WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 Welcome to the Deep Dive, where we take a stack 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:03.980 of sources and distill the vital, unexpected 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:07.040 threads that truly make you well -informed. Today, 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:10.099 our focus is an artist whose professional career, 00:00:10.259 --> 00:00:13.460 I mean, it barely even spanned two years. But 00:00:13.460 --> 00:00:16.579 his influence is just... It's inescapable. We're 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:18.140 talking about Charles Harden Holly, who the entire 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:21.500 world knows as Buddy Holly. It's arguably one 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:23.960 of the most pivotal and frankly tragic short 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:26.160 careers in all of rock history. It really is. 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:28.379 Yeah. So when we look at the source material 00:00:28.379 --> 00:00:30.780 for this deep dive, the biographies, the musical 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:34.340 analysis, the testimonials, our mission becomes 00:00:34.340 --> 00:00:36.969 pretty clear, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. We have 00:00:36.969 --> 00:00:39.070 to unpack how this young man from Lubbock, Texas, 00:00:39.170 --> 00:00:41.090 didn't just write some of rock and roll's most 00:00:41.090 --> 00:00:44.570 timeless songs. He, and this is crucial, he basically 00:00:44.570 --> 00:00:47.189 provided the architectural blueprint for the 00:00:47.189 --> 00:00:49.789 modern rock band. The blueprint. I love that 00:00:49.789 --> 00:00:51.909 phrasing. That's what it was. We're distilling 00:00:51.909 --> 00:00:54.409 the details of a life lived with just incredible 00:00:54.409 --> 00:00:57.850 intensity between, what, roughly 1952 and that 00:00:57.850 --> 00:01:00.700 plane crash in 1959. And when you say architectural 00:01:00.700 --> 00:01:02.240 blueprint, you're talking about the standard 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:04.840 rock lineup, right? The two guitars, bass and 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:07.859 drums. That's the one. The format that basically 00:01:07.859 --> 00:01:10.700 every major band from the Beatles right on through 00:01:10.700 --> 00:01:13.260 to today would adopt. And he's only 22 when he 00:01:13.260 --> 00:01:16.700 died. It's just the legacy is monumental. Exactly. 00:01:16.700 --> 00:01:18.900 He was the prototype. I mean, his work was so 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:21.319 distinctive, so influential. It's why he was 00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:23.180 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 00:01:23.180 --> 00:01:26.260 in its very first class in 1986. Right alongside 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:29.180 Elvis and Chuck Berry. He belongs in that company. 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:33.019 And even as late as 2010, Rolling Stone ranked 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:35.980 him number 13 on their list of the 100 greatest 00:01:35.980 --> 00:01:39.159 artists. So this isn't just about nostalgia for 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:42.140 you, the listener. It's about recognizing. the 00:01:42.140 --> 00:01:44.640 foundation that so much popular music was built 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:47.280 on. Okay, so let's unpack that blueprint. Let's 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:49.299 see where those foundational pieces were first 00:01:49.299 --> 00:01:51.900 laid down, starting way back in Lubbock, Texas. 00:01:52.219 --> 00:01:53.939 Right in the depths of the Great Depression, 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:56.219 Charles Harden Holly was born there, September 00:01:56.219 --> 00:02:00.159 7th, 1936. Youngest of four children. And the 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:03.079 whole family was musical. All the siblings, Larry, 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:06.159 Travis, Patricia Lou, and Buddy, they could all 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:09.020 play an instrument or sing. I think their father 00:02:09.020 --> 00:02:11.150 was the only one who didn't play. That's right. 00:02:11.449 --> 00:02:14.310 Ello, their dad, was the exception. But he was 00:02:14.310 --> 00:02:16.550 incredibly supportive. He was always encouraging 00:02:16.550 --> 00:02:19.610 them to sing hymns, local tunes, whatever was 00:02:19.610 --> 00:02:22.210 around. And the sources have this fantastic anecdote 00:02:22.210 --> 00:02:25.629 about his absolute earliest musical attempts. 00:02:25.770 --> 00:02:29.919 It kind of highlights a pattern of... of ingenious, 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:32.379 slightly rule -breaking solutions he'd use his 00:02:32.379 --> 00:02:35.099 whole career. Oh, the infamous violin incident. 00:02:35.219 --> 00:02:37.699 Yeah, it's a great story. Tell us about it. So 00:02:37.699 --> 00:02:39.460 his older brothers, Larry and Travis, were in 00:02:39.460 --> 00:02:41.919 local talent shows, and little Buddy wanted in. 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:44.479 He chose the violin. The only problem was... 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:46.919 They could play it. Not a note. So his brother 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:49.379 Larry, showing that classic Holly creativity, 00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:52.139 took a stick of axle grease and just rubbed it 00:02:52.139 --> 00:02:54.500 all over the bow to silence it completely. No 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:57.560 way. Yes. So Buddy gets on stage. He's miming 00:02:57.560 --> 00:02:59.639 along furiously, not making a single sound. And 00:02:59.639 --> 00:03:01.759 they still won the contest. That's incredible. 00:03:02.139 --> 00:03:04.379 But, you know, it's a funny story, but it also 00:03:04.379 --> 00:03:06.900 kind of foreshadows how he'd later get around 00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:09.900 that really restrictive DECA contract, doesn't 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:12.520 it? It's a perfect parallel. always finding an 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.240 unconventional solution. His formal training, 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:17.500 though, was pretty brief. Yeah, his mom pushed 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:19.740 him towards the piano. For about nine months, 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:22.379 but he quickly gave it up. The real turning point 00:03:22.379 --> 00:03:24.620 came on the school bus when he saw a classmate 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:26.939 playing a guitar and singing. And that just clicked 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:29.180 for him. Instantly. The connection between the 00:03:29.180 --> 00:03:31.939 guitar, the voice, the performance, it all made 00:03:31.939 --> 00:03:34.259 sense. And it wasn't just any guitar he wanted. 