Billywentballistic.Hegot verydrunkand
broke into the Sun studio one night and
proceeded to smash it up. Phillips was called,
but instead of alerting the police, he sat Riley
down on the studio floor and the two men
talked until dawn while working their way
through abottleofwhisky. Samhadother and
bigger plans forBilly, or sohe toldhim, but in
reality thishadbeenhisbest chance and ithad
been snatched so cruelly away.
Thingswerenever the samebetweenRiley
and Phillips after the
Red Hot
debacle. Was
Billy’s career being held back because Sam
neededhimandhisbandas sessionmusicians?
There is at least circumstantial evidence to
support such a conspiracy theory, but in any
event the next record
Wouldn’t You Know
bombed completely and in May 1958 Billy
walked out on his Sun contract and drove to
Nashville where he recorded
Rockin’ On The
Moon
atOwenBradley’s Studio, the songwas leased toBrunswick.
In hindsight, not all of Riley’s problems can be put down to bad luck. Sometimes his
impulsive behaviour was equally self destructive, as when he was booked tomake a guest
appearanceonDickClark’s highly influential ‘AmericanBandstand’ television show and to
record for one ofClark’s labels.Thiswas the ideal opportunity tokick start
Rockin’OnThe
8
