“My life spins on the tip of the Devil's middle finger”
— Cash O'Riley - Tennesee Naughty Water
Biography
2018 Capital Area Blues Society Blues Brawl WINNER - to compete at the International Blues Challenge, Memphis, TN, 2019
2016/2017 Ameripolitan Music Award Nominee - Outlaw Male
The Band...
Cash O'Riley
Homemade 6 string oil can guitar crafted from a smashed Epiphone Dot and a 2 Gallon oil can from WWII.
3 string Ownsome Outlaw Driftwood slide from Highwood Guitars.
1960's Harmony 5 string banjo
Hohner Harmonicas
Barefeetin' foot drums
The Story...
Booze, Lust, Lies & Heartache...Sounds from a trailer park in the swamp filled with lustful heathens with unbridled rebellion that refuse to keep their shoes on...Born in Jackson, MI and raised a gypsy kinda life between Eastern Kentucky and Lake County, Florida, Cash O'Riley writes and sings songs about Hard Livin', Tough Lovin' and the temptations of Good and Evil. Raised on the likes of Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline as well as Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Ralph Stanley AND Motley Crue, The Misfits, Ramones and Fugazi, Cash's music is a blend of Rock & Roll, Blues, Folk, Punk, Country, Bluegrass and sometimes a little Jazz and Funk.
Before the release of his first album Booze, Lust, Lies & Heartache(2002), Cash O'Riley began to make a strong name and reputation for himself at major U.S. festivals such as Viva Las Vegas, Rockin' 50's Fest, Rockabilly Rebel Weekend and opening for such artists as The Reverend Horton Heat and Wayne Hancock. By the release of Get Lucky, Break Down or Die! (2006) Cash become a regular on many circuits and gained a dedicated and loyal following. Being invited to and performing at Ricky Nelson's induction into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in Memphis, TN and becoming a reccurring act on Tom Ingram's Viva Las Vegsas festival. Though the next few years would prove to a struggle both personally and professionally, Cash O'Riley remained dedicated and determined to succeed. In 2013 Cash suffered a mild stroke during sexual activities with his girlfriend brought on by a rigorous performing schedule and a poor diet of whiskey, cigarettes and bar food. O'Riley did recover quickly and was featured on the TLC Show Sex Sent Me To The ER which started to gain him fans abroad; five of Cash's original songs were used in the re-inactment and live footage. In 2014 Cash began touring the country as a One Man Band in a 1964 Chevy Bel-Air and working on a new album. Playing steady club dates along the East Coast and Mid-West while playing festivals like the New England Shake-Up, Billetproof, Fire In The Hills, Mountain Jam and Mississippi Mayhem to mention a few. He also built his first Oil Can Guitar from an Epihone Dot that he had smashed onstage and a 2 Gallon WWII Oil Can found at an Antique Store. This started springing him farther into Roots Music whille yearning for a more raw, dirty, romantic yet haunting sound. In the midst of this transition, Cash was nominated twice (2016/2017) for an Ameripolitan Award in the category of Outlaw Male in Austin, TX. Losing once to Whitey Morgan and once to Hank Williams III. These nominations began to fuel the fire of Cash's desire to complete the new album and explore a new direction. In the spring of 2016 Cash O'Riley began sessions for Stewed & Screwed Hellbilly Blues Vol. 1 - Music For Sirens & Sinners. Being a One Man band but still wanting a complete, full sounding studio album, Cash decided that the studio itself would becme an instrument as well. Writing every track and playing all instruments (Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Electric and Upright Bass, Harmonica, Banjo and Drums), it took Cash a year to complete the project. Since it's release in 2017, it has proven to be Cash's finest work yet. Expanding his touring regions and placing him again on major festivals like, Sins Of Steel, Moonrunner's Festival, SYMCO and has placed him opening for David Alan Coe at the Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan on FOUR consecutive SOLD OUT shows. In January of 2018 Cash decided that adding a bass player to his band would help create live what he had accomplished in the studio. Since then, Cash O'Riley and Mike Craycraft have been burning up the highways and tearing up the stages. They have just completed filming for Wild Women with Black Sedan Productions based in Detroit, Michigan and will be releasing it very soon.
