Plans continue for the opening of the Buddy Holly Center for Buddy's birthday, September 7, 1999. Plan to be in Lubbock that weekend. See Paula's House of Music website for a copy of the Lubbock Magazine articles written on how you can help the people of Lubbock, who are finally getting a chance to honor its own Buddy Holley. If you have questions or reservations about why you should support this long-time dream of the people of Lubbock, read: Washington, D. C., has the Kennedy Center. New York City has the Lincoln Center. Lubbock, Texas, has the Buddy Holly Center. There are three main articles with different information in each. Be sure to go to all the links to find them.

More West Texas Musicians News

You'll soon find out who from the above list:

Country

• recorded the first country record in the world
• played fiddle with his daddy at ranch dances around the Panhandle before he went to Ft. Worth to become "The King of Western Swing"
• was inspired to leave Lubbock by Buddy Holly and went on to become a multiple award-winning singer, songwriter, television star, movie star, and Broadway star
• taught Elvis how to gyrate...(hint: she was a female country singer signed with Col. Tom Parker at the time...later, on her radio show in West Texas, she gave Roy Orbison his first air-time)
• has been credited by Eric Clapton as being his "favorite songwriter"
• could have been a Cricket but didn't much like rock and roll... he went on to become a successful Nashville producer instead
• was the group of brothers poised on the edge of success who unselfishly let their brother, Edd, leave to become the popular guitar player of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys
• has sold more recordings than any other gospel group in history
• taught a young Buddy Holley (the real spelling) to play bluegrass, which later became the basis of his unique style of guitar playing
  
  Rock and Roll
• wrote songs about Lubbock High School classmates (Peggy Sue Gerron and Claudette Frady) which both became rock and roll classics
• had 3 top ten rock & roll hits in as many months
• was the longtime backup vocal group for Elvis and then later, Conway Twitty
• was named in Rolling Stone's Top 10 Lists as one of the top three rock drummers of all time
• used to hang out behind the band hall at Lubbock High School, smoking cigarettes, writing songs, and waiting for his girlfriend, Claudette, to get out of school
• recorded the #1 Song of the Year in 1963 and another Top 10 hit in 1969 which has become the "party anthem" of all time
• fronted for Elvis at the grand opening of a local car dealership in Lubbock and later jammed with him at Lubbock's Cotton Club
• taught John Lennon how to play the blues harp for "Love Me Do"
• is the long-time saxophonist for the Rolling Stones
• was considered one of the best do-wop groups that ever performed... discovered by Roy Orbison
• was the backup vocal group who toured and recorded with Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly & The Crickets, and Buddy Knox
• was billed on the famous marquee at the New York Paramount Theater's "Show of Stars of 1957" (but wasn't with Buddy Holly & The Crickets)
• sang with The Crickets, recording the last songs Buddy Holly wrote but never recorded, and was said to sound more like Buddy than Buddy did... he later died in a plane crash, too, at just 21
• was the Plainview band whose song, "Wheels," made more money for Norman Petty's publishing company, Nor-Va-Jak, than all Buddy Holly's songs put together
• has kept The Crickets performing continually for over 40 years, keeping the legacy of "The Music" alive
• wrote and recorded the first rock and roll song in history to go gold (and no, it wasn't Buddy Holly)
  
  Folk
• was born in Oklahoma but never picked up a guitar in his life until he moved in his teens to the Panhandle of West Texas and began playing for ranch dances...he hit the road during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, becoming America's greatest folk troubadour
• was singing at Carnegie Hall when Buddy Holly was at the Paramount Theater in New York City (hint: a young Bob Dylan was on her first folk album)
• has had 2 major folk music Grammy nominations for his "Lubbock Sound" albums in the last 3 years
• grew up in a dusty little oil town in West Texas to become one of the world's most famous folk singer/songwriters
  
  The Lubbock Sound...folk/rock/blues
• single handedly introduced accordions into rock music and reintroduced them back into contemporary folk music, with Newsweek reporting in 1978 that his "accordion playing is a revelation of how hip this instrument can sound"
• introduced "country punk" when his band toured with The Clash through Great Britain and the United States
• is regarded as the best rock and roll steel pedal guitar player "in the universe" (and a pretty darned brilliant producer)
• wrote and recorded "London Homesick Blues", the theme song of Austin City Limits, and "You Ask Me What I Like About Texas", which the Governor of Texas suggested become the state song
• is known as the "Queen of Texas Blues"
• recorded her recent album with Willie and Waylon
• has been credited by Eric Clapton as being his "favorite guitarist"
• is known as the "poet-laureate" of West Texas
  