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:37.280 His parents got him a steel guitar first, which 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:40.280 was huge in Texas country music then. But he 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:42.699 immediately insisted on an acoustic, just like 00:03:42.699 --> 00:03:44.919 the one his brother Travis had. Travis taught 00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:47.780 him the basic chords. And that choice, the acoustic 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:50.219 six string, that was really key, wasn't it? It 00:03:50.219 --> 00:03:52.780 was crucial. It tied him directly into the folk, 00:03:52.819 --> 00:03:55.680 country, and blues traditions. It let him be 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.340 both a rhythm and a lead player at the same time, 00:03:58.379 --> 00:04:00.639 which, you know, became central to his whole 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:03.560 style. So his early influences were exactly what 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:05.360 you'd expect from a young Texan in the early 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:07.819 50s. Well, absolutely. It was pure country and 00:04:07.819 --> 00:04:11.020 Western Hank Williams, Jimmy Rogers. He and a 00:04:11.020 --> 00:04:13.639 friend, Bob Montgomery, formed a duo, Buddy. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:15.439 and Bob. And they were playing a lot of covers. 00:04:15.539 --> 00:04:17.899 All covers. Acts like the Leuven Brothers, listening 00:04:17.899 --> 00:04:21.019 to the Grand Ole Opry and Louisiana Hair Ride. 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:24.040 They were really aiming for that commercial country 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:26.300 market. But here's where the divergence begins. 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:29.540 The blending of influences that would create 00:04:29.540 --> 00:04:32.720 that rock and roll sound. And it was like a nocturnal 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.899 thing. Holly and his friends would sit in his 00:04:34.899 --> 00:04:37.100 car late at night after the local stations went 00:04:37.100 --> 00:04:39.639 off the air and they'd scan the dial for these 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:41.959 distant frequencies. And what were they finding? 00:04:42.459 --> 00:04:45.259 powerful blues and R &B stations, mostly aimed 00:04:45.259 --> 00:04:47.839 at African American audiences. I mean, by the 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:50.040 standards of Lubbock, Texas in the 50s, this 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:53.720 was almost like illicit listening. So he's actively 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:56.339 seeking out sounds that are culturally a world 00:04:56.339 --> 00:04:58.860 away from the country music he's playing every 00:04:58.860 --> 00:05:02.300 day. Precisely. That deliberate exposure let 00:05:02.300 --> 00:05:05.220 him soak up R &B structures, chord progressions, 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:08.000 that energy, and then integrate it into his country 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:12.259 foundation. By 53, he and Bob are regulars on 00:05:12.259 --> 00:05:14.620 a local radio show, still mostly playing country. 00:05:14.819 --> 00:05:17.439 But the modification was underway. It was. And 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:19.420 then came the seismic event that pushed him all 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:22.100 the way. The arrival of Elvis Presley in Lubbock 00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:25.060 in 1955. Right. Holly opened for him three times 00:05:25.060 --> 00:05:27.300 that year. Three times. February, April, and 00:05:27.300 --> 00:05:30.389 June. And the impact was... is just immediate 00:05:30.389 --> 00:05:33.490 and visceral. Holly saw that this was the future 00:05:33.490 --> 00:05:35.970 of music. He'd just graduated high school, and 00:05:35.970 --> 00:05:38.110 that experience with Elvis convinced him. He 00:05:38.110 --> 00:05:40.410 was going to pursue music full -time and pivot 00:05:40.410 --> 00:05:43.129 his band style completely to rock and roll. And 00:05:43.129 --> 00:05:45.509 he changed the lineup almost overnight, bringing 00:05:45.509 --> 00:05:48.370 in a stand -up bass and, critically, Jerry Allison 00:05:48.370 --> 00:05:50.550 on drums. And the drums were a big deal. The 00:05:50.550 --> 00:05:52.529 Nashville country scene was still really resistant 00:05:52.529 --> 00:05:55.430 to drums. They were seen as too loud, too suggestive 00:05:55.430 --> 00:05:58.009 of, you know... Race music. So by adding drums, 00:05:58.089 --> 00:06:00.050 he was basically signaling his total commitment 00:06:00.050 --> 00:06:03.860 to this new rebellious sound. Absolutely. And 00:06:03.860 --> 00:06:07.680 that new aggressive style got him noticed. After 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:09.920 opening for Bill Haley in his comments in October 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.439 55, a Nashville scout named Eddie Crandall spotted 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.779 him. Which leads directly to the Decca Records 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:19.079 contract in February 1956. And this is where 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:21.379 the name change happens. The famous misspelling. 00:06:21.540 --> 00:06:23.980 Yeah. When Decca drafted the contract, they just 00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:26.680 mistakenly wrote Holly instead of his legal name, 00:06:26.779 --> 00:06:29.660 Holly. A simple typo. And it just stuck. From 00:06:29.660 --> 00:06:32.319 that moment on, he was Buddy Holly. Yep. But 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:34.040 that whole experience in Nashville, which was 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:35.819 supposed to be his big break, it turned into 00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:38.750 this this source of deep creative frustration 00:06:38.750 --> 00:06:41.129 for him artistically it was a total disaster 00:06:41.129 --> 00:06:43.329 for him it was his sessions were controlled by 00:06:43.329 --> 00:06:46.209 the producer owen bradley now bradley was a huge 00:06:46.209 --> 00:06:48.889 figure famous for crafting these lush orchestrated 00:06:48.889 --> 00:06:51.430 hits for stars like patsy klein so he was trying 00:06:51.430 --> 00:06:54.129 to fit holly into that polished sanitized nashville 00:06:54.129 --> 00:06:57.209 box and holly was trying to make raw r b infused 00:06:57.209 --> 00:07:01.529 rock and roll the collision was inevitable bradley 00:07:01.529 --> 00:07:03.769 dictated everything he picked the session musicians 00:07:03.769 --> 00:07:06.720 who were great players but totally unsuited for 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:09.100 rockabilly. And Holly wasn't even allowed to 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:11.560 play lead guitar, was he? Nope. He was stuck 00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:14.180 on acoustic rhythm behind these hired studio 00:07:14.180 --> 00:07:17.740 pros. The sources are really clear. He had pretty 00:07:17.740 --> 00:07:21.079 much zero creative control. So his first real 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:24.040 singles, Blue Days, Black Nights, and Modern 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:26.519 Don Juan, they just kind of fizzled. They sounded 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:28.720 too constrained. They didn't capture any of the 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:31.879 fire he had on stage. So Decca just declined 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:35.670 to renew his contract in January 1957. But they 00:07:35.670 --> 00:07:37.970 didn't just let him go. This is the brutal part. 00:07:38.129 --> 00:07:41.350 They added this restriction. They legally barred 00:07:41.350 --> 00:07:43.410 him from rerecording any of the songs he'd done 00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:46.129 for them, including an early version of That'll 00:07:46.129 --> 00:07:49.069 Be the Day for five years. So he's just been 00:07:49.069 --> 00:07:51.370 fired and now he can't even use his own material. 