LITTLE ROCK — The musicians who played the rowdy rockabilly music of the 1950s will return to a popular nightclub for a concert Sunday to benefit one of the pioneers of that musical genre.
More than 50 musicians are scheduled to perform at the Silver Moon Club on U.S. 67 in Newport to raise money for the family of Billy Lee Riley, who died Aug. 2 in Jonesboro after a bout with cancer.
Riley, 75, was known worldwide for his rambunctious style of music that paved the way for Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. His rollicking hits, "Red Hot" and "Flying Saucers Rock 'n' Roll," released in the late 1950s, captured the merger of rock 'n' roll, country music, and rhythm and blues.
The concert will be from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10.
Riley and others began their careers playing nightclubs and honky-tonks along U.S. 67, including the Silver Moon in Newport. State legislators approved naming the stretch of road from Jackson County through Randolph County the "Rock 'N' Roll Highway U.S. 67" to memorialize the rockabilly musicians who trekked the road during concerts.
Musicians scheduled to perform Sunday are Sonny Burgess and the Pacers; W.S. Holland, who played in bands with Perkins and Johnny Cash; CarlMann; Ace Cannon; Larry Donn; Dale Hawkins; Smoochy Smith; J.R. Rogers; Warren Crow; Travis Wammack; C.W. Gatlin, who played in bands with Levon Helm and Ronnie Hawkins; and Teddy Reidel.
Ben Jones, an actor who played Cooter Davenport on the television show The Dukes of Hazzard, will also attend and sign autographs.
"I hope everybody in that neck of the woods will show up to help out a man who brought us so much great music and caught a bad break," Jones wrote in a news release about the concert on his Web site. "Believe me, he would have been there for us."
Burgess and musician Bobby Crawford organized the event to help defray medical costs. They originally planned to hold a benefit concert Aug. 3 for Riley. He died a day before.
"This mushroomed," Burgess said of the concert. "All the guys wanted to play. It didn't take all that long to get the musicians signed up."
Burgess called Riley the "pioneer" of the rockabilly movement.
"No one knew what we were doing," he said. "It wasn't structured music back then. You had Sam Phillips [of Sun Records in Memphis] turn on a recorder and we'd play.
"It will be sad playing without him there," Burgess said of Riley. "It would be a lot nicer if he was around."
Arkansas, Pages 16 on 08/29/2009