Page 19 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 2-3-2016

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become more involved in the business side
of music. Exhausted from touring, Nikki
Sullivan left the Crickets at the end of
1957. Holly, Mauldin and Allison carried
on as a trio for several months. Tommy
Allsup, a guitarist from Tulsa, Oklahoma,
who Holly met at Petty’s studio, joined in
the summer of 1958, recording such clas-
sics as “Love’s Made a Fool of You” and
“It’s So Easy” with Holly and the Crickets.
Tommy Allsup was the guitarist on the ill-
fated 1959 Winter Dance Party Tour.
After the tragedy, Allison and Mauldin
continued on with The Crickets, adding
their old friend Sonny Curtis as lead gui-
tarist and vocalist. Sonny had played guitar Gordon spent ten years, from 1985 to
and fiddle in earlier groups with Buddy
and J.I., so his joining was a welcome and
seamless fit with the band’s unique sound
and approach. The first Crickets’ album
without Buddy Holly, In Style With The
Crickets, was recorded in the same Clovis,
New Mexico studio as had all their hits,
with additional sessions in New York and
Los Angeles. Their classics “I Fought The
Law” and “More Than I Can Say” were
introduced on this album. Their early-
Sixties albums included Bobby Vee Meets
the Crickets (1962), Some Old, Something
New, Something Borrowed, Something
Else!!! (1963) and California Sun (1964).
This Crickets lineup comprised Allison,
Curtis, keyboardist Glenn D. Hardin (who
later played with Elvis Presley, Gram
Parsons and Emmylou Harris) and bassist
Jerry Naylor.
Glenn D. Hardin became a member
of the Crickets in 1961. He played the
piano on the singles “My Little Girl” and
“(They Call Her) La Bamba,” on their
album California Sun. Additionally, after
Joe B. Mauldin temporarily left the group,
Hardin furnished their bass sound with a
Fender Rhodes piano bass. He also wrote
songs with Crickets guitarist/singer Sonny
Curtis, co-authoring the group’s single
“Teardrops Feel Like Rain,” and the songs
“Count Me In,” “My Heart’s Symphony,”
and “Where Will the Word Come From,”
recorded by their fellow Liberty Records
artists Gary Lewis & the Playboys.
In the early 1970s, Tonio K. (born
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Steve Krikorian) recorded two albums
with Buddy Holly’s backing band, The 3
Crickets. The group consisted of founding
members J.I. Allison and Sonny Curtis, The Crickets, circa late
plus Ric Gretch (Blind Faith, Traffic), Nick 1990s (L-R) J.I. Allison,
van Maarth and Albert Lee (Eric Clapton). Sonny Curtis, Joe B.
Remnants (1973) and Long Way Mauldin
from Lubbock (1974) were produced by
long-time Cricket and Holly cohort Bob and ‘90s. In April of 1995, they recorded terman Show, CNN, America’s Talking,
Montgomery. In 2004, Tonio K. reunited “Not Fade Away” with Levon Helm and Westwood One Radio syndicated specials
with the Crickets for a track on their star- The Band for a critically-acclaimed musi- and a two-hour Nashville Network special
studded (Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, Phil cal tribute to Buddy Holly entitled “Not shown worldwide.
Everly) album, The Crickets and Their Fade Away” released on Decca Records. As the millennium approached, the
Buddies, singing lead on the Holly classic, The following year, The Crickets recorded Crickets were again in the studio with
“Not Fade Away.” Too Much Monday Morning an album of Grammy Award-winning producer Greg
Gordon Payne was Waylon Jennings’ all new material and which featured guest Ladanyi to record what may well be their
right-hand man as guitarist and singer. vocalist Nanci Griffith. It was released on most memorable album of all, The Crick-
the British label, Carlton. That year they ets and Their Buddies. The album features
1994, as lead singer and guitarist with his also toured extensively with Nanci Griffith 15 new tracks of the band’s classic hits
pals J.I. Allison and Joe B. Mauldin of The and The Blue Moon Orchestra. with the Crickets joined by their “bud-
Crickets. Over the years, the Crickets have ap- dies” – Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, John
Known best for his fingerstyle and hy- peared in motion pictures and numerous Prine, Rodney Crowell, Albert Lee, Nanci
brid picking technique, guitarist Albert Lee documentaries as well as top television Griffith, J.D. Souther, Johnny Rivers, Phil
toured with the Crickets in 1973. Lee has shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, Everly, Vince Neil, Keith Allison, Bobby
worked with many famous musicians from Sunday Night At The London Palladium, Vee, Tonio K. & Peter Case and Waylon
a wide range of genres, including the likes American Bandstand, The David Let- Jennings (one of his last recordings).
of Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, Rodney
Crowell, Ricky Skaggs, Bill Wyman’s Old Fashioned Values
Rhythm Kings, The Everly Brothers, and
Carlene Carter. Albert Lee is universally Providing you with quality products &
recognized in music circles as one of the service you can count on.
world’s finest, as well as one of the top
rockabilly guitarists in history. In fact, Eric
Clapton is on record stating that Albert Lee
is “the greatest guitarist in the world.”
Keith Allison has had a career woven
into the very fabric of American rock ‘n
roll since the mid-1960s. A cousin to J.I.
Allison, Keith passed briefly through the
lineup of The Crickets and has also worked
with Roy Orbison, Ray Peterson, The
Monkees, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart,
and in 1969, he joined Paul Revere & the
Raiders for several years. Allison con-
tinues to perform today. He’s a longtime
member of the Waddy Watchel Band, and
also played bass on Last Man Standing, the
2007 album by rock and roll legend Jerry
Lee Lewis; as well as recording backing
vocals on “Love’s Made A Fool of You” on
the Crickets 2004 album, The Crickets and
Their Buddies.
The Crickets continued to tour and
record, issuing albums throughout the ‘80s
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