Tonight I spent an hour in the company of a living legend. In Newington Green, Islington. For tonight Sonny Curtis played the Weavers Arms. A far cry from Lubbock, Texas, or Tennessee where he now lives. A lifetime away from his seventeen year old friend Buddy Holly with whom he used to tour for ten dollars a night.
Here, alone, he made us all feel less pain. Somehow he filled in the cracks the plane crash had left in our lives. Simply by playing his amplified acoustic and singing his and Buddy's songs he made me feel better about it for the first time since February 1959.
"He's a songwriter", accurately announced someone in the crowd of seventy who stood, pints in hand watching this rather portly, balding figure who kneaded his fingers and complained of the cold. He needed to warm up his fingers, as he alone was aware of the intricacies his songwriting talent would require of them later in the set. He sang and played for us his exquisite songs of love and regret. . He reminded us of his impeccable pedigree with the hits I Fought the Law, More Than I Can Say and Walk Right Back, the latter apparently written on a rainy Saturday afternoon in the US Army.
His now warmed up fingers bedazzled us with an acoustic version of Don Maclean's Vincent, the song revealing itself verse by verse, chorus by chorus until we half recognised it, lost it, found it again then all stood silently swaying as his performance made the lyrics sing themselves inside our heads.
He sang the songs he most admired by his long lost friend. Well Alright was identical. Who could better it? True Love Ways was the masterpiece Holly wrote for his beloved wife Maria. Mr. Curtis mentioned that he felt his performance was lacking the full string arrangement, but I felt the warm smoky room was rich with its atmosphere.
He balked at a shouted request for Rock Around with Ollie Vee saying that he needed the Crickets for that one. He should know. He's been a member at least three times. Apparently the good citizens of Minehead will be the next ones able to evaluate the success of that early song when the Crickets reform again with Sonny Curtis Jerry Allison and Joe B Mauldin and play there later this year." Is it too far for you guys", he inquired... "No...." we cried enthusiastically. But why Minehead? Is there something I'm missing here?
An extraordinary evening. An extraordinary performance. Mr. Curtis enjoys the venue he says. He also enjoys our warm brown beer, a pint of which he accepted only on his encore. He also mentioned that Bob Wills - he of the Texas Playboys, and at whose club in Texas he and Buddy played their first gig - introduced him to the stuff. And whisky too, which he admits to enjoying more now that he did at the time.
After the success of I Fought The Law in 1959, he returned to his hometown of Meadow, just outside of Lubbock and proudly announced his newfound career to the town sages loafing around at the general store. "What you doing for a living now Sonny?" " I'm a songwriter". "Good. Can you write me down the lyrics for Mule Train?"
"They thought songs fell from the trees", he said. Tonight in Islington, the barrow was full.
London October 25th, 1995
The Crickets.
The Royal Albert Hall. October 19th 2004
How often do you write a review of the support act? The oddness of the situation was felt by their long time on-and-off front man Sonny Curtis when he said, “all the Crickets ever needed was a great closing act. And tonight we’ve got one. Please welcome Nanci Griffith”. In her turn Nanci acknowledged her love and life-long admiration for the Crickets. “I was honoured to record with them and I am the only official Crickette.”
So let’s get this straight. This was The Crickets. Jerry Ivan Allison, Joe B Mauldin and Sonny Curtis, aided tonight by Everly Brothers’ guitarist Albert Lee and occasionally Rocky Vee, son of Bobby who of course started his career as a fill-in on the ill-fated Winter Dance Party after the plane crash. This was the band that started with Buddy Holly back in 1957 and performed at the Apollo Theatre because the agent was convinced they were black, their sound was that good. This was the band that laid down the blueprint for all the beat groups of the sixties. Two guitars, bass and drums, lead breaks, self-compositions and self-production with a name that inspired John Lennon and Paul McCartney to choose an insect name for their band too.
Tonight Buddy’s long time friend and collaborator sang us so many of the greats, Oh Boy, Peggy Sue - “written after a three week relationship which in song seems to have lasted for decades” - Maybe Baby, Heartbeat - which must have been something of an eye-opener for the average British TV drama viewer - Everyday, That’ll Be the Day - “written in the back of the local Lubbock movie Theatre by JI and Buddy after seeing John Ford’s The Searchers”. Also some of his own songs recorded by The Crickets like I Fought The Law, familiar perhaps to many as a Clash song, Walk Right Back on which Nanci Griffith and Sonny managed to sound almost like Don and Phil, More Than I Can Say written on the bus with JI on a trip to New York and, to set the record straight, The Real Buddy Holly Story – “just in case anyone thought the movie got it right.” Far from it, it did lasting damage to the real and much more interesting story. Check out Paul McCartney’s engrossing Arena documentary for the facts.
After Nanci Griffith’s inspiring set they were called back for an encore or two. Well All Right was the natural choice which they recorded together a few years back and as a closer a song by “a couple of local lads”, Jagger and Richards’ No Expectations.
So the wheel keeps turning. Rock and roll not only will never die, it will keep replenishing itself. Rave on.
JM. 20th October 2004, London