The night before the Clear Lake, Iowa concert had been especially exhausting for the group. It was one of the worst winters on record, and the group was exhausted from ill-planned scheduling, and transportation problems.

All their traveling had been in a converted Baptist school bus, that had broken down numerous times. The tour zig-zagged across the Midwest with 24 shows in 21 days scheduled, almost all one night stands in different towns. The group of young musicians was embarked on The Winter Dance Party Tour of 1959. We are music lovers and this trip was going to be great! The Winter Dance Party Tour I think he spends his downtime looking for the next cool place for us to visit, and sure enough, he found another one. So we jumped in the truck and headed out. As usual, I was sleeping in, but he insisted on an early morning road trip to a surprise destination.

Hubby had been rained out and called from the job to say he was headed back to the camper to get me. His work landed us in a very remote, very rural part of Iowa, a gazillion miles away from everything.Įverything that is, except the memory of the day when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash, along with the pilot, Roger Peterson. I mentioned in a previous post that hubby and I are in Iowa.

The event has been called “ The Day the Music Died” after being mentioned in the 1971 song, American Pie by Don McLean. February 2, 1959, Buddy Holly (Peggy Sue), Ritchie Valens (Oh Donna) and JP Richardson (Chantilly Lace), aka The Big Bopper, played their last show at the Surf Ballroom and died in an airplane crash shortly after the concert.

The Day the Music Died by Blair Evans