Lindsey Graham (3:41)

From noiser and airship I'm Lindsey Graham and this is history. Daily history is made every day on this podcast. Every day we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is February 3, 1959, the day the music died. It's February 13, 1955, in Lubbock, Texas, four years before the deadly plane crash outside Mason City. Backstage at the Fair Park Coliseum, 18 year old Charles Harden Buddy Hollywood stands chatting with fellow musicians. Buddy is a senior at Lubbock High School and has aspirations of a career in pop music. With his wiry frame and thick rimmed glasses, he doesn't fit the typical image of a star. But Buddy is sure he's got the talent to more than make up for that. Buddy has played plenty of gigs at parties here in Lubbock and even appeared on local radio. But tonight he'll play in front of his biggest crowd yet. Buddy isn't top of the bill, though. That honor goes to another young performer, 20 year old singer Elvis Presley. Elvis has released three singles and is fast becoming a superstar, so to appear on the same stage as him is a major coup for Buddy Holly. When Buddy takes the stage with his band, he quickly wins over the crowd who cheer and applaud their talented local boy. The performance is such a success that Buddy is then asked to open for Elvis twice more in April and June. These appearances bring Buddy to the attention of executives at Decca Records, and a year later, in February 1956, Buddy signs his first record deal. Recording sessions are arranged in a Nashville studio and Buddy is excited to get started. But the producer from Decca soon takes complete creative control. He picks the session artists and arranges the music. Buddy is left frustrated with his lack of input and is unhappy with the results. Neither of the two singles he records for Decca make much of an impression on the charts. And when Buddy's contract comes to an end in 1957, the record company decides not to renew it. Undeterred, Buddy and three fellow musicians record a demo of a new song called that'll Be the Day. It's inspired by a line from the John Wayne movie the Searchers. Buddy's manager Norman Petty then sends the track to Brunswick Records in New York City. They snap up Buddy and his group who quickly decide on a new band name for their new start. Calling themselves the Crickets. That'll Be the Day is released on July 27, 1957 and is an instant hit. The Crickets are then booked to play a six night run at the Apollo Theater in New York City. And by the time the curtain comes down on their last show in late August, that'll Be the Day is steadily climbing the national charts. Two months after its release, the song finally reaches the coveted number one spot. 21 year old buddy Holly is now one of America's hottest young pop stars and and he starts releasing songs under his own name soon, scoring another hit with the rock and roll number Peggy Sue. With his star rising fast in December 1957, Buddy appears on the Ed Sullivan show and he is so popular that he's invited back the following month. A series of tours in Hawaii, Australia and the United Kingdom then catapult him from national to international fame. But it's not just on stage that Buddy is finding success. When he returns to America in June 1958, he visits a New York studio for a solo recording session. It's there that he meets Maria Elena Santiago, a 26 year old receptionist at a production company. Buddy asks Maria out and is so taken with her that he proposes to her on their first date. Two months later, on August 15, 1958, they marry in Buddy's hometown of Lubbock, Texas. The young couple then moves back to New York where to start their life together. Buddy seems to be living the dream. Everything is going his way. But then in late 1958, his upward progress comes to a sudden halt. He has a dispute over royalty payments with his manager Norman Petty and abruptly cuts ties with him. Buddy then also splits with the Crickets after his bandmates decide not to follow him in relocating to New York. So now with his band gone and his royalties frozen while the dispute with his manager plays out. But he is left short on cash. He decides to get out on the road and tour to make some money and within a matter of weeks he will assemble a new band and head out across America on his winter Dance party tour. But it will be far from a party. Thanks to poor organization and even worse weather, the tour will run into problems from the very start and eventually end in tragedy.

