Buddy Holly Archives

The Crickets Band tuned up their instruments Saturday in Raider Alley to play the style of rock ‘n’ roll songs that have never really left the stage since the 1950s.

Fans of the music, who were absorbing the sights and sounds of this year’s Buddy Holly Festival, listened beneath shade trees while Glen D. Hardin, Jerry Allison, Sonny Curtis and Joe B. Mauldin made a sound check prior to a pre-game performance.

The music developed by Buddy Holly and the writer-musicians that still comprise the Crickets Band was simple and easy to play, according to Allison, who helped Holly form the Crickets.

”A kid with a guitar would say, ‘I can learn that,’ and he could. I think it’s happy music,” Allison explained. ”I think it reminds people of happy times Ð the war was over and nobody had problems. It takes people back to those good times.”

Mauldin recalls that he wouldn’t have been surprised at all by the longevity of rock ‘n’ roll. ”I was 17 at the time, and in my mind it was never going to end,” he said. ”My parents kept saying, ‘Now, Joe, this won’t last very long.’ But we’ve been lucky, and I’m really happy that people are still enjoying it.”

Fans have their own theories. ”I think it’s the music that inspired all the rest of it,” said Bruce Hooper of San Antonio, who came to the Buddy Holly Festival with his wife, Judy, and son, Gerald.

Jerry Richardson of Plainview put it this way: ”You can go out in the garage and play it.” His wife, Janette, said they own the Buddy Holly records.

It even has an international appeal. Elena Cherkasova of Russia appraised both the music and the Crickets Band: ”I like this music. They are good.”

Curtis, who was in precursor bands with Holly before the Crickets were formed, recalls that he played country music during high school.

”I love coming home to Lubbock,” he said. ”I come from Meadow, and I still have family all over here and my sister, Aileen, lives in Lubbock; I have a sister, Jean, who lives in Midland; Ruby Mae, my oldest sister, lives in Meadow; and my brother, Pete, lives in Meadow.”

Curtis carefully ponders the question of why the type of music he helped write has lasted nearly half a century. ”I think it has a good feel, the simplicity of it. It’s happy-type music. I don’t ever get tired of singing those songs.”

Some subjective evidence suggests that the early rock ‘n’ roll music may even be producing an influence on some country music.

The Crickets musicians have opinions about the direction of country music. ”It’s taken a big turn for the worst,” said Hardin. ”I think they’ve just gotten away from real country music. Now, to me, it sounds like the 1960s rock ‘n’ roll. After Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, and some people like that, nothing has been added. It’s turned into a big marketing scheme.”

Mauldin agrees about the new sound. ”It seems to me that what we called country music for so long has really kind of evolved into a sound like the ’50s rock ‘n’ roll.”

The Crickets Band recently has been performing primarily on weekend tours across the United States, but some of the trips have been to England, and a future tour of Europe is planned.

Some of the members have other interests as well. Allison owns a farm near Nashville, where he raises cattle and hay. But he indicates that the group still is in demand, even though the schedule is not as rigorous as in the past.

”We still do the fun ones,” he said. ”Like whenever they call.”

By RAY WESTBROOK
Avalanche-Journal