  That "Can't Be Categorized" Category
• was the long-time piano player for The Crickets, Elvis Presley, Emmy Lou Harris, and John Denver
• had his first recording session produced by Buddy Holly, gave up music for several years after Buddy's death, and went on to become an "Outlaw" with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson
• wrote "I Fought the Law", "Walk Right Back", "More Than I Can Say", "I'm No Stranger to the Rain", and the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song, "Love is All Around"
• left The Rhythm Orchids and his partner, Buddy Knox, to become who some have said was "the most powerful man in Nashville"... producing everyone from Frank Sinatra to George Strait
• was a long-time feature female singer on "Lawrence Welk"
• went on to play percussion with The Everly Brothers, Bobby Vee, and Roger Miller after the death of his best friend and partner
• was the group of brothers who became a nationally known conjunto band before combining tejano music, winning 7 Tejano Music Awards in 1997
• recorded their music at the Norman Petty Recording Studio in Clovis, New Mexico, establishing the Tex-Mex connection (hint: there are many)
  
  And What About...?
• the river which has been the inspiration of so many songs, in so many genres, over the years--its full name translated from Spanish as River from the Arms of God--and its headwaters are in Lubbock, where Buddy, Peggy Sue, and Jerry Allison used to ride motorcycles before the City cleaned it up and turned it into Buddy Holly Park
• the famous English singer/songwriter who formed a group in England named after The Crickets and who credits Buddy Holly as being their inspiration
• the West Texas-written song that gave The Rolling Stones their first hit record in the U.S.
• the place in Lubbock where guitarists from all over the world have come to pay homage by sticking their guitar picks into the earth
• the musicians who have come to Lubbock to stay and draw inspiration as they prepare for tours...and who later became superstars
• the current superstars who are coming out Levelland, a small town to the west of Lubbock, which boasts a phenomenal commercial music department at South Plains College, which has state-of-the-art studios and equipment donated by older superstars like Waylon Jennings and Red Steagall
• the West Texas sidemen and women and producers now working in Nashville who are famous in the industry, though theirs are not household names

Y'all come back and we'll answer these questions for you.

Of course, then there are all the stars of opera and Broadway and the world-famous classical musicians.

*Deep sigh* Perhaps another day...

Carol Jean

Springtime in West Texas

photo by C.J. Schoenrock, copyright 1996. All national and international rights reserved.

Peggy Sue Gerron (Buddy called her "Song")

Welcome to our West Texas Musicians' Homepage! I am so proud of all our musicians who have given the world so much wonderful music.

Growing up in Lubbock, music was my life (first chair alto sax). When I shared my love of rhythm and blues--and my Hank Ballard records--with Buddy Holley and Jerry Allison in 1955, little did I realize that by 1957, they would have combined those sounds of R&B with the country and bluegrass they had been playing to create "The Music"... a legacy that will never die.

Buddy was always ready to help other musicians and often sat in unnoticed, uncredited, and unpaid as a sideman in shows and recording sessions. He especially loved the music and the musicians of West Texas. Won't you join Carol Jean and me in honoring all of them... and Buddy? Please let us hear from you by signing our guest book.

Keep Rockin', Peggy Sue

pgerron@aol.com

PLEASE Sign Our Guestbook

View Our Guestbook

Back to the rock and roll questions

Keep scrolling... There's more.

Carol Jean Schoenrock

I'm just learning how to build this site, but if you can be patient, the door to the magical world of West Texas music and the Lubbock Sound will soon be open to you. We hope you have enjoyed your stay and will come back to visit us again. If you haven't signed the guestbook, please go back and sign it now! Rate our site on the GeoCities guide at the top of the page. (We get prizes if you like it.) Check out our links below. Send us e-mail--we welcome suggestions. If you were ever a musician from the Llano Estacado of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico, let us hear from you... It's your page.

