Tommy Allsup obit

 

Rockabilly, country music guitar great Tommy Allsup dies at age 85

He was not on the list.

Rockabilly great Tommy Allsup -- whose innovative work on guitar was always overshadowed by his winning a famous coin-toss -- died Wednesday in Lubbock at age 85.

Allsup's amazing resume included credits on albums by Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Ernest Tubb, Asleep at the Wheel, Leon Russell, Melba Montgomery, the Ventures and dozens of others. But he was best known for his association with Buddy Holly.

Allsup was Holly's guitarist in early 1959. On Feb. 3, he famously lost a coin toss that cost him a seat on a small airplane that crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing Holly, Ritchie Valens (who won the coin toss) and Beaumont native J.P. Richardson, better known as the Big Bopper. Allsup flipped the coin.

After the crash, Allsup relocated to Los Angeles, where he played on a couple of recordings by the Ventures. He later moved back to west Texas, working with Roy Orbison and a young Willie Nelson. Through the '70s, '80s and '90s he kept busy as a session guitarist and bassist and also as a producer.

His son Austin Allsup was featured on the most recent season of NBC's "The Voice."

Allsup worked with entertainers such as Buddy Holly, including playing lead guitar on "It's So Easy!" and "Lonesome Tears", as well as playing with Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. Allsup was touring with Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson when he serendipitously lost a fateful coin toss with Valens for a seat on the plane that crashed, killing Valens, Holly, Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson on February 3, 1959. Investigators initially thought that Allsup had died in the crash because he had given Holly his wallet so that Holly could use Allsup's ID to claim a mailed letter on his behalf. Allsup moved to Los Angeles, played with local bands, and did session work, including songwriting credits for The Ventures "Bluer Than Blue", "Guitar Twist", and "Opus Twist". Allsup is known to be playing the lead guitar for these tunes on The Ventures albums The Colorful Ventures and Twist With The Ventures. Allsup played guitar on Bobby Vee recording sessions, including playing lead guitar on the album Bobby Vee Meets The Crickets.

He returned to Odessa, Texas, where he worked with Ronnie Smith, Roy Orbison, and producer Willie Nelson. He was also producer on the futuristic, prophetic trans-Atlantic and Australasian hit "In the Year 2525" by one-hit-wonders Zager & Evans. Later in 1968, he moved to Nashville, where he did session work and produced Bob Wills' 24 Great Hits by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. In the mid-1970s Allsup served as the producer for a pair of Asleep at the Wheel albums.