He was always the side man. "I tell people the guy that plays the bass is the guy that don't sing that well and don't play the guitar that well," he said, laughing. In 1955, the year Harlan graduated from Drakesboro Consolidated High School, he wrote a song called "My Fate is in Your Hands," and Grand Ole Opry star Hawkshaw Hawkins recorded it. Harlan was still playing with the Melody Hands, writing songs and traveling to Nashville when he got married at 19. Though he'd established himself as a songwriter with Tree Publishing Co., he figured he needed a day job. He left for work at a service station in Chicago but hadn't been there three weeks when he got a call that country star Jim Reeves needed a bass player. The job was only for three days but could turn into something full time. "I'll be on the midnight bus," he remembered saying. It did turn into a full-time job, and Harlan played off and on for Reeves for three years. In 1958, he recorded his first 45 with "I Wanna Bop," and "Schoolhouse Rock," a twist on Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock." He remembers the first time he heard it on the radio — both sides — because he played it. Several times, in fact, one weekend on WMTA radio in Central City. Harlan didn't get another release from Brunswick Records. But he was still doing road work and playing bass for country superstars like George Jones and Ray Price. Then in 1959, Tree Publishing Co. secured a contract for him with RCA, and Chet Atkins produced a two-sider with songs called "This Lonely Man" and "Teen Jean Jive.” Harlan's brushes with fame had seemed to come in fits and starts. Finally, he thought, this was his big break. But a couple of months after he recorded the record in Nashville's famous Studio B, Atkins called to say he wouldn't release it. He didn't have faith it would sell. "It broke my heart," Harlan said. He got on a train for Arizona and didn't come back for 10 years. "That's when I gave up the music," he said. "That was in 1959.” With his wife and first son, Harlan drifted out west. First, he was a carpenter apprentice, then moved to California to work in the space industry, and went to school to become a computer technician. He moved to Louisville in 1968. It was time to come home. Soon after, he eased back into music, playing with a band called Sunny Watson and the Tradesmen. They played Catholic Church halls, weddings and Valentine's Day dances. He even wrote a song that ended up on the B side of Johnny Russell's album "Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer.” Harlan got married to his second wife in 1972 and had two more sons, in 1977 and 1979. But by then, Harlan had long given up the dream. It wasn't until 2010 that fame reappeared. Out of the blue, Harlan received an email from a Vegas organizer who wanted him to play an event billed as the largest rockabilly party in the world — the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend. "I had no idea what he was talking about," Harlan said. "I thought to myself, 'I haven't sung those songs in 50 years. I wouldn't know where to start.’ " Harlan turned down the offer a few times but finally agreed to an all-expense-paid trip to Vegas and $1,000 paycheck for playing the event. When Harlan arrived, he got the surprise of his life: He had fans from all over the world. He had no idea that when he was playing church halls in the late 1970s and early 1980s there had been a resurgence in rockabilly music's popularity. Fans sang along to "I Wanna Bop" but also to the songs RCA had never released. Bear Family Records, a German-based record company, had bought the masters to "Teen Jean Jive" and "This Lonely Man" and included them on a rockabilly compilation album. At age 75, Harlan stepped on stage in his black pants, black shirt, black boots and gold jacket. "They hit the key, I started singing, and the band joined right in," he said. It was the first time since 1959 — when he played bass for Jim Reeves — that he'd seen such a crowd. But this time, they were there to see him. Harlan stood in awe as rockabilly lovers from Sweden, Canada, France and across America lined up to have their picture taken with him and get his autograph. "People had been listening to my music for 30 years, and I had no idea about it," he said. Tom Ingram, the organizer who convinced Harlan to come to Las Vegas, has been a rockabilly disc jockey in clubs and on radio since the late 1970s. "I have played his songs so many times over the years, so to book him was an honor," Ingram said. Since the Las Vegas show, Harlan has played the Rockabilly Rave in 2013 in England and the Nashville Boogie Weekender this year. One of Harlan's biggest fans lives in France, another in Slovenia, in Eastern Europe. Harlan moved back to Muhlenberg County in 2005 after he retired from Hillerich & Bradsby, where he worked in computers. Now, he plays electric bass in the Benny Pryor Band every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday night. He gets paid, but it just covers gas and gives him a little pocket money. It's more about the fun of playing than anything else, he said. And he may play another festival in the fall of 2016 in Europe. One show seems to beget another then another. He also regularly stops by the small Muhlenberg County Music Museum in Central City, an old converted bank building, to play a jam session or talk to visitors. People come from all over the world to see black and white photos, concert T-shirts and ticket stubs from Muhlenberg County musicians, especially the Everly Brothers. Martyn Wheeler, on vacation from England, reads an article about Billy Harlan during his visit to the Muhlenberg County Music Museum. June 3, 2015 Scott Utterback/The C-J On a recent visit, he chatted with Martyn and Brenda Wheeler from Worcester, England, who came to see the Everly Brothers' home place. While looking through old photos and vinyl albums, Martyn Wheeler suddenly recognized "Teen Jean Jive" playing in the background. He had no idea who the man was standing in front of him. "I know this song," Wheeler said and then looked at Harlan. "Is that you?” Harlan grinned. "That's me," he said. "1959.” Harlan doesn't lament that fame came late. By some measures, he's lived a bit of the superstar lifestyle: He's had three wives, drives a Cadillac and still uses pomade to poof his gray hair, though not quite into the pompadour he once had. His wife of a decade, Ann Harlan, said they found each other at just the right time. She's proud of his accomplishments and loves to hear him sing — "all day long," she said. She even takes on the role of roadie when shows take him out of town for the night. At his age, Harlan isn't interested in pursuing royalties. It's enough to know that both a French Canadian and an Australian Aborigine covered his most famous tune, he said. After so many years away from the recording industry he never really thought "maybe one day" and was surprised when it actually came. If his life hadn't worked out the way it did, he wouldn't have his last two sons. And besides, his contemporaries like Roger Miller and Johnny Paycheck are long dead. And he's still here. "I have no regrets," Harlan said. But he occasionally thinks about what might have been, especially on stage when he sings "This Lonely Man," the ballad RCA never released. He can see his younger self on "American Bandstand" or "The Ed Sullivan Show" as the lead singer — the star. Where is my love? Where did she go? Why did she leave when I love her so? Please send her back, someone who can. Send back the one love for this lonely man. But those thoughts don't linger long before he remembers the feast and famine of the early days, the exhausting weeks on the road, the time away from family. He knows he made the right decision in 1959. He can't say exactly when it happened, but his broken heart mended long ago. Back in his Muhlenberg County home, Harlan is certainly not a lonely man. And it may have taken more than 50 years, but his love — the music, his dream — came back to him.

Reporter Kristina Goetz can be reached at (502) 582-4642. Follow her on Twitter at @KGoetz1. … Read full text with pic.’s here >>> Billy Harlan