VA - The Great Tragedy - Winter Dance Party 1959 Vol. 1 & 2 (2019-2020)

February 3, 1959 will always be remembered as 'the day the music died.' On that frigid occasion, a small plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper crashed in a frozen Iowa field, killing all touring three rock and roll luminaries and their pilot. Bear Family's posthumous tribute disc to the tragedy brings together some of their greatest recordings on this one-of-a-kind collection, along with key sides from the surviving participants of the tour--Dion and the Belmonts, Frankie Sardo, Waylon Jennings, even Debbie Stevens, whose cover of If You Can't Rock Me is an unheralded classic. There are also a series of tribute songs to the fallen triumvirate by Eddie Cochran, Ray Campi, Benny Barnes, and Hershel Almond, as well as excerpts from period radio broadcasts relaying the devastating news. Rock and roll would never be the same--it had forever lost its innocence--but the seminal music that Buddy, Ritchie, and the Bopper gave us will never grow old.


The second part of the 'Winter Dance Party' tour will be covered for the first time with this CD album.
The promoters let the tour continue seamlessly! Dion & The Belmonts, Frankie Sardo and the Crickets (Buddy Hollys Band) from the original tour line-up stayed on board.
Replacement for the casualties was quickly found: Frankie Avalon, Jimmy Clanton, Fabian, Robert Velline and his Shadows, and Bill Parsons filled the gaps. The new tour members were successful young teen idols, hardly the typical heavy rock 'n' rollers.
Two more songs dedicated to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper complete this CD.