"[Bob Dylan] alleges that Hootie used ... certain music ... without [his] consent."

I love Dylan as much as anybody ever, but for Pete's sake the man has $350K just in Hootie & The Blowfish money. He can afford to give Billy Emerson a proper credit. #JusticeForBillyTheKid (1/10) https://twitter.com/phoebe_bridgers/status/1278502782719287296

BOB DYLAN: "For me, there is no right and there is no left. There's truth and there's untruth, y'know? There's honesty and there's hypocrisy." (2/10)

Billy Emerson had the most releases on Sun Records of any Black artist. He delivered the goods, again & again, but was consistently overlooked & under-promoted.

Excerpts from "The Second Coming of Billy the Kid": https://tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/the-second-coming-of-billy-the-kid/2191119/ (3/10)

Billy Emerson left the music business 40 yrs ago to join the church. He is 94. He is not well-off, & he is not in good health. He should not have to chase down the credit he is owed.

Image from the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress (4/10)

A GoFundMe was established for Billy Emerson in 2016 after he hit some hard times.

I've been told by someone who knows that Emerson was not contacted by anyone affiliated with Dylan or Columbia Records prior to the release of "False Prophet." (5/10) https://www.gofundme.com/f/billythekidemerson

Billy Emerson was not credited on "False Prophet," nor was he mentioned in the liner notes of ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS.

Some have said that he should be grateful he's gotten "publicity."

You can't eat publicity. (6/10)

In 2015, Bob Dylan received the MusiCares Person of the Year Award. He ended his acceptance speech with a moving tribute, thanking MusiCares for helping "a friend of [his], Billy Lee Riley": "They were able to at least make his life comfortable, tolerable to the end." (7/10)

Dylan spoke of Billy Lee Riley's song "Red Hot": "It could blast you out of your skull. Change your life. ... I must have been only 15 or 16 when I [heard it] & it's impressed me to this day. I never grow tired of listening to it."

"Red Hot" was written by Billy Emerson. (8/10)

Like Dylan, I am glad that Billy Lee Riley received support. As Dylan said, "He was a true original."

So was Billy Emerson. I hope he receives support, too.
And I hope that Bob Dylan & his team will be a part of that support system, by giving him the credit he deserves. (9/10)

I'd like to end by sharing this video of Billy Emerson receiving the 2017 Florida Folk Heritage Award. It makes me smile. If you've made it this far, I think it might make you smile, too.

Let there be #JusticeForBillyTheKid. (10/10)