Tommy Allsup
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Tommy Allsup (born November 24, 1931, 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 was asked to work with Buddy Holly. Allsup agreed, and played with Waylon Jennings, who played bass guitar, and Carl Bunch, who played the drums. His guitar work can be heard on "Wishing", "Heartbeat", "It's So Easy", "Love's Made A Fool Of You", "Lonesome Tears", and "Come Back Baby".
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." The scene was depicted in the film La Bamba. According to him, the coin toss which decided the final seating on the place in Valens' favor was done in the ballroom and not on the airfield as depicted in the movie.
After Holly's death, 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.
Allsup was elected to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
He currently lives in Azle, Texas, where he operates Common Ground Studios.
