More On "The Day The Music Died"

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Buddy Holly Tours

On Buddy Holly's Baptist Faith: In Memory of Buddy Holly: The Day the Music Still Lives:

February 3, 2009, marks the 50th anniversary of "the day the music died." A half-century ago, a 23-year-old Buddy Holly boarded a plane on a wintry Iowa night with fellow package show headliners the Big Bopper and adolescent Richie Valens. After a now legendary coin toss with band bass player Waylon Jennings, the three stars took their flight into rock and roll lore. In terms of rock history, the tragedy of that light aircraft crash in Iowa marked the end the era of 50's rock. It was a time and a place when innocence could still be truly innocent. While Elvis was out womanizing, Johnny Cash was popping pills and Jerry Lee Lewis was marrying his 13-year-old cousin, Buddy Holly was still sending 10% of his income to his Baptist church in Lubbock, Texas. Holly didn't womanize or do drugs, instead, he got married to a woman his own age. For Buddy Holly, the Christian ethic and world view were a given, without question. It was such a part of his life, he never thought to doubt the faith of his fathers as neatly woven into his career.

The Buddy Holly Story biopic falsely portrays his parents and his pastor disapproving of his rock and roll music. In reality, they were all thrilled with both his music and his success. While other small town Texas communities encouraged sports as the main point of achievement, for Lubbock, musicianship was of equal, if not superior value. After all, this was the land of Bob Wills and The Sons of the Pioneers. From my own amateur rock historian perspective, I often wonder what would have happened to rock and roll had Holly lived on. My innocence envisions him leading The Beatles to the Lord and ushering in an eternal age of youth and clear-eyed innocence. But, this is, I admit, at best naive. Its hard to say where Buddy Holly's musical journey would have led him. As it was, he was beginning to form partnerships with more pop driven artists like Paul Anka and using some pretty un-rock and roll sounding strings and arrangements on his latter day recordings. Listen to "True Love Ways." Its beautiful, yes, but not the raw, joyful sound of "That'll Be The Day."

An old girlfriend of Buddy's speaks on their relationship.

Buddy Holly's Church---a loony historical revisionist fundamentalist King James Only church/cult: Tabernacle Baptist Church Lubbock Texas.

Big Bopper exhumed and Big Bopper's casket a macabre marketable on eBay