Not Fade Away — Forever 22

From the buckle of the bible belt — Buddy Holly emerged as a musical messiah

Main image: Exhibit at LBJ Presidential Library, Austin, TX, 2015. Inset: Buddy Holly photo-booth image 1959 -both images Public Domain via Wikimedia

Buddy Holly was born 7 September 1936 in Lubbock, Texas, and would have been celebrating his 85th birthday this week, had he not died in a plane crash in Iowa in February 1959 — the day music died, according to Don McLean.

What would he have been doing now had he lived? Maybe hanging out in Greenwich Village with Bob Dylan, discussing the possibility of getting Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, and Ringo Starr on board to record a classic rock and roll concept album highlighting their glory days.

Is Buddy Holly Still Relevant Today? That was a headline I saw in a British newspaper in 2011. Judging by many of the positive comments I see from young people who check out his music on YouTube, it appears he is.

He was certainly more relevant in the 1960s/70s to a generation of rock stars who would follow him into the music business. The Beatles, Stones, Ray Davies, and Brian May in Britain. In the USA; Bob Dylan, Waylon Jennings, John Fogerty, and Bruce Springsteen, who said in a Rolling Stone magazine interview in 1978 — “I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest” — you can’t get higher praise than that.