00:07:52.139 --> 00:07:54.720 That's brutal. It's a huge roadblock. They essentially 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.459 locked away his earliest work, which forced him 00:07:57.459 --> 00:07:59.839 into one of the most brilliant pieces of contract 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:02.300 subversion in rock history. The invention of 00:08:02.300 --> 00:08:04.699 the crickets. It's a classic case of necessity 00:08:04.699 --> 00:08:07.360 being the mother of invention. Holly was looking 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:10.319 for creative freedom away from Nashville. He 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:12.360 saw that other artists were having success with 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:15.279 indie producers. So he seeks out Norman Petty. 00:08:15.709 --> 00:08:18.310 in Clovis, New Mexico. Right, hoping that an 00:08:18.310 --> 00:08:20.970 independent studio might be his only path forward. 00:08:21.189 --> 00:08:23.829 And Petty's studio offered exactly what Nashville 00:08:23.829 --> 00:08:27.139 didn't. Freedom. He was finally in control. Yes. 00:08:27.300 --> 00:08:30.420 In Clovis with Jerry Allison and his new bassist, 00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:33.299 Joe B. Malden, he recorded a new demo of That'll 00:08:33.299 --> 00:08:36.059 Be the Day. The very song he was legally barred 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:39.299 from recording under his own name. Exactly. And 00:08:39.299 --> 00:08:41.919 this time he played the lead guitar, getting 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:44.559 that distinctive percussive sound that he wanted 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:46.460 all along. And the origin of that song title 00:08:46.460 --> 00:08:49.639 is such a perfect slice of 1950s Americana. It 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:52.100 really is. The line, That'll Be the Day, comes 00:08:52.100 --> 00:08:54.100 directly from the John Wayne movie, The Search. 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:56.179 Right. Wayne says it over and over again in the 00:08:56.179 --> 00:08:59.240 film. It's this phrase of like wry disbelief. 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:01.720 The story goes, Holly and Allison saw the movie 00:09:01.720 --> 00:09:03.539 and just thought it would make a great, slightly 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:06.419 cynical rock lyric. So now Petty has this great 00:09:06.419 --> 00:09:09.840 demo. How does he legally get around that ironclad 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.960 DECA restriction? This is where the legal genius, 00:09:13.220 --> 00:09:15.919 or maybe sneakiness, comes in. Petty becomes 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.519 Holly's manager and sends the demo to Brunswick 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:21.299 Records. Which was a subsidiary of DECA. The 00:09:21.299 --> 00:09:24.399 very same company that had just fired him. So 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:27.240 to completely sidestep the five -year ban on 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:30.100 Buddy Holly recording that song, Petty just credited 00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:32.740 the track to a fictional band, the Crickets. 00:09:32.919 --> 00:09:35.360 A name suggested by Jerry Allison, right? They 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:37.779 sound like other insect -themed bands. That's 00:09:37.779 --> 00:09:41.000 the one. And because the artist's name was different, 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:44.440 Decca couldn't stop it. Brunswick loved the raw 00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:46.980 energy of the demo so much they released it as 00:09:46.980 --> 00:09:49.899 is. So Decca was essentially putting out a hit 00:09:49.899 --> 00:09:52.710 record. by an artist they just dropped using 00:09:52.710 --> 00:09:54.549 a song they technically owned the rights to. 00:09:54.789 --> 00:09:57.610 Amazing. It's incredible. And this wasn't just 00:09:57.610 --> 00:10:00.070 a one off trick. It became the foundation of 00:10:00.070 --> 00:10:03.049 Holly's calculated double career strategy. OK, 00:10:03.129 --> 00:10:05.230 let's slow down here, because this dual identity 00:10:05.230 --> 00:10:07.889 strategy is where the business side gets really 00:10:07.889 --> 00:10:11.039 fascinating. It's a masterstroke by Petty. The 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:13.379 strategy involved concurrent contracts with two 00:10:13.379 --> 00:10:16.120 different Decca subsidiaries. Anything credited 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:18.700 to the Crickets went out on Brunswick. And anything 00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:20.980 under Buddy Holly's name went out on Choral Records. 00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:23.779 Right, which was Decca's main pop label. But 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:26.639 why? Why complicate it like that? It was purely 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:28.980 about market saturation and getting past the 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:32.470 radio gatekeepers. Petty knew that disc jockeys 00:10:32.470 --> 00:10:34.950 in that era were really reluctant to play two 00:10:34.950 --> 00:10:37.490 brand new songs by the same artist back to back. 00:10:37.690 --> 00:10:39.970 They'd see it as what, overselling one person. 00:10:40.090 --> 00:10:42.090 Exactly. But if they got a hot new record from 00:10:42.090 --> 00:10:44.450 the Crickets and then another hot new record 00:10:44.450 --> 00:10:46.549 from this guy, Buddy Holly. They just saw two 00:10:46.549 --> 00:10:48.750 different successful acts. They saw two different 00:10:48.750 --> 00:10:51.330 acts. It allowed Holly to just maximize his airplay. 00:10:51.429 --> 00:10:53.409 He was essentially competing against himself 00:10:53.409 --> 00:10:55.090 with two different brands, but it was the same 00:10:55.090 --> 00:10:58.190 core group of musicians on both releases. So 00:10:58.190 --> 00:11:00.809 he got double the exposure. And both labels, 00:11:01.070 --> 00:11:03.789 Brunswick and Coral, were happy because they 00:11:03.789 --> 00:11:06.549 each had a star on their roster. And our sources 00:11:06.549 --> 00:11:09.649 confirm Hawley himself was a little baffled by 00:11:09.649 --> 00:11:12.870 it. In a 1957 interview, he sounds genuinely 00:11:12.870 --> 00:11:15.509 confused, saying, I don't know why they did it 00:11:15.509 --> 00:11:17.409 that way. Which shows you this was really a management 00:11:17.409 --> 00:11:20.169 strategy imposed on him. Absolutely. And it's 00:11:20.169 --> 00:11:22.330 worth noting, the billing Buddy Holly and the 00:11:22.330 --> 00:11:24.549 Crickets never appeared on records during his 00:11:24.549 --> 00:11:27.210 lifetime. That only happened later, on a 1962 00:11:27.210 --> 00:11:30.289 compilation. And the strategy worked like a charm 00:11:30.289 --> 00:11:33.169 right out of the gate. Immediately. That'll Be 00:11:33.169 --> 00:11:37.210 the Day comes out in July 1957, and it tops both 00:11:37.210 --> 00:11:39.809 the U .S. and U .K. charts by September. And 00:11:39.809 --> 00:11:42.090 then right after that, Quarrel releases the solo 00:11:42.090 --> 00:11:45.460 single, Peggy Sue. backed with Every Day. And 00:11:45.460 --> 00:11:48.720 that hits number three on the Billboard pop chart. 