In this episode our leading contributor, Gary Wells (soulrideblog.com), joins us to take an in-depth look at the Winter Dance Party tour of early 1959, and explore what led up to a critical midtour decision to charter a light plane for a late night, 300 mile flight from Mason City, Iowa, to Fargo, North Dakota. Around five miles northwest of Mason City Airport the plane crashed on private farmland, killing the pilot, Roger Peterson, along with his three passengers, touring musicians Buddy Holly, Jiles Perry ‘The Big Bopper’ Richardson, and Ritchie Valens.
Drawing primarily from personal, first-hand accounts in a variety of credible sources, we examine how the hopelessly mismanaged tour came together, the inhuman travel conditions in ageing, inadequately maintained buses crisscrossing the frozen Midwest; a joyous night in Iowa during which around 1500 teenagers – and many parents – packed Clear Lake’s Surf Ballroom, and the terrible chain of events that immediately followed.
We also look beyond mythology and cliché, and examine the longer term consequences of the tragedy with our focus on those most directly affected.
Companion Newsletter
“…It took the best people, I’m talking about kind, good-hearted people, that you can’t imagine them being bad to somebody, and it took their lives. And I never understood that, and to this day when I think about that it makes me a little bit mad…”
Waylon Jennings (1999)
The Winter Dance Party was promoted by General Artist Corporation, and was the only viable way, at that particular time, that Jiles Perry (JP) Richardson (The Big Bopper), Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly, all of whom needed to tour for financial and family reasons, could get out on the road.
Buddy Holly, while he had outstanding royalties due, needed a more immediate income as his wife, Maria Elena, was pregnant. JP Richardson had a five year old daughter, Debra, and his wife Adrianne (Teetsie) was also pregnant; he had grown up in harsh, poverty conditions and was determined to give his own family a better life and a more secure future. He needed to supplement his modest income as a Texas DJ, and to promote his hit record, Chantilly Lace, actually the B-side of The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor, which was his attempt to be part of the lucrative novelty singles trend.
Although the showbill advertised the Crickets with Buddy Holly, none of the original Crickets were on the tour, the band having fragmented over a tough touring schedule and Buddy Holly’s move to New York.
Buddy Holly recruited Waylon Jennings to play bass, Tommy Allsup on guitar and Carl Bunch on drums.
Image credit: Portal to Texas History
Of the three main attractions, it seems only Ritchie Valens was genuinely enthusiastic about going on tour, was excited in anticipation of meeting Buddy Holly, and was keen to buy his mother a home and lift his family out of their own tough circumstances.
Award winning Buddy Holly historian Bill Griggs (1941-2011), cited by the Texas State Historical Association as the preeminent authority, said this of the tour schedule;
“…The problem was, whoever scheduled the tour, started way over here, went 400 miles to your next venue, and then went back 30 miles from the first one to do the third one, if you know what I’m trying to say. Hopscotching back and forth…”
According to the official website of Sheryl Davis: Musical Landmarks Specialist
“...Bill Griggs estimated that five different buses were used before the tour reached the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa…Only two evenings before, after leaving their Duluth Armory stop…the bus had broken down, debilitatingly frozen, leaving the musicians stranded roadside for several hours near Hurley, Wisconsin, in temperatures plummeting to 35 below zero. They were eventually discovered in the early morning hours by local passersby and police who’d taken them to a nearby hotel to warm up and rest for a few hours, and in the case of (Carl) Bunch to the hospital for his frostbitten feet…”
There’s an audio segment along with an article providing more detail on the bus breakdown thanks to Wisconsin Public Radio.
Bob Hale, aged 25, was a DJ at radio station KRIB, Mason City, Iowa, and worked at the Surf Ballroom in neighbouring Clear Lake, hosting a weekly ‘record hop’. Carroll Anderson, the Surf Ballroom manager, received a call from GAC about booking the Winter Dance Party for the open date of February 2nd.
He consulted Bob Hale (mistakenly referring to JP Richardson as ‘The Big Booper’) and it was Bob Hale, obviously more attuned the current scene and importance and calibre of the artists, who urged Carroll Anderson to confirm the booking without delay.
The touring party had no roadies or any support of that nature, so the musicians had to load in and out themselves. There was apparently a road manager on board, although by the time the bus finally made it to Clear Lake, it was obvious that Buddy Holly had taken matters into his own hands and was effectively the tour leader.
In 1999, Bob Hale was interviewed for a VH1 Behind The Music documentary, which we’ve used as a major reference. He recalled;
“…It was a big night, nobody in that area, Northeast Iowa, had ever seen stars this big in their life, and for all of these youngsters, and for this young kid disc jockey, it was the biggest thrill of my life…”
Compounding the general misery of the travelling and the hours stuck in the frozen, snowbound bus prior to rescue, Tommy Allsup said that there had been no opportunity even to do any laundry for the entire twelve days they had been on the road. Bob Hale recalled that there were no available facilities in Clear Lake at that particular time (although he couldn’t remember exactly why when interviewed in 1999) and this was one of the driving forces behind Buddy Holly’s decision to charter the plane for himself, Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings.
