On a cold, snowy morning in February of 1959, a small airplane took off and quickly crashed into a frozen cornfield near Clear Lake, Iowa.  The ill-fated passengers included three of the top Rock ‘n’ Roll stars of the day:  Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.  For this reason, February 3rd, 1959 has long been defined as ”The Day the Music Died”.  Dramatized in films such as “La Bamba” starring Lou Diamond Phillips and immortalized in songs like ”American Pie” by Don McLean, these events occurred at a time when the music was new, and was enjoyed by a relatively small number of people.

Now, within the last few days, two eyewitnesses to these tragic events have come forward to commemorate the sad anniversary at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville,TN.

On February 19th, Jeri Baker from Moorhead, MN, visited the Ambassador of Music City, David Andersen at the Museum and requested that he play a special song for her.  Jeri appeared to tear up as she mildly sang along to Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” while Andersen serenaded her with this classic song.

As more songs were shared, she told Andersen her tale about the special night in February of 1959, when as a young, 15 year old girl, she was waiting with the crowd of 300 kids at the Moohead Arena for Buddy Holly and the rest of the show to arrive.  Jeri gave Andersen her account of standing in the crowd, how shock turned to tears when the stage announcement was made that the plane had crashed, and the young stars were all dead.  She remembered the crowd falling to the floor and crying their eyes out.

Then, just a few days later on February 26th, David Andersen met Sara Jean Utt, now of New Hope, MN, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and while he played her a song, she told him how she grew up in Iowa  and was actually in Clear Lake, on February 2nd,1959.  She was one of the lucky few at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake that night and was in the audience at the last show Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper ever played. 

Her memories of the cold, snowy night were still vivid and her recollections of the music were interesting.  She remembered Buddy Holly’s unique sounding guitar which was a solid-body, Fender electric model, which was still novel at that time.  As for the performances, she confessed that her favorite of the evening was “Chantilly Lace” by the Big Bopper.

With each guest, David Andersen was able to chat about the significance of this special night in American music history.  They seemed to have a deep sense that these young people may have passed away in real life, but they stepped into immortality, and would be ever remembered.  They each related how they felt being the first in the world to bear the brunt of the pain that resulted from this loss of innocence.  Before leaving the Country Music Hall of Fame they each inscribed poignant messages in Andersen’s Ambassador Guest Book about their historic experience.

They each purchased some of David’s CDs and commemorative guitar picks, and had their photo made with him at the Museum, making some new music memories here in Nashville.  Andersen says,  “How lucky I am to be the Ambassador of Music City, and be able to make these kinds of connections with visitors, and help to make their memories come alive.”