00:11:48.940 --> 00:11:51.580 The two -pronged attack was a massive success. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:55.440 He was suddenly a major star. Which led to some 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.179 groundbreaking and I guess initially pretty awkward 00:11:58.179 --> 00:12:01.059 live shows. Let's talk about the Apollo Theater 00:12:01.059 --> 00:12:04.899 in Harlem. August 1957. This was a huge moment, 00:12:04.980 --> 00:12:07.659 not just for Holly, but for the racial integration 00:12:07.659 --> 00:12:09.820 of rock and roll. They were booked at the legendary 00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:12.870 Apollo. A venue synonymous with black musical 00:12:12.870 --> 00:12:14.850 excellence. And they were the very first white 00:12:14.850 --> 00:12:17.330 act to ever perform there. And the audience reaction 00:12:17.330 --> 00:12:20.070 from what I've read was not exactly a warm welcome 00:12:20.070 --> 00:12:22.629 at first. Not at all. The audience was reportedly 00:12:22.629 --> 00:12:25.250 stone cold. Here's this band looking a little 00:12:25.250 --> 00:12:27.289 out of place in their suits. They didn't immediately 00:12:27.289 --> 00:12:29.870 connect with the Apollo's R &B and jazz crowd. 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:32.809 But they were savvy. Incredibly savvy. They realized 00:12:32.809 --> 00:12:35.129 they needed to bridge that gap, so they launched 00:12:35.129 --> 00:12:38.529 into a Bo Diddley cover. And that did it. That 00:12:38.529 --> 00:12:41.679 did it. Connecting to those foundational R &B 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:44.659 roots earned them respect from a very discerning 00:12:44.659 --> 00:12:47.340 audience. It showed that Holly really understood 00:12:47.340 --> 00:12:49.940 and respected the music he was synthesizing. 00:12:50.059 --> 00:12:52.559 After that, they got massive national exposure 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:54.980 on the Ed Sullivan Show in December. Which is 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:57.559 huge, but the touring demands were just relentless. 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:01.399 And this led directly to the first... major lineup 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:04.480 change. Rhythm guitarist Nikki Sullivan left 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:06.779 right after The Sullivan Show. And it wasn't 00:13:06.779 --> 00:13:08.620 a musical dispute or anything? No, the sources 00:13:08.620 --> 00:13:11.539 say it was just pure exhaustion, the nonstop 00:13:11.539 --> 00:13:13.820 travel, the grind of the road. He wanted to go 00:13:13.820 --> 00:13:15.899 back to school. It tells you a lot about the 00:13:15.899 --> 00:13:18.779 pace of early rock stardom. It was brutal. Okay, 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:21.059 so let's shift from the business side and the 00:13:21.059 --> 00:13:24.220 touring grind to Holly's actual identity, because 00:13:24.220 --> 00:13:26.179 this is where that blueprint really takes shape. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.779 He defined the look, the sound, the whole package. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:31.059 I agree. Let's start with the sound. His vocals 00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:34.019 were so distinctive. Those trademark vocal hiccups 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:35.779 he used. That was a deliberate choice, right? 00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:38.600 He got that from Elvis. He did. He saw Elvis 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:41.500 perform and noticed how Presley used those little 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:44.860 breaks in his vocal line to add this urgency 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:48.139 and a kind of playful vulnerability. And his 00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:50.419 vocal range was so interesting. He could flip 00:13:50.419 --> 00:13:53.559 from his regular voice into this smooth, sweet 00:13:53.559 --> 00:13:56.320 falsetto, like on a song like... every day it 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.200 added this emotional complexity you didn't hear 00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:00.299 in a lot of rockabilly and then there's the guitar 00:14:00.299 --> 00:14:04.019 style it was so innovative he blended this chunky 00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:07.120 driving rhythm with high string lead work very 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.879 percussive very percussive with lots of stops 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:12.940 and starts bent notes and crucially those r b 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:15.519 chord progressions he was the lead player and 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.639 the rhythm machine all at once and the instrument 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:20.450 itself is almost a character in this story The 00:14:20.450 --> 00:14:22.570 Fender Stratocaster. It's inseparable from his 00:14:22.570 --> 00:14:24.629 image. He bought his first one in Lubbock. It 00:14:24.629 --> 00:14:26.289 was a revolutionary instrument at the time. It 00:14:26.289 --> 00:14:28.090 looked like something from the future. His first 00:14:28.090 --> 00:14:31.190 one, a 54 model, got stolen, right? Stolen in 00:14:31.190 --> 00:14:35.029 Michigan in 1957. He immediately went out and 00:14:35.029 --> 00:14:38.070 bought a 57 model in Detroit. The sources say 00:14:38.070 --> 00:14:40.529 he owned four or five Stratocasters in his career. 00:14:40.830 --> 00:14:44.990 And his choice basically popularized that guitar 00:14:44.990 --> 00:14:48.490 for generations. I mean, think of Clapton, Hendrix. 00:14:49.250 --> 00:14:51.629 Richards? They all built on the foundation Hawley 00:14:51.629 --> 00:14:54.250 established for so many young musicians. Seeing 00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:56.730 him with that futuristic guitar was a pivotal 00:14:56.730 --> 00:14:59.070 moment. And then there's his image. The band 00:14:59.070 --> 00:15:01.490 started out in these stuffy business suits. Until 00:15:01.490 --> 00:15:03.570 the Everly Brothers gave them a makeover, they 00:15:03.570 --> 00:15:05.710 took them to a men's shop in New York City and 00:15:05.710 --> 00:15:08.830 introduced them to Ivy League clothes. The button 00:15:08.830 --> 00:15:12.129 -down shirts? A more youthful, casual look? It 00:15:12.129 --> 00:15:14.090 softened their image while still keeping them 00:15:14.090 --> 00:15:17.539 sharp. But the truly defining feature, the thing 00:15:17.539 --> 00:15:20.039 that made him an iconoclast, was the glasses. 