70's troubadour Don McClean, once wrote a memorial to Buddy Holly entitled American Pie. This best selling piece laments February 3,1959 as the "day the music died." On this date a rising young musician from my home town of Lubbock, Texas tragically lost his life in a cornfield 8 miles north of Clear Lake, Iowa. One of Holly's band members recalls that fateful night in a post at MySanAntonio.com:
Allsup and Waylon Jennings, who also played guitar for Holly, were scheduled to board the chartered plane after performing in Clear Lake, Iowa, as part of the "Winter Dance Party" tour. Holly chartered the small plane for himself and his band members after growing tired of riding the tour bus, which had a malfunctioning heater. The plane would take them to the tour's next stop in Fargo, N.D.
"Buddy said to me, 'How'd you like a seat on the plane' and I said 'that sounds good,' " recalled the 77-year-old Allsup, who at 27 was among the oldest musicians on the tour. Valens was 17, Holly was 22, and Richardson was 28. Peterson, the pilot, was 22.
All sup's voice sometimes broke with emotion as he recalled the events leading up to the plane crash. The events, Allsup said, didn't occur as they were depicted in the 1987 Valens biopic "La Bamba," which showed the fateful coin toss happening at the airport.
Allsup, along with Holly and Richardson, who earlier had persuaded Jennings to give him his seat on the plane, were loading up a car to take them to the nearby Mason City Airport.
Allsup went back inside the Surf Ballroom, where the performers had just finished a show, to make sure they hadn't left any equipment behind. He passed Valens in the doorway on his way in.
"Ritchie was busy signing autographs and talking to some girls," Allsup said.
As Allsup made his way out the door, Valens, who earlier had asked Allsup to let him ride on the plane, once again tried to persuade the guitarist to give up his seat.
"I told him, 'Let's flip for it,' " Allsup said. "So I reached into my pocket for a 50-cent piece and said, 'Call it.' He called heads."
Allsup headed back to the car to tell the others that Valens would be riding on the plane with them, and he asked Holly to mail a letter home for him. In those days a special delivery letter required the mailer's identification, so Allsup searched his wallet for a form of I.D. that would work.
"Buddy told me to just give him my wallet," said Allsup, who later would be listed as a possible casualty when crews began searching the plane's wreckage and came across his wallet.
Allsup and the other musicians boarded their tour buses for the overnight trip to Fargo. They arrived at their hotel in the morning, and Allsup asked for a room next to Holly.
"The clerk said, 'Mr. Holly's not here and he's not coming. He died in a plane crash. It's all over the news,' " said Allsup, who had seen images of Holly and the others on a hotel lobby television but thought it was an advertisement promoting the upcoming show.
Indeed, Don McClean's sentimental poetry appeals to our the emotions. Like McClean we long for the good old days when Holly played at the roller rink and Hi-di-ho among budding little starry eyed bobby-soxers who sucked on root beer floats while greasy haired punks circled the drive in, eagerly hoping to get to home plate. Times seemed simpler then. Our small little West Texas existence inspired dreams of setting the great big old world on fire. Holly provided a local yokel version of Elvis the pelvis, helping us escape hillbilly music and immerse ourselves in this new pagan music we called rock' n roll. Pointy fingered preachers warned us rockers about the lake of fire awaiting all who listen to the devil's music. We didn't care. Buddy was our hero. And if he was going to hell then hell might not be a bad place after all.
Sadly, few people in the 1950's knew about Buddy Holly. Buddy offered rock a customized innovative Elvis like hiccuping, vocal anomaly which rockers outside of Lubbock failed to embrace in the 50's. They latched on to Elvis' brand complete with southern black intonations, but a white West Texas twangy Elvis failed to gain the attention of most Americans as Holly's record sales suggest. My father, a veteran announcer at KCBD television in Lubbock, once told me he never heard of Buddy Holly until he announced Holly's untimely death during his newscast. His trip to England, however, offers a different story. It was England that wrote the narrative we know today as the Buddy Holly story. Beatles taking their moniker from Crickets, Stones singing Not Fade Away, along with Lennon and McCartney effortlessly covering Words of Love, made inquiring minds want to know more about this composer Buddy Holly. If he could raise the passions of British rockers to such towering heights he must be a magician.
These promising young English rockers witnessed Buddy's 1958 performance at the London Palladium. That day Buddy planted a seed that later sprouted into a full grown world phenomenon known as the British Invasion
On March 1, 1958, Buddy Holly and The Crickets began a 25-day tour of England.
Many rock historians point to this tour as a major turning point in popular music. The British loved American rock ‘n roll, and the personal appearance of one of their favorite groups gave young English rockers a first hand look at how the music was actually made.
Paul McCartney would later recall watching Buddy Holly perform on Sunday Night at The London Palladium television program just to see which chords Holly used and where he placed his guitar capo.
Drummer Bob Henrit, who played with Adam Faith, would also add: "Jerry Allison was a schooled drummer and we weren’t. Every drummer played Peggy Sue hand to hand, but he played as a paradiddle. We didn’t even know what a paradiddle was! And the way he played Oh Boy was subtle. He was putting something into rock we weren’t seeing. We were emulating him without realizing what he was doing."
Even Holly’s physical appearance –– black horn-rimmed glasses and 3-button Ivy League jackets –– would influence early English rock fashions.
When the "British Invasion" began in the early ‘60s, it was led by musicians such as Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Keith Richards and others who were forever moved by Buddy Holly and The Crickets’ visit to England a few years earlier.
It is entirely fitting that the Rolling Stones’ first big hit was Buddy Holly & The Crickets’ Not Fade Away.
Very little video footage of Buddy Holly exists today. I provided a montage of video below for those desiring to witness a piece of rock history.
While McClean lost hope in 1959 the Buddy Holly story came to life that fateful February 3 and his legend grows with each passing day.
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, is a joy to listen to; a breath of fresh air; a familiar old voice in a light speed society. 
