Washington Roadside Attractions: Buddy Holly's Tour Bus

Exactly 62 years ago to the day that I’m writing this and posting this blog, an event known as “The Day the Music Died” occurred. On February 3rd, 1959, an airplane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, killed young musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper (JP Richardson), alongside pilot, Roger Peterson. Holly (age 22), Valens (age 17), and the Big Bopper (age 28) were all on a “Winter Dance Party” tour throughout the Midwest. Also on the tour were Dion and the Belmonts. During tours, it was typical for artists to travel by tour bus but being winter and enduring the cold conditions of the Midwest, the musicians were tired of getting sick and coming down with the cold and flu. The tour busses in those days did not have the great amenities of today’s busses and often the long trips between towns could get cold and be miserable – especially when the bus broke down which happened on February 1^st, 1959. Already sick, Richardson got a seat on the plane, switching with Waylon Jennings (a member of Buddy Holly’s band). Ritchie Valens won a coin toss with Tommy Allsup (also a member of Holly’s band) and got a seat on the plane. After a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, the four men boarded the plane while the remaining band members and musicians traveled on bus to their next destination in Moorhead, Minnesota. Due to poor, windy and winter conditions in the dark, the pilot lost control and the airplane crashed, killing all four on board immediately.  

In Issaquah, Washington, sits Buddy Holly’s tour bus. It is unknown how many tour busses he actually had, but sitting in the back of a parking lot, forgotten and unnoticed by the typical passerby, sits his tour bus he used, including in 1958 and 1959. The paint fading and rust creeping throughout, if only the bus could speak, it would tell many great stories of travel but also, regret. It’s a sad sight seeing the bus on a chilly day, knowing that not only did great up and coming musicians pass away, but also such a historic bus sitting, suffering itself through elements of nature and time when such an item should be preserved in a right way.