00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:22.379 Absolutely. And the Everleys were involved there, 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:24.580 too. They told him to ditch his old -fashioned 00:15:24.580 --> 00:15:27.019 glasses for the thick, horn -rimmed style that 00:15:27.019 --> 00:15:29.220 was getting popular. He was severely nearsighted, 00:15:29.220 --> 00:15:32.240 so he needed them to see. But he turned a practical 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:34.299 necessity into a deliberate fashion statement. 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:37.720 He did. It completely defied the clean cut, perfect 00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:40.799 rock idol mold that Elvis had established. He 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:42.840 bought a pair made in Mexico and they immediately 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:46.580 became known as Buddy Holly glasses. And it started 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:49.700 a huge trend. Suddenly it was cool for teenagers 00:15:49.700 --> 00:15:52.700 to wear glasses. It allowed kids who wore glasses 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:55.159 to connect with rock music. It resonated deeply 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:57.879 with artists who didn't fit that matinee idol 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:00.539 look, which is why you see a direct line to someone 00:16:00.539 --> 00:16:03.419 like Elvis Costello decades later. And his innovations 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:05.960 weren't just on stage. He was a real pioneer 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:08.950 in the studio. This is so critical and often 00:16:08.950 --> 00:16:11.750 overlooked. Working with Norman Petty, Holly 00:16:11.750 --> 00:16:14.429 was one of the first rock artists to really master 00:16:14.429 --> 00:16:17.929 techniques like overdubbing and reverb. Overdubbing 00:16:17.929 --> 00:16:20.210 was radical back then. It was. Most rock and 00:16:20.210 --> 00:16:23.250 roll in 57 was recorded live to tape. Holly would 00:16:23.250 --> 00:16:25.889 record a lead vocal and then layer his own backing 00:16:25.889 --> 00:16:28.549 vocals and harmonies over it. Think of the sound 00:16:28.549 --> 00:16:31.190 on Words of Love. He was creating a much richer, 00:16:31.250 --> 00:16:33.330 fuller sound from just a small groove. And this 00:16:33.330 --> 00:16:35.289 brings us back to that standard lineup. Yeah. 00:16:35.350 --> 00:16:38.649 Two guitars. bass, and drums. It was so effective 00:16:38.649 --> 00:16:41.169 because it was a perfect balance. The lead guitar 00:16:41.169 --> 00:16:44.029 could soar. The rhythm guitar provided the bedrock. 00:16:44.230 --> 00:16:46.549 It was a tight, self -sufficient unit designed 00:16:46.549 --> 00:16:49.570 for maximum sonic punch. The template. And his 00:16:49.570 --> 00:16:51.769 final studio project took that ambition even 00:16:51.769 --> 00:16:54.750 further, moving away from the cricket sound entirely. 00:16:54.950 --> 00:16:57.690 We're talking about the string sessions. October 00:16:57.690 --> 00:17:00.529 1958. This is after he moved to New York and 00:17:00.529 --> 00:17:03.110 started thinking bigger. These sessions involved 00:17:03.110 --> 00:17:06.069 an 18 -piece ensemble made up of former members 00:17:06.069 --> 00:17:08.869 of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Using classical 00:17:08.869 --> 00:17:11.410 musicians to back a rock and roll singer? That 00:17:11.410 --> 00:17:14.970 was practically unheard of. He was trying to 00:17:14.970 --> 00:17:17.829 legitimize rock and roll as a serious art form. 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:21.559 He recorded four tracks, True Love Ways, Moon 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:24.319 Dreams, Reigning in My Heart, and It Doesn't 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.220 Matter Anymore. And these recordings were also 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:27.859 way ahead of their time technically, weren't 00:17:27.859 --> 00:17:30.180 they? Oh, cutting edge. Those four tracks were 00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:33.059 the only songs on his label ever mixed in stereo 00:17:33.059 --> 00:17:36.220 during his lifetime. Stereo was an absolute novelty 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:39.059 in pop music in 1958. He was anticipating the 00:17:39.059 --> 00:17:41.480 future of audio while pushing genre boundaries. 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:44.730 It's an incredible burst of creativity. But it 00:17:44.730 --> 00:17:47.269 also coincided with a whirlwind personal life 00:17:47.269 --> 00:17:49.490 that was about to clash with his career management. 00:17:49.930 --> 00:17:54.210 1958 was a massive year for him. In June, he 00:17:54.210 --> 00:17:56.190 walks into a music publisher's office in New 00:17:56.190 --> 00:17:58.950 York and meets a receptionist named Maria Elena 00:17:58.950 --> 00:18:01.690 Santiago. And the romance moved at the same speed 00:18:01.690 --> 00:18:04.789 as his career, breakneck. Absolutely. He proposed 00:18:04.789 --> 00:18:07.390 to her on their very first date. During dinner, 00:18:07.529 --> 00:18:10.849 he famously hid the ring inside a red rose. And 00:18:10.849 --> 00:18:12.609 they were married less than two months later 00:18:12.609 --> 00:18:16.309 in August 1958. Yep, and Norman Petty was furious 00:18:16.309 --> 00:18:19.890 about it. From a purely commercial 1950s perspective, 00:18:20.190 --> 00:18:22.230 you can kind of see his point, right? The teen 00:18:22.230 --> 00:18:24.269 idol was supposed to be single and available 00:18:24.269 --> 00:18:26.930 to his fans. Sure, Petty saw it as a financial 00:18:26.930 --> 00:18:29.519 threat. But it shows the fundamental conflict. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.160 Holly was moving beyond being a teen idol. He 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:34.960 was becoming a serious artist, a husband, and 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:36.980 Petty couldn't handle that. So they settle into 00:18:36.980 --> 00:18:39.079 life in Greenwich Village. And this move, it 00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:40.920 wasn't just geographical, it was an artistic 00:18:40.920 --> 00:18:43.019 declaration. It was. He was immersing himself 00:18:43.019 --> 00:18:45.920 in jazz and R &B, going to places like the Village 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:48.460 Gate and the Blue Note. It was fueling these 00:18:48.460 --> 00:18:51.299 grander ambitions he had. He had huge plans that 00:18:51.299 --> 00:18:54.029 had nothing to do with the cricket sound. Gigantic 00:18:54.029 --> 00:18:57.450 plans. He wanted to learn flamenco guitar. He 00:18:57.450 --> 00:18:59.589 wanted to make a collaborative album with Ray 00:18:59.589 --> 00:19:02.349 Charles and Mahalia Jackson. Fusing soul and 00:19:02.349 --> 00:19:05.089 rock and roll. Wow. And maybe most surprising, 00:19:05.289 --> 00:19:08.490 he registered for acting classes with Lee Strasberg's 00:19:08.490 --> 00:19:11.769 famous Actors Studio. He was just beginning his 00:19:11.769 --> 00:19:14.750 second, more mature, artistic phase. But the 00:19:14.750 --> 00:19:17.650 immediate reality was... They had to hide the 00:19:17.650 --> 00:19:20.450 marriage. On tour, Maria Elena was introduced 00:19:20.450 --> 00:19:23.230 as the cricket's secretary. She handled logistics, 00:19:23.589 --> 00:19:25.769 equipment, and crucially, she started collecting 00:19:25.769 --> 00:19:28.089 the concert revenues right after the shows. And 00:19:28.089 --> 00:19:30.369 that's what led to the financial discovery and 00:19:30.369 --> 00:19:32.869 the break with Petty. It's how it all unraveled. 