In Part One of this series on The Day The Music Died we discussed how Buddy Holly was in need of money due to a dispute with his manager, Norman Petty. Buddy wanted to relocate to New York to be closer to the resources he believed he needed to advance his career. New York was also the home of his wife, Maria Elena Santiago.
Initially Buddy’s backup group, the Crickets, agreed the move was necessary. After returning to Texas in October 1958, the Crickets – Jerry Allison and Joe B. Mauldin – were convinced by Petty to stay in Texas and work with him at his studio in Clovis, NM. New York, he told them, would not be kind to them and they would never fit in there.
When Buddy found out he was angry and in disbelief. Jerry had been a close friend since they were young. He couldn’t believe Jerry and Joe B. would let Petty talk them out of their earlier agreement. In the end, he wished his two friends well and kept the door open for a future reunion. He turned his attention to the 1959 Winter Dance Party for which he would need a new backing band.
While the weather in mid-January 1959 was not auspicious the pervading mood was one of optimism when the lineup gathered in Chicago on January 20. The lineup for the Winter Dance Party was short but impressive: Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and Frankie Sardo. There were plans to have Eddie Cochran co-headline the tour with Buddy. The two were close and Buddy looked forward to touring with his good friend. When Eddie had an opportunity to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show Buddy told him, “Yeah, sure man, that’s more important.”
After brief rehearsals in Chicago, the troupe headed out on the road for Milwaukee for the first stop on the tour on January 23. Milwaukee was blanketed with 13” of snow from a storm the day before. Worse yet, the temperature was minus 17 degrees Fahrenheit at daybreak. It would not rise above zero until during the show which was to start at 8 p.m. Despite the frigid cold, the rockers were anxious to get on stage and perform.
By all accounts, the acts were well received in Milwaukee and the other stops on the Winter Dance Party Tour. From Milwaukee they headed back south toward Chicago to Kenosha, WI. From Kenosha the tour would make stops in Mankato, MN, Eau Claire, WI, Montevideo, MN, St. Paul, MN, Davenport, IA, Fort dodge, IA, Duluth, MN, and Green Bay, WI before arriving in Clear Lake, IA on February 2. There were no days off between shows as the tour, which was scheduled through February 15, was set up for one night stands.
If you were to check the tour’s itinerary on a map you would quickly notice two things. First, the tour had a lot of zigzagging and backtracking in its route. Second, the distances involved were vast, sometimes up to 400 miles between cities. This was in a time when the Interstate Highway System was just starting construction. And no part of the Interstate system was under construction between the cities on the tour.
The snow and frigid temperatures would continue after leaving Milwaukee. It might be in the teens one day followed by sub-zero temperatures the next. Buddy Holly asked a local musician in Montevideo, “Is it always this damn cold in Minnesota?” The musician’s honest answer was, “No, it gets colder.”
The bus chartered by General Artists Corporation (GAC) for the tour was grossly inadequate. If you looked up the definition of the word “unreliable” the bus chartered for the tour likely would be pictured. As would the seven other buses used on the tour.
A typical example of the breakdowns the tour experienced happened on the night of January 31. The troupe left Duluth, MN after the show. As often happened, there was no time to check into a hotel. The next stop on the tour was Appleton, WI over 350 miles away. After about two-and-a-half hours on the road, the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere. In the dead of night there was no traffic to flag down for help. Snow was piling up and the temperatures were heading downward toward minus 24 degrees. That was a problem, as the heaters on the bus did not work.
It was a long wait before a county sheriff came along and arranged a rescue for the troupe. In the meantime, Carl Bunch, one of the replacement Crickets, broke out some whiskey he had brought along on the tour. The whiskey, along with burning newspapers in the aisles, provided some relief from the cold. To pass the time, Dion and Buddy told tales of where they grew up. Some wondered whether they would be found frozen to death. In the end accommodations were found for them.
The Appleton concert was out of the question now due to the lack of transportation to get the troupe there on time. However, a concert in Green Bay was quickly arranged to take its place. Some traveled there by Greyhound bus. Others traveled by train.
The next day was February 2, a day originally scheduled as an off day, a chance for everyone to rest up, get warm, do laundry, and basically take a break from travel. GAC, however, wanted to maximize revenue on the tour. So when a concert in Cedar Lake, IA became available at the last minute, GAC booked it.
So on the morning of February 2 another bus left Green Bay in minus 19-degree temperatures. The troupe was headed for Cedar Lake and a date with destiny.
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The material in this series is derived from many sources, including Rave On by Phillip Norman; The Day The Music Died by Larry Lehmer; and The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, 3rd Edition.