The Music
Press links
2018 Capital Area blues Society- Blues Brawl - WINNER - follow up to compete in the International Blues Challenge,
Memphis, TN, 2019.
Ameripolitan Awards 2016 - Austin ,TX - Nominee - Outlaw Male - *Winner: Whitey Morgan*
WIDE OPEN COUNTRY PRESS RELEASE HERE
Ameripolitan Awards 2017 - Austin, TX - Nominee: Outlaw Male - *Winner: Hank Williams III*
WIDE OPEN COUNTRY PRESS RELEASE HERE
David Allan Coe wsg Cash O'Riley - SOLD OUT (Four Consecutive Dates 2016-2018)
3rd Coast Magazine - Freeform American Roots Chart:
"Get Lucky, Break Down or Die!" Charts and TIES with "Last Man Standing" by Jerry Lee Lewis! (2006)
Interview with Ponyboy Magazine - NYC
PONYBOY: Cash, we first saw you perform at Viva Las Vegas a few years back. Please tell us a bit about your background?
CASH O’RILEY: My first out of state gig was Viva Las Vegas in 2002 when it was still at the Gold Coast. Barry Klein, a writer for the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, saw me in Detroit on the Motor City Spinout and asked if I’d be interested in a side stage performance for VLV. For no pay and not even a demo recorded, I purchased bus tickets for the band and we hit it. We had such a great showing that Tom had already had an email waiting for me when I got home, inviting me to the mainstage for the next year.
PONYBOY: When and how did you first start getting into music?
CASH O’RILEY: I got my first guitar from my grandad at four years old while visiting Kentucky and it never left my side. I knew then and there that the music had chosen me. I could never afford or even cared for lessons. I watched what everybody I respected did and made it my own. I always cared about the sound and feeling much more than the technical aspects. It’s always been very emotional for me.
PONYBOY: Who have been your musical inspirations?
CASH O’RILEY: My uncle David Montgomery first and foremost. Growning up we moved alot and I was exposed to and liked an array of styles and bands. I grew up in the country and the city. If I had to name a few, it’d go a bit like this…Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Farion Young, John Cougar, Bob Dylan, The Ramones, the Cult, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dean Martin, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Ray Charles, Motley Crue, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, Misfits (Danzig), Agent Orange, Jackie Wilson and just about anything written by Otis Blackwell.
360 MainStreet Interview - "You Can't Play Rock-n-Roll and Go To Heaven"
...Since that modest beginning, Cash has gotten to eat dinner and talk about Elvis with Wanda Jackson when he opened for her in Cleveland, he's opened for Jerry Lee Lewis in Green Bay, and he was invited to the Rockabilly Hall of Fame induction for Ricky Nelson in Memphis where he played old tunes backstage with Barbara Pittman and W.S. Holland. He's toured from New York to L.A., played the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender this past spring and will return there next spring, and he plays regularly in Mid-Michigan. But when asked what his favorite show has been, he doesn't have an answer. "I love every show I do. I am one of the luckiest people alive because I get to do what I love for a living. Every show is my favorite. No matter where I'm playing...I'm getting to play."
Barry Klein - Rockabilly Hall of Fame - Review of "Booze, Lust, Lies & Heartache..." (2003)
..."Cash O'Riley is the kind of guy who will get things done no matter what, and that attitude shows up in this CD, and I have no doubt his show in Viva Las Vegas will further augment his rising reputation, and that is destined to happen no matter how many Downright Daddies make it to the stage in Vegas this Easter Weekend."
Review of "Get Lucky, Break Down or Die!" (2011)
...This is what I feel whenever I’m lucky enough to catch a show by Cash O’ Riley & the Downright Daddies. They got the spirit like it’s a new religion. They reveal the true country-punk nature of rockabilly and re-interpret the best tendencies of our forefathers while they were on their worst behavior.