Remembering the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly on Starday

In honor of the day the music died (today's date in 1959), it's sometimes also nice to remember the day the music began. On Oct. 16, 1957, the Big Bopper's first record was released on the Mercury-Starday Country Series. Both sides were great country boppers ('King For A Day' becoming a Top Five hit for Hank Snow in 1961) and it was just the beginning of a great, albeit all to short, career. I'm a bigger fan of the flipside, 'Crazy Blues,' which I covered on the recent GO! GO! GO! album.

Interestingly enough, and slighly less known, Buddy Holly also appeared on a Starday record that same year. Buddy was backing the great Starday honky-tonker Fred Crawford on his 'By the Mission Wall' (45-314) session.

Today was a day in which some great music died, but thankfully we were left with a lot of great recordings which live on. RIP The Big Bopper (aka Jape Richardson) and Buddy Holly (and Ritchie Valens too).

Jape Richardson and the Japetts - Crazy Blues : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqpuuKY-EBE
Fred Crawford - By the Mission Wall : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eUaim1BVVk