Carol Jean

caroljean@geocities.com

C.J. Schoenrock, Ph.D., Buddy Holly Editor
Peggy Sue Gerron (the "real" Peggy Sue), Columnist
Lubbock Magazine, 1716 Buddy Holly Avenue, Lubbock, Texas 79401

Marlene Johnston, Publisher. Subscriptions $20 U.S., $40 international.
lubmag@texasonline.net
(806) 747-4020 http://www.lubbock-magazine.com

All material on this page is copyrighted, 1998. All national and international rights reserved.

LINKS

Lubbock Magazine Read the "Not Fade Away" section of the September 1997 issue, including: Peggy Sue's "Streets of Lubbock"; Carol Jean's profile of "Ponty Bone: King of Feel-Good Music"; early West-Texas rock 'n' roll historian Bill Griggs' article about Buddy's first girlfriend, Echo McGuire; "A Scholar's Holly"--a nifty piece by Buddy's classmate, Dr. Susan Ford Wiltshire, Professor of Classics at Vanderbilt University; and see Peggy Sue with Buddy's recently discovered coral '58 Impala in Clarence Milam's "Buddy's Cruiser".

Then go on down to the "Local Scene" and catch a story about Terry Allen's induction into the walk of fame and Bob Campbell's "Lubbock Sound" column, about Buddy's brother, Larry. Before you leave this site, mine it for one more jewel: The legend of "The Lubbock Lights", which many people, including yours truly, still remember.

Don't us the form on this old site to subscribe, though... if you put in your charge card # there, it will go nowhere. We've tried to get that page taken down, but to no avail. Instead, to subscribe and see the rest of the issues, go to Lubbock Magazine's new site at http://www.lubbock-magazine.com.

Lisa Boffa's "(Completely) Unauthorized Buddy Holly Discography" and much, much more, including some of Carol Jean's and Peggy Sue's earliest Lubbock Magazine articles of 1996 when they were trying to drag Lubbock into honoring West Texas musicians and having a Buddy Holly Music Festival. You also get Lisa's LM article, "Pilgrimage to Lubbock", neat Buddy pics, and some good Buddy Holly factoids by Buddy historian, Bill Griggs.

Paula's House of Music Collectible Vinyl Records is an awesome collection of real-live old rock 'n' roll records, including some of the rare ones from West Texas musicians like Buddy Holly, Buddy Knox, and Roy Orbison. Her site also has some rare old photos of Buddy and all the information about the City of Lubbock's official and fully authorized "Buddy Holly Festival."

Smoky Mountains Magazine Much of the music in West Texas has its roots in the Appalacian Mountain music tradition. This site has all kinds of information, including festivals with live music.

KDAV Radio, 1590AM, Lubbock, Texas The NEW KDAV returns to the airwaves and to the internet (go to the website and click onto PC Audio or something like that...you have to have Windows Media Player to hear it). KDAV was, of course, the radio station that gave Buddy his first chance. He was on the Sunday Party every Sunday afternoon. KDAV even has the first soundboard Buddy Holly used. The new KDAV... the Mighty 1590... plays the old rock and roll, doo-wop, rhythm & blues, and rockabilly sounds people in Lubbock were hearing on KDAV in the 50s...complete with real live DJs who actually have a personality and talk. Virgil Johnson (yes, leader of The Velvets) spins lots of do-wop records from 9 to noon, M-F, and focuses on vocal groups of that era when Roy Orbison found him down in Odessa and made them all legends...before Virgil became long-time, beloved principal of Lubbock's Dunbar High School; the legendary "Misty", who makes us feel all warm and snuggly at night again as she spins the turntable, playing her rare collection of big band and mellow listening records of the forties and fifties (9 till midnight, M-F); Bill Clements, owner, also known as the one and only "Chevy Guy," who talks that West Texas talk from 3-6pm, M-F; and Bill Griggs, '50s rock 'n' roll and Buddy Holly historian, who gives lessons in the "School of Rock and Roll" from 6 to 9pm, M-F. Welcome home, KDAV. Lubbock has missed you.

Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones Accordion blues, zydeco, cajun, and good old rock and roll are Ponty Bone's stock-in-trade.

# visitors since July 16, 1998

Ponty Bone

West Texas Musicians' Homecoming King, 1996

pb@pontybone.com http://pontybone.com/

This communique is brought to you by Internet-Free Lubbock, from behind the Barbed-Wire Curtain.