(427) BILLY LEE RILEY : SUN RECORDS PROTEGEE

Wes' cousin Dean reminded us that BILLY LEE RILEY passed away in August of 2009. We went through our archives to see what we'd posted on Billy before, and saw that the links needed to be updated.

See post (183)!

Like Elvis, Billy Lee Riley started out on that local label that became one of the most famous small labels in Rock-A-Billy and Early Rock and Roll : SUN. But here's a song Billy recorded in 1965. If you go right to the YouTube site you can read what the video poster wrote about Billy - all good.

BILLY LEE RILEY 2007 RED HOT

Billy Lee Riley, an original Sun recording artist, played for me on some demo productions I did years later.

VIDEO REPLACED APRIL 2014

(201) RCS DISCOGRAPHY THE SUN RECORD LABEL and SAM PHILLIPS

Using the RCS Discography site that we just bragged so much about, let's take a a look at the SUN record Label. As we know, so very many artists who made it big made their first recordings at this Memphis recording studio. If you've read our recent posting about the earliest video of Elvis ever made (also posted below) you may see that he was there backstage somewhere with a group that included Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, who were an original Sun recording artist too, as was Charlie Rich, Billy Lee Riley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and many others.

Click on the Title Above to get to the exact page for the Sun label's RCS Discography...

Below Edwards and Callahan give their Sun Records Story...

BSNPUBS - EDWARDS AND CALLAHAM - THE SUN RECORD LABEL  link

(185) BILLY LEE RILEY AND HIS LITTLE GREEN MEN

Thinking about Jerry Reed, I got to thinking about another Southern musician who made it in Hollywood, Billy Lee Riley, who was also an original Sun label artist as well and who did a bit of harmonica playing for me when I was producing records. Billy Lee, in the spirit of space exploration we've been talking about as well as the spirit of my song "Tiny Spaceman," had a band called Billy Riley and His Little Green Men back in 1957. They had a song called "Flying Saucers Rock and Roll."

Linking to a Discography for Billy Lee Riley. He's got a Rockin Country Style page, just like me and a lot of other early Rockabilly artists. (We love RCS Discography!)

RCS DISCOGRAPHY on BILLY LEE RILEY  updated April 2014