I never met Buddy Holly. He died when I was 8 1/2. But I sure have known his music for my entire life. Never have met the Crickets either. They were his band. The original members were Joe B. Mauldin on bass and Jerry Allison on drums. Talk about a power trio.

Other great players like Sonny Curtis, Niki Sullivan, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup also played in the backup band.

But Jerry Ivan Allison, or "J. I." as he was/is known to his friends was the drummer who paradiddled his way through Peggy Sue and played his knees on Everyday.

February 3, 1999, is the 40th Anniversary of Buddy's death. He was killed when a small plane crashed shortly after take off from Mason City, Iowa. The plane carried the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens as well.

The Crickets weren't with Buddy on his last tour.

I've seen lots of pictures of J. I. over the years. At first he played a white three piece Premier set. Then he switched to a four piece white marine pearl Ludwig outfit.

Speaking of pictures, twenty years ago Gary Busey starred in the Buddy Holly Story and that sort of sparked my reinvestigation of Buddy's life and music.

The movie, I discovered was far from accurate. And Paul McCartney, who owns the rights to all of Buddy's music, made a documentary called The Real Buddy Holly Story. It's worth the price.

And on that tape is J. I. telling his side of life with Buddy and the fun of being in the Crickets.

As for Paul, he said: "If it weren't for Buddy Holly, there would have been no Beatles." And Harry said, "If it weren't for the Beatles, there'd be no Drum Center of Indianapolis."

So, thank you J. I. for the great beats. Thank you, Joe for pounding bass runs. And thank you Buddy, wherever you are.

To see pictures of vintage Ludwig kits, like J. I. played, we invite you to order The Great American Drums ! It's available for $19.95 plus $2.75 shipping and handling. Email us today for an autographed copy.