Bob Hale and Surf Ballroom manager, Carroll Anderson, did everything they could to welcome the touring party, get them fed and to make them as comfortable as possible. In a 60th anniversary (2019) interview with New York’s WCBS Newsradio, Bob Hale recalled how Carroll Anderson also wanted the parents to feel free to come and enjoy the show;
“…We had a nice combination of teenagers and their parents and it was a big family gathering, and the other nice thing is that as the performers got ready and settled down, they walked around the surf ballroom, met the parents, met the teenagers, signed a lot of autographs, made an incredible impression particularly I think on the parents who weren’t quite sure what this was all about…and parents talked to me afterwards saying how nice these performers were that they came from backstage, said hello to the parents, signed autographs, sat down in the booths and had a couple of Colas with the kids, so it started to become a very warm and friendly gathering…”
Bob Hale gives a poignant account of the show itself, in an article on the website Buddy Holly Lives, The Day The Music Cried: Backstage at a Tragedy. (The website is in German and English). The show opened with Frankie Sardo and The Big Bopper (the ultimate showman, according to Bob Hale), then Ritchie Valens, “By the time he finished, the young teenager, on his first national tour, owned the audience, and that included the teens’ parents…”
Following intermission, it was Dion and the Belmonts followed by Buddy Holly who, in disguise, had sat in on drums for Dion’s set, then Ritchie Valens played drums behind Buddy Holly. (Carl Bunch was still recovering in hospital).
Bob Hale observed, in The Day The Music Cried;
“…and the tired, upset, and weary Buddy Holly showed why he was one of the brightest rising stars in the pop music business. He was energized, funny, smiling, laughing – loving it all! For forty minutes Buddy sang, joked, and hiccupped his way through some of his greatest tunes...”
The Surf Ballroom’s official website says,
“…The performance in Clear Lake was electric and the music brought a joy that would remain forever in the hearts and minds of all who attended…”
Plans were put in place for a return performance the following summer, and some potential dates were tentatively discussed with Carroll Anderson. Buddy Holly said they’d build in an extra day for a lakeside cookup of Wisconsin bratwurst at Bob Hale’s place.
Carroll Anderson had facilitated the charter with Dwyer’s Flying Service out of Mason City airport. The tickets for three available seats on the Beechcraft Bonanza cost 36 dollars each. Waylon Jennings agreed to give up his seat for JP Richardson who was running a fever, and a coin toss decided that Ritchie Valens would fly instead of Tommy Allsup.
Image Credit: This Day in Aviation
Carroll Anderson personally drove Buddy Holly, JP Richardson and Ritchie Valens to the airport after the show, and actually helped them into the plane, at which point there was a very warm farewell.
Bob Hale recalls the weather conditions, from Behind the Music (1999);
“…When they left the Surf Ballroom the stars were shining; it was a cold, crisp, Northern Iowa night. My wife and I got in our car to drive home, as we’re driving, the snow starts to come in right across the road, right across our lights, and I remember vividly, saying to my wife, look at that, the snow is incredible, coming right, straight across the road, I hope the guys got off the ground before the storm came into town…”
The charter company owner, Hubert (Jerry) Dwyer, who also managed the Mason City airport, watched the take-off from the tower, and saw the lights of the plane disappear. The Air Traffic Communications Service (ATCS) was unable to contact the pilot, and Dwyer later established that the aircraft had not reached its destination. At first light, he began an air search and just after 9.30 am discovered the wreckage.
A 2017 article on the website, This Day In Aviation, by Brian Swopes, goes into significant technical detail concerning pilot Roger Peterson’s qualifications and experience, the weather, the aircraft, and the moments leading to the crash.
Mr Swopes writes;
“…During the previous eight hours, Roger Peterson had telephoned the Air Traffic Communications Service three times for the weather forecast along his planned route. He was informed that weather was VFR, (Visual Flight Rules) with ceilings of 4,200 feet (1,280 meters) or higher and visibility 10 miles (16 kilometres) or more. ATCS did NOT inform Peterson of a “Flash Advisory” of a 100-mile-wide (160 kilometres) band of snow moving into the area at 25 knots (13 meters per second). Moderate to heavy icing conditions were present along with winds of 30 to 50 knots (15 to 26 feet per second)...”
Roger Peterson was trapped within the wreckage of the plane, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens were close by, but JP Richardson was ‘about 40 rows of corn’ away. The position of JP’s body would be one of the reasons that his son would take some dramatic steps many years later.
Carroll Anderson attended the crash scene to formally identify the bodies. He advised Bob Hale by phone, who was on shift at KRIB, Mason City.
Aftermath
According to the Civil Aeronautics Board report:
“…Although the aircraft was badly damaged, certain important facts were determined. There was no fire. All components were accounted for at the wreckage site. There was no evidence of inflight structural failure or failure of the controls. The landing gear was retracted at the time of impact. The damaged engine was dismantled and examined; there was no evidence of engine malfunctioning or failure in flight. Both blades of the propeller were broken at the hub, giving evidence that the engine was producing power when ground impact occurred…”
“…The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s unwise decision to embark on a flight which would necessitate flying solely by instruments when he was not properly certificated or qualified to do so. Contributing factors were serious deficiencies in the weather briefing, and the pilot’s unfamiliarity with the instrument which determines the attitude of the aircraft…”
The touring party found out about the fatal crash upon their arrival for the performance at Moorhead, Minnesota. Tommy Allsup was informed, quite abruptly apparently, by the hotel desk clerk, when Allsup asked for a room next to Buddy Holly. That night a depleted show went on with Waylon Jennings taking over Buddy Holly’s part. GAC brought in replacements; Bobby Vee and The Shadows, Jimmy Clanton, Fabian and Frankie Avalon.