00:19:32.869 --> 00:19:34.890 Instead of sending the money back to Petty in 00:19:34.890 --> 00:19:37.430 New Mexico, she and Buddy started keeping track 00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:40.150 of it. And they quickly realized that Petty was 00:19:40.150 --> 00:19:42.750 diverting the band's royalties, paying them directly 00:19:42.750 --> 00:19:45.049 into his own company's account. He was hiding 00:19:45.049 --> 00:19:47.069 the money from them. Essentially, yes. It was 00:19:47.069 --> 00:19:49.930 a devastating violation of trust. So Holly immediately 00:19:49.930 --> 00:19:52.769 moves to get his money back and fire Petty. He 00:19:52.769 --> 00:19:55.250 hired a lawyer that the Everly brothers recommended. 00:19:55.609 --> 00:19:57.269 Because they were having similar problems with 00:19:57.269 --> 00:19:59.630 their own manager. It was a pattern in early 00:19:59.630 --> 00:20:02.309 rock and roll. But then the legal battle got 00:20:02.309 --> 00:20:05.240 even more complicated. A New York promoter named 00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:08.359 Manny Greenfield sued Hawley. Claiming he was 00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:10.880 owed more money. And that lawsuit was strategically 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:13.519 timed. Because Hawley's royalties were being 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:15.900 paid out of New York, the courts were able to 00:20:15.900 --> 00:20:18.440 immediately freeze all of his royalty payments 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:21.079 until that dispute was settled. So he's a chart 00:20:21.079 --> 00:20:23.019 -topping star living in an expensive New York 00:20:23.019 --> 00:20:25.319 apartment and suddenly his entire income stream 00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:29.500 is just gone. He was financially paralyzed. He 00:20:29.500 --> 00:20:32.319 officially split with Petty in December 1958. 00:20:32.779 --> 00:20:34.880 The other crickets actually stayed with Petty 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:37.480 as their manager, and the split from Holly was 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:39.819 amicable. It was just a logistical thing. But 00:20:39.819 --> 00:20:41.960 with his rent due and his funds totally frozen, 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:44.240 he was forced back on the road just to make some 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:46.940 quick cash. And that desperation, that economic 00:20:46.940 --> 00:20:50.019 pressure, is what led directly to the ill -fated 00:20:50.019 --> 00:20:52.730 Winter Dance Party tour. He had to put all his 00:20:52.730 --> 00:20:55.390 big artistic plans on hold just to generate the 00:20:55.390 --> 00:20:57.730 cash he needed to survive. And this is when he 00:20:57.730 --> 00:21:00.450 recorded those raw acoustic apartment demos. 00:21:00.809 --> 00:21:04.309 Yes. Songs like Crying, Waiting, Hoping. They're 00:21:04.309 --> 00:21:07.630 so intimate and vulnerable. A stark contrast 00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:10.309 to the lush string sessions from just months 00:21:10.309 --> 00:21:12.750 earlier. Which sets the stage for one of the 00:21:12.750 --> 00:21:15.789 most infamously disastrous tours in music history. 00:21:16.029 --> 00:21:18.730 The Winter Dance Party. It kicked off January 00:21:18.730 --> 00:21:22.430 23, 1959, and it was a logistical nightmare from 00:21:22.430 --> 00:21:24.970 the start. Holly put together a new band, Waylon 00:21:24.970 --> 00:21:27.849 Jennings on bass, Tommy Alsup on guitar. And 00:21:27.849 --> 00:21:30.349 the schedule was just atrocious. Huge distances 00:21:30.349 --> 00:21:32.670 between gigs across the Midwest. In the dead 00:21:32.670 --> 00:21:35.410 of winter, traveling in unheated buses. The conditions 00:21:35.410 --> 00:21:38.130 were just awful. The buses kept breaking down. 00:21:38.470 --> 00:21:41.000 And their drummer, Carl Bunch. Ended up in the 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:43.460 hospital. With frostbite on his toes, yeah. They 00:21:43.460 --> 00:21:46.259 were all exhausted, sick, and miserable. So before 00:21:46.259 --> 00:21:48.059 the show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, 00:21:48.140 --> 00:21:51.380 Iowa, on February 2nd, Holly, desperate to get 00:21:51.380 --> 00:21:53.000 ahead of schedule, get some rest, maybe do some 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:56.180 laundry, he chartered a plane. A four -seat Beechcraft 00:21:56.180 --> 00:21:59.160 Bonanza. The plan was to fly himself, Waylon 00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:01.140 Jennings, and Tommy Alsup to their next stop. 00:22:01.500 --> 00:22:03.619 The decision was born of absolute exhaustion. 00:22:04.019 --> 00:22:06.599 And this brings us to the famous coin toss. The 00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:09.240 moment that saved Tommy Alsup's life. Right. 00:22:09.500 --> 00:22:11.980 Allsup flipped a coin with Richie Valens for 00:22:11.980 --> 00:22:14.740 his seat on the plane. Valens had a cold and 00:22:14.740 --> 00:22:16.660 really wanted the comfort of the flight. And 00:22:16.660 --> 00:22:19.619 Valens won the toss? He won. And the sources 00:22:19.619 --> 00:22:22.200 record him saying something just chilling. That's 00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:24.440 the first time I've ever won anything in my life. 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:27.839 Allsup's life was spared. He later opened a bar 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:30.339 called the Heads Up Saloon. And the second intervention, 00:22:30.660 --> 00:22:32.940 Waylon Jennings giving up his seat, was just 00:22:32.940 --> 00:22:35.670 a simple act of kindness. It was. He gave his 00:22:35.670 --> 00:22:38.009 seat to J .P. Richardson, the big bopper, who 00:22:38.009 --> 00:22:39.890 was really sick with the flu and was complaining 00:22:39.890 --> 00:22:42.609 about the cold bus. A simple act of compassion. 00:22:42.910 --> 00:22:45.029 Which saved Jennings' life but left him with 00:22:45.029 --> 00:22:47.210 a lifetime of guilt over a joke he shared with 00:22:47.210 --> 00:22:49.829 Holly just before takeoff. A heavy burden to 00:22:49.829 --> 00:22:52.769 carry. And then shortly after 1 a .m. on February 00:22:52.769 --> 00:22:56.390 3, 1959. The plane went down. It crashed into 00:22:56.390 --> 00:22:58.650 a cornfield just five miles from the airport, 00:22:58.990 --> 00:23:01.970 killing Holly, Valens, Richardson, and the pilot 00:23:01.970 --> 00:23:05.880 Rod Peterson instantly. Buddy Holly was 22 years 00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:08.400 old. What did the official investigation finally 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:11.960 point to as the cause? It was pilot error, compounded 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:14.920 by terrible weather. The pilot, Roger Peterson, 00:23:15.059 --> 00:23:18.240 was only 21, and he wasn't certified to fly solely 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:20.980 by instruments. He flew into snow and clouds 00:23:20.980 --> 00:23:23.259 and lost his visual reference with the ground. 