J.I. Allison, R.I.P

Jerry Ivan “JI” Allison has died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 82. His death was announced yesterday on the social media page of the band in which he made history, Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The post, in part, reads: “JI was a musician ahead of his time, and undoubtedly his energy, ideas and exceptional skill contributed to both the Crickets and rock ‘n’ roll itself becoming such a success. Buddy is often heralded as the original singer-songwriter, but JI, too, wrote and inspired so many of the songs that would go on to be eternal classics. There’s more to be said and posted here in the coming days. For today, we think about his family and friends and wish JI to rest in peace.”

Allison was born in 1939 in Hillsboro, Texas and met Charles Hardin “Buddy” Holly when the two were in middle school in Lubbock. Holly was a few years older, but he and Allison swiftly became friends and began to play together as a duo. Then they were joined first by Niki Sullivan, and then by Joe. B. Mauldin.

The Crickets in Texas, 1957: Allison, Mauldin, Sullivan, Holly.

They called themselves The Crickets, and they shook the music world from the beginning during their terribly brief time as a band. As the El Paso Times observed during their very first tour, they “write their own music, play their own accompaniment and sing their own songs. They do their numbers in a completely unique style with all new trend arrangements.” “Oh Boy” and “That’ll Be The Day” swiftly joined “Jailhouse Rock” and “You Send Me” on the charts, along with a song written by Allison and Holly that paid tribute to the woman who would be Allison’s first wife, Peggy Sue Gerron. The lyrics and rhymes were simple: I love you / true / /blue / Sue. The music was something beyond compelling, with Holly’s flexible flying voice and Allison’s constant kinetic rolling drumming urging each other on and on and on.

The Crickets, “Peggy Sue,” on the Ed Sullivan Show, December 1, 1957.

Peggy Sue Gerron and Allison flank Buddy and María Elena Holly on the Hollys’ wedding day

Holly and The Crickets joined “The Biggest Show of Stars for ‘58” in the autumn of 1958, and toured with Bobby Darin and Frankie Avalon, Little Anthony and the Imperials, and Dion and the Belmonts. My hometown paper, The Richmond Times-Dispatch of Richmond, Virginia, called “Buddy Holly, Joe Mauldin and Jerry Allison” three “young men from Texas who seem to be setting the popular music world on fine with their playing and singing.” Holly continued on his own in January of 1959, on a show sometimes billed as the “Concert of Stars” and sometimes as the “Winter Dance Party.” He was killed, with Richie Valens (17), J.P. Richardson (26)—whose stage name was “The Big Bopper”—and their pilot Roger Peterson, 21, when their chartered plane crashed in a field outside Clear Lake, Iowa. Buddy Holly was 22 years old.

top to bottom: Allison, Holly, Mauldin

For years after Holly’s death, The Crickets continued as a band, with rotating lead singers and other personnel. Allison also worked as a touring and studio musician with many other artists, from Waylon Jennings to Paul McCartney—whose Beatles owed their “beetle-y” name in part to The Crickets. JI Allison was a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His death marks the passing of the last surviving member of the original lineup of The Crickets.