Bobby Vee with his Telecoustic-inspired guitar built by Richard Leach. At the
age of 15, Vee formed a band that literally kept the music alive, filling in for
Buddy Holly and his band at a scheduled show in Moorhead, MN, following
the crash. Vee would go on to sell 28 million records and score six Top 10 hits.
On February 2, 2009, the families, friends and fans of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P.
“the Big Bopper” Richardson celebrated the music and legacies of the performers who
played the same stage 50 years ago before boarding a plane that would not reach its destination. The 50 Winters Later Commemorative Concert, was a star-studded event at the Surf
Ballroom in Clear Lake, IA. The television crew that produces Austin City Limits recorded
the event for eventual broadcast on PBS.
Guitar Legend Tommy Allsup
lost the coin toss for a seat
on the plane that crashed.
Allsup has 10,000 session
credits to his name, going
clear back to Bob Wills, and
was called “one of the finest
guitarists in the world” by
Paul McCartney. Here Allsup
plays his maple Tradition MTA
700 set-neck hollowbody.”
Graham Nash’s admiration for Buddy Holly runs deep—and even inspired the name of
his British Invasion-era band, the Hollies, which continues to perform today. He was also
born on February 2 (1942), which would later become known as the “Day the Music
Died.” Here Nash plays a vintage J-160E, one of Gibson’s first acoustic electric guitars.
