The beat of the Crickets: J.I. Allison, iconic drummer of Buddy Holly's group, dies at 82
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Jerry Ivan (J.I.) Allison, the drummer for Buddy Holly's Crickets who is celebrated for his pivotal role in the Lubbock-based band that changed the music world as well as a successful career of his own, died Monday.
He was 82.
Allison, who was born in Hillsboro but raised in Lubbock, and Holly co-wrote some of the biggest pop hits ever released by Buddy Holly and the Crickets, "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue," according to Avalanche-Journal archives.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of The Crickets.
Veteran Lubbock music producer Don Caldwell said Allison was a driving force behind Buddy Holly and the Crickets' success, adding that his contributions to the band and the music world can't be overstated.
He pointed to the iconic drum patterns in songs like "Peggy Sue" and "Oh Boy" that helped define the sound of rock and roll and inspired bands to come, including the Beatles.
"He was a major factor in those Buddy Holly songs becoming hits," Caldwell said.
He recalled first meeting Allison when the drummer returned to Lubbock and had built a recording studio in his home several years after the Crickets and Holly parted ways - and after the February 1959 plane crash that killed Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.
Caldwell, a saxophonist, said he had one of his first recording sessions in Allison's studio, and would later enjoy getting to work and play with him at events and functions over the years, including a 2013 ceremony in Lubbock marking the re-opening of Allison's boyhood home when it was relocated just east of the Buddy Holly Center on Crickets Avenue.
"He was such an energetic guy," Caldwell said. " One thing about drummers in bands - the drummer is usually the spark plug of the whole thing, the guy with the energy. He was always a funny guy, looking for something to be light-hearted about."
Texas rock and country music artist Gary P. Nunn, who was raised in Brownfield not far from Lubbock, recalled meeting Allison in the mid-1960s when Allison asked if he'd help fill in as a guest member of the Crickets during a couple of shows in El Paso.
He said he enjoyed getting to know Allison, recalling his energy in front of packed audiences as they played a slew of hits by Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
"Obviously, he had a tremendous impact on music worldwide," Nunn said. "Even the Beatles named their band after Buddy Holly and the Crickets. And they spelled it Beatles with a B-E-A-T because of the beat."
Lubbock roots
When Allison and other surviving members of the Crickets were interviewed by the Avalanche-Journal in 2012 ahead of their Hall of Fame induction, he recalled his parents bought him his first drum set when the family moved to Sixth Street in Lubbock when he was 10. He would later meet Holly in the school yard at J.T. Hutchinson Junior High School, although he admits the two didn't immediately become close friends.
"Buddy and Bob Montgomery played for a school assembly program during my eighth-grade year, and it affected me like marching band in the fifth grade," Allison said for that article. "It was the very best live music I had heard up to then."
He would go on to recall how he, Holly and fellow band members would develop their signature sound and go from playing small but iconic venues around Lubbock, opening for Elvis in the Hub City, and taking their music to the nation and world.
Lubbock's Buddy Holly Center released a brief statement Monday evening, reflecting on Allison's impact on the music world.
"We are saddened to hear about the passing of J.I. Allison," the statement reads. "We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife Joanie, family, and friends. One of Buddy's closest friends and a true trailblazer in the music industry, the longest tenured member of The Crickets was not only a 'Real Wild Child,' but was also an innovator on the drums. J.I., you will be missed."
The Crickets were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 (Holly was inducted on his own in 1986) with an introduction by Smokey Robinson during the ceremony.
"Show us a rock band that wasn’t influenced by the Crickets. You can’t," reads an introduction from the Hall of Fame. "They wrote the blueprint for rock and roll bands—two guitars, bass and drums—and inspired thousands of kids to start up garage bands around the world."
After the Crickets and Holly parted ways in 1958, the Crickets continued to tour and record into the 1960s and beyond, reads an obituary article from Rolling Stone magazine. Allison would establish himself as a go-to studio musician, working with artists like J.J. Cale and Johnny Rivers.
The Rolling Stone piece points out that the Crickets were also closely associated with Littlefield-native Waylon Jennings, touring with him for several years during 1980s. The band also got to collaborate with Paul McCartney, who provided piano and backing vocals to the band’s 1988 single, “T Shirt.”
“As much a pioneer of his own craft as Buddy was, he still spoke with passion and humility,” the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation wrote. “Full of anecdotes of how it was to be there when the music we love was brand new and pushing boundaries.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: J.I. Allison, of Buddy Holly's Crickets, dies at 82
