Tommy Allsup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tommy Allsup (born November 24, 1931 in Owasso, Oklahoma) is an American musician.
Allsup began his career in music in 1949 as a guitarist with the "Oklahoma Swingbillies." In 1958, recording at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico he met Buddy Holly, who asked him to play lead guitar in a new backup band to replace The Crickets. Allsup agreed, and played with Waylon Jennings on bass guitar, and Carl Bunch on drums. During their winter tour, Buddy Holly was killed in an airplane crash on February 3, 1959 at Clear Lake, Iowa in what has become known as "The Day the Music Died." Allsup was the person who luckily lost the toss of a coin to Ritchie Valens for a seat on the small airplane. The scene was depicted in the film La Bamba.
After Holly's death, Tommy Allsup moved to California where he did session work for Liberty Records and eventually became one of their record producers. In 1968 he moved to Nashville to manage Metromedia Records and over the years played guitar as well as produced some of the biggest names in Nashville music.
In 2000, Tommy Allsup shared the Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Bob's Breakdowns"
Tommy Allsup has played guitar or bass on close to nine thousand recording sessions and his work has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He currently lives in Azle, Texas where he operates his "Common Ground Studios."
