Jerry Allison, the groundbreaking early rock & roll and rockabilly drummer who, as a member of The Crickets with Buddy Holly, co-wrote landmark songs such as “Peggy Sue” and “…
According to a post on the Buddy Holly Facebook page, “JI was a musician ahead of his time, and undoubtedly his energy, ideas and exceptional skill contributed to both The Crickets, and rock n’ roll itself, becoming such a success.”, “knew how to get an incredible variety of percussion sounds, given the limitations of equipment in the era, sometimes working with as little as one snare, a cymbal, and a bass drum .
His work on “Peggy Sue,” for instance, involves the use of a paradiddle, a drumming rudiment that combines single strokes with precisely placed double strokes. He also contributed the title; “Peggy Sue” was originally titled “Cindy Lou,” after Holly’s niece. Allison effected a name change in favor of his girlfriend at the time and later wife, Peggy Sue Gerron.
Those skills were crucial to the formation of the band. Before the Crickets, a teenaged Holly and Allison honed their skills as a duo at the Lubbock Youth Center, in Lubbock, Texas, where they grew up. While “Peggy Sue” peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard chart in 1957, “That’ll Be The Day,” which Allison co-wrote with Holly, went to No. 1 that same year on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.
After Holly was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1959, Allison became a guiding force of the Crickets. The band had a number of lineups, and later collaborated with artists such as Nanci Griffith, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Johnny Rivers and Waylon Jennings.Must Read Stories