00:23:23.900 --> 00:23:26.119 And there was a specific mechanical issue, wasn't 00:23:26.119 --> 00:23:28.900 there? The gyroscope? That's right. The plane 00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:31.500 had a newly installed gyroscope, but it worked 00:23:31.500 --> 00:23:33.380 backward from what the pilot was likely used 00:23:33.380 --> 00:23:35.750 to. He probably thought the plane was climbing 00:23:35.750 --> 00:23:38.309 when it was actually descending. In those blinding 00:23:38.309 --> 00:23:40.210 conditions, he flew it straight into the ground. 00:23:40.390 --> 00:23:43.190 The aftermath was just brutal, and the details 00:23:43.190 --> 00:23:45.630 from the crash site fueled decades of fan rumors. 00:23:45.910 --> 00:23:48.329 They did. The big bopper's body was found nearly 00:23:48.329 --> 00:23:50.450 40 feet from the wreckage, which made people 00:23:50.450 --> 00:23:52.990 think he might have survived the impacts. An 00:23:52.990 --> 00:23:55.529 autopsy in 2007 confirmed he died instantly. 00:23:55.890 --> 00:23:58.289 And the gun. A gun belonging to Hawley was found 00:23:58.289 --> 00:24:00.089 two months later, which fueled these bizarre 00:24:00.089 --> 00:24:02.470 rumors that the pilot was shot. There was zero 00:24:02.470 --> 00:24:05.490 evidence to support that. The day after the crash, 00:24:05.750 --> 00:24:08.730 the tragedy hit Maria Elena Santiago even harder 00:24:08.730 --> 00:24:11.309 back in New York. She suffered a miscarriage. 00:24:11.309 --> 00:24:13.869 She reportedly saw the horrific news on television. 00:24:14.150 --> 00:24:17.430 And this personal grief had a profound immediate 00:24:17.430 --> 00:24:21.539 social consequence. It was a direct result of 00:24:21.539 --> 00:24:24.420 the trauma the families experienced. The authorities 00:24:24.420 --> 00:24:27.480 implemented a policy against announcing victims' 00:24:27.660 --> 00:24:30.480 names to the media until the next of kin have 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:33.619 been personally informed. That policy exists 00:24:33.619 --> 00:24:36.140 to this day because of what happened. His funeral 00:24:36.140 --> 00:24:39.119 was held a few days later in Lubbock. The pallbearers 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:41.299 were all the guys from his short life. Jerry 00:24:41.299 --> 00:24:44.950 Allison, Joby Malden, Sonny Curtis. The painful 00:24:44.950 --> 00:24:46.869 irony is that Waylon Jennings couldn't attend 00:24:46.869 --> 00:24:48.589 because he had to continue on with the tour. 00:24:48.809 --> 00:24:50.569 He's buried in the city of Lubbock Cemetery. 00:24:50.789 --> 00:24:53.289 His headstone has the correct sculling, holly, 00:24:53.369 --> 00:24:55.660 and a carving of a stratocaster. And it's so 00:24:55.660 --> 00:24:57.940 telling that his wife, Maria Elena, has never 00:24:57.940 --> 00:25:00.440 visited the grave site. The pain was just too 00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:02.700 immense. And what about the iconic glasses? They 00:25:02.700 --> 00:25:05.380 were lost for over two decades. Presumed lost 00:25:05.380 --> 00:25:07.680 forever, they weren't found until March 1980. 00:25:07.900 --> 00:25:09.640 They had been recovered from the site back in 00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:12.400 59, but were put in an envelope and just misplaced 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:15.779 in a courthouse storage area. 20 years just sitting 00:25:15.779 --> 00:25:17.700 in an envelope. Just a simple administrative 00:25:17.700 --> 00:25:20.420 error. They were eventually returned to Maria 00:25:20.420 --> 00:25:22.880 Elena and are now on display at the Buddy Holly 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:26.079 Center in Lubbock. A small, tangible link back 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:28.779 to him. Which brings us to his staggering legacy. 00:25:29.480 --> 00:25:31.839 Because despite his short career, he recorded 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:35.440 so much that his label was releasing new material 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:38.740 for a decade after his death. He left behind 00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:41.579 this treasure trove of unfinished recordings, 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:45.619 solo acoustic demos, jam sessions. Those last 00:25:45.619 --> 00:25:48.200 six acoustic songs he recorded in his apartment 00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:50.880 became the foundation for the first posthumous 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:52.960 releases. And the label got creative with them, 00:25:53.019 --> 00:25:55.480 didn't they? They did. They overdubbed those 00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:58.059 raw acoustic demos with new studio musicians 00:25:58.059 --> 00:26:00.980 to try and simulate the cricket sound. The first 00:26:00.980 --> 00:26:03.200 single, Peggy Sue Got Married, was a hit. And 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:05.019 that was successful enough to warrant a whole 00:26:05.019 --> 00:26:08.329 album of overdubbed demos. The band was so relentless, 00:26:08.450 --> 00:26:11.190 the label kept digging. They used Petty's unreleased 00:26:11.190 --> 00:26:13.990 masters, audition tapes, even lo -fi amateur 00:26:13.990 --> 00:26:17.130 recordings from as early as 1954. They were able 00:26:17.130 --> 00:26:19.849 to release new Holly albums and singles all the 00:26:19.849 --> 00:26:23.410 way until 1969. Which speaks to the sheer quality 00:26:23.410 --> 00:26:26.109 and quantity of what he created. The critical 00:26:26.109 --> 00:26:28.890 acclaim has always been unanimous. AllMusic called 00:26:28.890 --> 00:26:31.390 him the single most influential creative force 00:26:31.390 --> 00:26:34.420 in early rock and roll. And beyond the Hall of 00:26:34.420 --> 00:26:37.599 Fame inductions, the honors are ongoing. A Grammy 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:40.079 Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on the Hollywood 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:42.440 Walk of Fame. And Lubbock has fully embraced 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:44.880 him. The Buddy Holly Center. The Buddy Holly 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:48.140 Hall of Performing Arts. His image, that Stratocaster 00:26:48.140 --> 00:26:50.559 in those glasses, is just permanently enshrined. 00:26:50.920 --> 00:26:52.819 This is where it gets really interesting for 00:26:52.819 --> 00:26:56.119 me, tracing that direct line of influence. Because 00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:58.900 his death meant that countless artists who came 00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:01.799 next had to learn from his recordings, turning 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:04.460 his short output into a definitive template. 