AT&T Business (8:40)

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Narrator (9:11)

2024, an Alaska Airlines door plug tore away mid flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of a plane carried 171 passengers. This heart stopping incident was just the latest in a string of crises surrounding the aviation manufacturing giant Boeing. In the past decade, Boeing has been involved in a series of damning scandals and deadly crashes that have chipped away at its once sterling reputation. At the center of it all, the 737 Max, the latest season of Business wars explores how Boeing, once the gold standard of aviation engineering, descended into a nightmare of safety concerns and public mistrust. The decisions, denials and devastating consequences bringing the titan to its knees. And what, if anything, can save the company's reputation now? Follow Business wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge business the Unraveling of Boeing early and ad free right now on Wondery Plus.

Lindsey Graham (10:18)

It's February 2nd, 1959 in the town of Clear Lake, Iowa, a month after Buddy Holly left his old band the Crickets. Buddy steps off his tour bus and smiles as the manager of tonight's venue, the Surf Ballroom, hustles over through the coal to shake his hand. Other men pile out of the bus behind Buddy and he introduces his fellow musicians to the manager one by one as well as his own band. Buddy has roped in several other rising stars to support him on his tour. 17 year old pop sensation Richie Valens is best known for his hit song la Bamba while 28 year old disc jockey JP Richardson is carving out his own successful music career under the stage name the Big Bopper. But even with their rising stardom, there are no luxury accommodations on tour. All the men are grateful to hop out of the bus and stretch their legs. The tour has gotten off to a difficult start, with shows every night and journeys of up to 400 miles between them. Spent long hours on shabby tour buses that would be uncomfortable enough at the best of times. But it's deep winter and freezing outside, and amid heavy snow, their buses have repeatedly broken down. These poor conditions have put all the musicians in a sour mood, and now their health is suffering too. Both Richie and the Big Bopper are suffering from the flu, and one of the drummers has developed frostbite so bad that they've had to leave him behind in a Michigan hospital. And there's no road crew to help out on this tour either. So when the musicians enter the Surf Ballroom, they must unload their own equipment. So while his friends get busy setting up for the show, Buddy asks the venue manager for help. The tour's only a week old and it's already wearing him down. He wants to avoid another torturous bus journey to the next gig, so he asks for help locating a plane to fly him the 360 miles to Minnesota. The manager suggests using a local firm, Dwyer Flying Service, and says he'd be happy to help make the arrangements. Buddy gratefully accepts the manager's offer and heads off to join the band to set up feeling a bit more upbeat. And by the time Buddy walks on stage that night at 8:00, nearly a thousand people have braved the cold to pack into the Surf Ballroom. His first set soon has the crowd warmed up, and when Buddy heads backstage for intermission, he's in a much improved mood. He tells the others about the flight he's booked to Minnesota. Unfortunately, there's only enough room on board for two extra passengers, so he selects his bass player, Waylon Jennings, and guitarist Tommy also. But before the show starts up again, the Big Bopper approaches Waylon and asks if he can take the spot on the plane instead. He's still feeling ill and is desperate for a good night's sleep. Waylon checks with Buddy, who agrees to the trade. Buddy then pokes fun at Waylon for not joining him, telling him, I hope your damn bus freezes up again. Waylon responds with a playful comment of his own, saying, well, I hope your old plane crashes. It's a remark that he will regret for the rest of his life. After the second set, the musicians hang around to sign autographs for the crowd, but Buddy can't linger too long. He has a plane to catch. He climbs into a waiting car along with Tommy and the Big Bopper, but before they leave, he asks Tommy to do one last check inside to make sure they haven't forgotten anything. Tommy obliges, but on the way back he bumps into Ritchie Valens. Richie has already asked to swap seats once. He's never flown before and he's desperate to try. Tommy turned him down earlier, but now Richie is so insistent that Tommy decides to give him a chance. He pulls out a coin and flips it and lets Richie call. The young singer calls heads and wins the toss, leaving Tommy to face another night on the freezing cold bus. So Buddy, Richie and the Big Bopper arrive at the airfield shortly before 1am they pay $36 each and then climb on board the small plane that's waiting for them. Its pilot is 21 year old Roger Peterson. Roger is at the tail end of a 17 hour workday already, but he's happy for this one last fare. The men take off 15 minutes later and soon the aircraft's taillights will be fading into the darkness above Iowa. But the next time anyone sees the plane, it will be lying in pieces on a snowy cornfield.

