THROWBACK THURSDAY: The Alien Rockabilly of Billy Lee Riley

Happy birthday, Billy Lee Riley!

Born in Pocahontas, Arkansas exactly 84 years ago (Oct. 5, 1933),  Riley was the son of  a sharecropper who learned to play guitar from Afican-American farm hands.

Riley, who died in 2009,  never got as big as Elvis or Carl Perkins or Jerry Lee Lewis (who played piano on his biggest hit), or other Sun Records stars.

But Billy Lee Riley made rockabilly go intergalactic.

It was a crazy novelty song he recorded for Sun Records in 1957 called "Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll" -- a tune that forever cemented the cosmic links between UFOs, 1950s rock 'n' roll, tacky sci-fi movies and Cold War paranoia.

You must realize that Commies and aliens were out to destroy America -- and some truly believed that a bunch of wild-eyed hillbillies playing savage, unholy music were leading the way.

Here's proof:



But it in the years before "Flying Saucers," in the early 1950s,  Riley gigged around Arkansas in various bands, including one called The Dixie Ramblers, which included Cowboy Jack Clement. Clement and fellow Rambler Slim Wallace recorded a couple of sides by Riley in 1956, which impressed Sam Phillips, who released a single for Sun Records.



Another classic Riley song for Sun was "Pearly Lee."



"Pearly Lee was the flip side of  "Red Hot," a song originally recorded by Billy "The Kid" Emerson for Sun Records. (Confession: The first version I heard was the mid-60s cover by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs.)

Bob Dylan, who befriended Riley decades later, thought "Red Hot" was was Billy Lee's masterpiece. Here's what Dylan said about the song just a couple of years ago at the 2015 Grammy Awards:

"So Billy became what is known in the industry -- a condescending term, by the way -- as a one-hit wonder. But sometimes, just sometimes, once in a while, a one-hit wonder can make a more powerful impact than a recording star who's got 20 or 30 hits behind him. And Billy's hit song was called "Red Hot," and it was red hot. It could blast you out of your skull and make you feel happy about it. Change your life. "



And later, Riley would even make a music video for the sexy, sleazy Scopitone company. (I've featured Scopitone a couple of times HERE and HERE

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Tribute to the American Waitress

She's more than just a server of food.

In American song, the waitress is a friend and frequently a fantasy lover of truckdrivers, starry-eyed poets, lonesome drifters and other lost souls on the Lost Highway.

She's appeared in the work of some of my favorite songwriters. Below are just a few examples




Loudon Wainwright III has some advice that any waitress would appreciate in a song "for Patty and all the girls ..." Tip that waitress!"



The Roches sing "Mr. Sellack" from the point of view of a waitress having to grovel to get her job back.



Here's a classic by Santa Fe's own Terry Allen, "The Beautiful Waitress."



Sometimes waitresses fantasize about their customers, at least in the fantasies of Dan Hicks. Here's "Sweetheart (Waitress at a Donut Shop)," sung by Maryann Price.



Kinky Friedman wrote at least a couple of songs about waitresses. Here's "Waitret Please Waitret."



But Kinky's greatest waitress song is "Highway Cafe" sung here by Tom Waits on a Kinky tribute album.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Dispatch from Mar-a-Largo by L7
Treat Her Right by Los Straitjackets starring Mark Lindsey
Crime of Love by Jack Oblivian
Sheela Na Gig by PJ Harvey
Valley of the Wolves by The Ghost Wolves
Makin' Love by The Sloths
Headin' For the Texas Border by Flamin' Groovies
Sorrow Avenue by The Howlin' Max Messer Show
Just Dropped in to See What Condition My Condition Was in by Mojo Nixon

Warm Hands (Freedom Returned) by Ty Segall
Mountains of the Moon by The Grateful Dead
Night Expo by Thee Oh Sees
I'll Take It by James Leg

Captain of the Creeps by Oh! Gunquit
Billy by Boss Hog
You'll Bring Me Flowers by The Darts
Hey Little Girl by The Dead Boys
I'm the Unforgiver by The Masonics
Monkey With Your Tail by The Cramps
Let it All Out by The Movements
Corner Remix by The Grannies

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart by J.C. Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Welfare Bread by King Khan & The Shrines
If I Ever Get Home Before Dark by Gogol Bordello
Happiness by Lisa Germano
I Thought He Was Dead by Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls
Loser by Family in Mourning (with Lydia Lunch)
My Man is a Mean Man by Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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A New Hillbilly Episode of The Big Enchilada

This month's show, "Cow Tippin' "will knock you off your feet. Especially if you're of the bovine persuasion. Sit back and enjoy another fine hillbilly episode of The Big Enchilada!

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Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Bluegrass Breakdown by Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys)
Dangerous Times by The Imperial Rooster
War Whoop by Legendary Shack Shakers
Exit 14 by Reach Around Rodeo Clowns
Wanna Get Outta Here by The War & Treaty
Billy the Kid by Jonny Barber & The Rhythm Razors
She's Way Up Thar by Hal O'Halloran's Hooligans

(Background Music: Topeka Polka by Spade Cooley)
Freddy Lopez by Joe West
The Sound of Laughter by Joecephus & The George Jonestown Massacre
Godzilla vs. King Kong by Boris McCutcheon
The Poor Girl's Story by Eilen Jewell
My Man's a Jolly Railroad Man by Moonshine Kate
Tennessee Whiskey by Harry Dean Stanton

(Background Music: Rambler's Stomp by Doug Bine & His Dixie Ramblers 
Broke Broom Blues by Mose McCormack
Hotel Yorba by Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones
Amos Moses by Les Claypool's Duo de Twang
Darling Nellie Across the Sea by Hylo Brown & The Timberliners
Darktown Strutters Ball by Howard Armstrong with Ikey Robinson & Ted Brogan
(Background Music: Struttin' with Some Barbecue by Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons with Phil Wiggens)

Play it below:

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, Sept. 29, 2017
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Diggy Liggy Lo by Doug Kershaw
She Gave Up on Herself by Miss Leslie
Who Shot Sam by George Jones
I Had My Hopes Up High by Joe Ely
I'm a Little Mixed Up by Eilen Jewell
5 Minutes to Live by Joecephus & The George Jonestown Massacre
(Sing a) Worried Song by Legendary Shack Shakers
Twelve Gates by Joe West
I Like to Sleep Late in the Morning by David Bromberg

All of the Monkeys Ain't in the Zoo by Tommy Collins
If You Ain't Livin' You Ain't Lovin' by Faron Young
Carolyn by Merle Haggard
You Better Not Do That by Tommy Collins
No One Likes Me by The Imperial Rooster
White Trash by Bottle Rockets
Precious Memories by The Blasters
May The Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose by Little Dickens

I'm Just a Honky by The Ex-Husbands
White Man's World by Jason Isbell
Tell the Devil I'm Gettin' There as Fast as I Can by Ray Wylie Hubbard with Lucinda Williams and Eric Church
Walk Right Back by Chris Hillman
Take a Message to Mary by The Everly Brothers
Stoplight Kisses by The Cactus Blossoms
Lay You Down by Nikki Lane
Ol' Dude with an Attitude by Tommy Miles

You Remind Me / 13 Roses by Beth Lee & The Breakups
All Apologies by Iron Horse
Way Down in My Soul by Zephaniah Ohora
What's the Score by Don Williams
Streets of Baltimore by Del McCoury Band
Guess I Got It Wrong by Robbie Fulks
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets


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