are a lot of un-issued recordings from the late fifties that were released on Bear Family and Charly as Alternate versions.

Website
http://www.rockabilly.net/billyleeriley/

ALBUMS:

Harmonica & the Blues, Crown, 1962

Hot Damn!, Capricorn, 1997

The Legendary Sun Performers: Billy Lee Riley, Charly, 1977

Sun Sound Special: Billy Lee Riley, Charly, 1978

In January 1957 ''Rock With Me Baby'' was issued as SUN245, before SUN records became the legendary Memphis label. With ''Trouble Bound'' on the other side

Billy Riley
Writer(s): J. Clement, B. Riley, R. Wallace
(1956)

January 1957 issued as SUN260. This two-minute hillbilly racket was titled, “Flyin’ Saucers Rock ’n’ Roll.” and among those Little Green Men was a young, maniacal, hotheaded piano player, Jerry Lee Lewis.

Billy Riley and The Little Green men

written by: (Harold Raymond) Ray Scott

''RED HOT'' was issued in January 1957 as SUN277. Along with Riley on vocals and guitar were guitarist Roland Janes, drummer J.M. Van Eaton, bassist Marvin Pepper, and Jimmy Wilson on piano. The record did not chart.

Billy Riley and The Little Green men
written by: Billy 'The Kid' Emerson (1955)