Families found out secondhand through media reports or friends. In Texas Niki Sullivan (Crickets guitarist) found out from a fan and asked his mother to call Buddy Holly’s mother to find out if it was true. Buddy Holly’s mother didn’t know at that point.
Maria Elena Holly subsequently miscarried, and Teetsie Richardson gave birth to a son, Jay Perry, in April. Twenty-one year old pilot, Roger Peterson, had married Deanne (or Deann) Lenz, in September 1958.
The CAB finding of pilot error was subject to controversy for many years afterwards – Jerry Dwyer’s obituary in the Des Moines Register claims he was going to write a book setting the record straight, and in 2015 a retired pilot named LJ Coon wanted the investigation reopened, as reported by Desiree Kocise, on the website of Plane and Pilot magazine;
“…Not all were satisfied with the CAB’s findings. Two months later, a .22 calibre pistol, allegedly belonging to Holly, was found near the crash site. The discovery sparked rumours that an accidental discharge may have occurred onboard, leading to the crash. Many believed that Richardson, whose body had been found quite a bit further away than the others, had initially survived the incident and perhaps been the one shot. While the other bodies had been found either close by the wreckage or, in Peterson’s case, still inside the plane, Richardson’s body was located on a neighbouring property on the other side of a fence…”
“…In 2015, retired pilot L.J. Coon prodded the NTSB to reopen the investigation. Coon hoped to clear Peterson’s name, believing that the aircraft had suffered a fuel system failure and possible malfunction of the right ruddervator. The initial investigation found no evidence of fire, and no fuel odours were noted in the report, giving weight to Coon’s theory. Regardless, the NTSB denied his request...”
Jay Perry Richardson, who it appears never quite came to terms with the loss of his father, sought out Waylon Jennings and Bob Hale to find out all he could. Bob Hale was able to relate this emotional moment to Jay Richardson, as told here to Chicago Radio Spotlight;
“…At one point Bopper was sitting with my wife, Kathy, and me in a booth. Kathy was expecting our first child, and Bopper said something like, “That’s what I miss most…being around my wife when the baby moves. Kathy, may I feel your baby moving?” Kathy took Bopper’s hand and placed it on her stomach as the baby moved. Bopper smiled: “I can’t wait to get home to do that...”
Jay Richardson became a successful entertainer himself, performing as a tribute act to his father. In 2007 he requested the exhumation of his father’s body and a new autopsy. An examination by forensic anthropologist, Dr Bill Bass, confirmed that JP Richardson had suffered ‘massive fractures’ and had ‘likely died immediately’.
Some press coverage of the exhumation can be found in the Knoxville News and the Worcester Telegram.
Although he had half siblings from his mother’s subsequent remarriage, Jay Perry Richardson was the last surviving member of Jiles Richardson’s immediate family. Adrianne (Teetsie) passed away in 2004 (aged 67) and Debra in 2006 (aged 52). Jay Perry Richardson himself passed away in 2013 (aged 54). https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74968384/debra-joy-bridges
Carroll Anderson ran the Surf Ballroom until 1967. He passed away in 2006, aged 86.
Waylon Jennings passed away in 2002, Tommy Allsup in 2017, Carl Bunch in 2011.
Images: Waylon Jennings (L) LA Times, Tommy Allsup (Centre) The Times, Carl Bunch (R) Alchetron
Maria Elena Holly turned 91 in December 2023.
Bob Hale went on to have a long and distinguished career in broadcasting beyond KRIB Mason City, and WLS Chicago, including as a continuity announcer on television, hosting Today in Chicago, and as a television news anchor in Lexington, Kentucky. He later became a travel writer and commentator, and has remained active in tribute and memorial events, giving numerous generous and enlightening interviews over the years.
Very special thanks to Gary Wells, and to all our readers and listeners.
Suggested Further References
Richardson family litigation over royalties (2004) https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Siblings-sue-over-Big-Bopper-royalities-7779880.php
Donna Fox-Coots in the Washington Post (1987) – An interesting article from the time of the La Bamba movie. (It looks like there is a free read or two before the paywall kicks in)
Gary Wells’ featured articles; Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens – La Bamba , Frankie Sardo aka Frank Avianca, Dion DiMucci
Charles Hardin Holley (Buddy Holly) bio at the Texas State Historical Association
Des Moines Register Image Archives: Remembering Buddy Holly
IMDb entry: Behind the Music: The Day the Music Died (1999)
City of Lubbock (Buddy Holly Center)
Interview with Carl Bunch on Buddy Holly Lives
The DEC4 Podcast by George Fairbrother 