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:06.640 And you have to start with Don McLean's American 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:09.839 Pie. McLean coined the phrase, the day the music 00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:11.960 died, cementing the emotional weight of that 00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:14.529 date. in popular memory he dedicated the whole 00:27:14.529 --> 00:27:17.190 album to holly he did and mclean later argued 00:27:17.190 --> 00:27:19.250 that holly would have the same stature even if 00:27:19.250 --> 00:27:21.349 he hadn't died simply because of his accomplishments 00:27:21.349 --> 00:27:25.230 he wrote most of his 50 tracks by age 22. he 00:27:25.230 --> 00:27:28.069 was the template and the most famous interpreters 00:27:28.069 --> 00:27:32.049 of that template were the beatles the connection 00:27:32.049 --> 00:27:35.390 is so profound Lennon and McCartney saw him perform 00:27:35.390 --> 00:27:38.569 on TV in London. They studied his song structures, 00:27:38.769 --> 00:27:41.410 his performance style, his lyricism. And the 00:27:41.410 --> 00:27:44.549 deepest tribute is in their name. Yes. They chose 00:27:44.549 --> 00:27:48.210 the name The Beatles as a direct homage to Holly's 00:27:48.210 --> 00:27:51.089 insect -themed band, The Crickets. The Quarrymen 00:27:51.089 --> 00:27:54.109 covered That'll Be the Day in 1958. And The Beatles 00:27:54.109 --> 00:27:56.349 kept covering his songs even after they were 00:27:56.349 --> 00:27:58.740 famous. They released a really reverent cover 00:27:58.740 --> 00:28:02.519 of Words of Love in 64. Lennon covered Peggy 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:05.599 Sue on his solo rock and roll album. And of course, 00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:07.359 Paul McCartney now owns the publishing rights 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:10.099 to Holly's entire song catalog. The influence 00:28:10.099 --> 00:28:12.470 wasn't just in Liverpool. The Rolling Stones 00:28:12.470 --> 00:28:14.789 were shaped by him, too. Mick Jagger saw him 00:28:14.789 --> 00:28:17.710 perform live on that 58 tour. He was blown away 00:28:17.710 --> 00:28:20.230 by Holly's performance of Not Fade Away, which 00:28:20.230 --> 00:28:22.430 the Stones later turned into a huge hit. And 00:28:22.430 --> 00:28:24.470 Keith Richards summed it up perfectly. He said 00:28:24.470 --> 00:28:27.410 Holly passed it on via the Beatles and via the 00:28:27.410 --> 00:28:29.789 Rolling Stones. He's in everybody. And that one 00:28:29.789 --> 00:28:32.009 quote just captures the entire thesis. Holly 00:28:32.009 --> 00:28:34.230 was the essential link in the chain. And then 00:28:34.230 --> 00:28:37.490 there's Bob Dylan's intensely personal, almost 00:28:37.490 --> 00:28:40.599 spiritual connection. He saw Holly. just two 00:28:40.599 --> 00:28:42.980 nights before the crash. It's one of the most 00:28:42.980 --> 00:28:46.359 powerful anecdotes in rock history. A 17 -year 00:28:46.359 --> 00:28:48.559 -old Dylan was in the audience in Duluth, Minnesota. 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:51.480 He talked about it almost 40 years later in his 00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:53.559 Grammy acceptance speech. What did you recall? 00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:55.799 He said he remembered Holly looking right at 00:28:55.799 --> 00:28:58.099 him during the show and that he felt Holly was 00:28:58.099 --> 00:29:00.400 with us all the time we were making this record. 00:29:01.049 --> 00:29:04.089 It's this profound, direct link between early 00:29:04.089 --> 00:29:07.150 rock and the folk revival Dylan would lead. The 00:29:07.150 --> 00:29:10.849 network is just vast. Eric Clapton credits Holly 00:29:10.849 --> 00:29:13.630 with introducing him to the Stratocaster. Clapton 00:29:13.630 --> 00:29:15.630 said that Chirping Crickets was the first album 00:29:15.630 --> 00:29:18.329 he ever bought. And seeing Holly with the Strat, 00:29:18.329 --> 00:29:20.829 he called it an instrument from outer space and 00:29:20.829 --> 00:29:23.349 knew that was the future. And Holly's death. 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:26.259 directly launched the career of Bobby V. Absolutely. 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:28.960 V was hired to replace Holly on the rest of the 00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:31.660 tour. You can hear Holly's influence all over 00:29:31.660 --> 00:29:34.599 V's vocal style on his early hits. We even see 00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:36.900 his visual influence pop up decades later with 00:29:36.900 --> 00:29:40.339 Elvis Costello. The glasses, the style. Bob Dylan 00:29:40.339 --> 00:29:42.819 even commented on it in one of his books, calling 00:29:42.819 --> 00:29:46.279 Costello the buddy stereotype. It shows the lasting 00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:48.759 power of that iconic image. It seems like every 00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:51.700 rock giant had a connection. Bruce Springsteen 00:29:51.700 --> 00:29:54.269 told Rolling Stone, I play Buddy Holly every 00:29:54.269 --> 00:29:57.049 night before I go on. That keeps me honest. And 00:29:57.049 --> 00:29:59.930 the Grateful Dead made Not Fade Away a staple 00:29:59.930 --> 00:30:03.170 of their live shows. This entire deep dive, it's 00:30:03.170 --> 00:30:05.430 just a staggering portrait of how a life cut 00:30:05.430 --> 00:30:09.269 so short. created a legacy that was magnified 00:30:09.269 --> 00:30:11.849 by its own brevity. It really hammers home that 00:30:11.849 --> 00:30:14.029 duality. On one hand, he was this incredible 00:30:14.029 --> 00:30:16.869 creative visionary writing his own stuff, pioneering 00:30:16.869 --> 00:30:19.130 the band format, experimenting in the studio. 00:30:19.430 --> 00:30:21.970 But on the other, he was a total victim of circumstance, 00:30:22.109 --> 00:30:24.549 caught between frozen royalties and a criminally 00:30:24.549 --> 00:30:26.869 mismanaged tour that forced him onto that plane. 00:30:27.089 --> 00:30:29.269 And the non -musical legacy is so unexpected. 00:30:29.630 --> 00:30:31.930 The fact that the policy for notifying families 00:30:31.930 --> 00:30:34.329 of victims changed because of the trauma his 00:30:34.329 --> 00:30:36.200 family went through. It's a chilling reminder, 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:38.859 and it's all punctuated by the perpetual pain 00:30:38.859 --> 00:30:41.880 felt by his wife, Maria Elena, who to this day 00:30:41.880 --> 00:30:44.599 has never visited his gravesite. What's so fascinating, 00:30:44.660 --> 00:30:46.700 what we touched on earlier, isn't just what he 00:30:46.700 --> 00:30:49.460 did, but what he was about to do. He was registered 00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:51.720 for acting classes. He was planning collaborations 00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:54.849 with Ray Charles and Mahalia Jackson. So what 00:30:54.849 --> 00:30:56.589 does this all mean for you, the listener, when 00:30:56.589 --> 00:30:58.369 you're thinking about this body of work? Well, 00:30:58.430 --> 00:31:00.109 it raises a pretty important question for you 00:31:00.109 --> 00:31:02.589 to consider. Given this level of cross -genre 00:31:02.589 --> 00:31:05.250 ambition, his foresight, his move to New York, 00:31:05.410 --> 00:31:08.549 the creative hub of the world, how much of music 00:31:08.549 --> 00:31:11.029 history actually changed because we lost those 00:31:11.029 --> 00:31:13.990 collaborations? The depth of his influence is 00:31:13.990 --> 00:31:17.049 staggering, but the magnitude of the loss of 00:31:17.049 --> 00:31:20.150 his future creative output that remains one of 00:31:20.150 --> 00:31:22.640 rock history's greatest unknowns. He was defining 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:24.940 the sound of the 60s before the 60s had even 00:31:24.940 --> 00:31:28.319 begun. A profound thought on which to end. That 00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:30.859 was the deep dive into the brief, brilliant world 00:31:30.859 --> 00:31:32.740 of Buddy Holly, the architect of rock and roll. 00:31:32.859 --> 00:31:33.900 Thank you for joining us.