Narrator (14:28)

A few miles from the glass spires of midtown Atlanta lies the south river forest. In 2021 and 2022, the woods became a home to activists from all over the country who gathered to stop the nearby construction of a massive new police training facility nicknamed Cop City.

Narrator (14:48)

At approximately 9:00 this morning, as law enforcement was moving through various sectors of the property, an individual, without warning shot a Georgia State Patrol trooper.

Narrator (14:58)

This is We Came to the Forest, a story about resistance.

Jorge Gaviria (15:02)

The abolitionist mission isn't done until every prison is empty and shut down.

Narrator (15:07)

Love and fellowship.

Lauren (15:08)

It was probably the happiest I've ever.

Narrator (15:10)

Been in my life and the lengths we'll go to protect the things we hold closest to our hearts. Follow We Came to the Forest on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts, you can binge all episodes of We Came to the Forest early and ad free right now by joining Wondery.

Lindsey Graham (15:39)

It's 10am On February 3, 1959, near Clear Lake, Iowa, less than 12 hours after the plane carrying Buddy Holly and his friends went down. Deputy Sheriff Bill McGill stares solemnly ahead as he drives along a rural gravel road. He's following up on a report of a plane crash from Hubert Dwyer, the owner of Dwyer Flying Service. With icy conditions like These Sheriff Magill fears the worst. Even if anyone survived the crash, they will have been exposed to freezing temperatures all night long. There's a snow dusted cornfield up ahead with what looks like a twisted ball of metal poking above its fence. Sheriff Magill pulls up and climbing out of his cruiser, lets out a long deep breath. From the marks left in the field, it seems that the plane skidded hundreds of feet with the force of the impact, causing a large section of the fuselage to roll into a ball shape. Sheriff McGill can't think that anyone could have survived. And sure enough, he soon spots the bodies. Only the pilot is still in the aircraft. The three passengers were thrown clear and their injuries are so terrible that they must have died almost instantaneously. It's not long before the scene is crawling with reporters and word of the deadly accident is spreading across the country. Back at Buddy Holly's apartment in New York, his pregnant wife, Maria Elena, is unaware of the tragedy until she hears about it on the news. The shock causes her to miscarry, adding to the grief the family must now bear. A later investigation establishes that the likely cause of the crash was human error. The conditions on the night of the accident were treacherous, with near zero visibility and strong turbulence. The young pilot, Roger Peterson, would have had to rely on his instruments to know where he was headed. But he would. He wasn't qualified to fly in that way. And his lack of experience was compounded by his unfamiliarity with the equipment in the plane. Lost in the thick, low clouds that blanketed the ground, it's thought that he lost his bearings, his sense of up and down, and then flew his plane into the cornfield at high speed. This devastating accident cut short four young lives. But Buddy Holly's legacy will go on to influence music for years to come. Artists such as John Lennon and Bob Dylan will talk about the impact Buddy had on them and how it shaped their own development as musicians. But perhaps the most famous tribute to Buddy will come from the American singer Don McLean. Twelve years after the crash, he will write American Pie in this song. He'll call the tragedy in Iowa the Day the Music Died. And it's a name that will stick a poignant reminder of the potential lost in the lives destroyed that cold night in Iowa on February 3, 1959. Next on History Daily. February 4, 1974. Newspaper heiress Patty Hearst is kidnapped by members of a notorious homegrown terror group. From Noiser and airship. This is HISTORY Daily hosted, edited and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazi Sound design by Gabriel Gould. Music by Thrum. This episode is written and researched by Rob Scragg, edited by Dorian Marino. Managing producer, Emily Byrd. Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noise.