J.I. Allison - Background

Background

Allison's first professional recording can be heard on a 45-rpm recording of another local legend named Hal Goodson and the Raiders This very rare recording was named "Who's Gonna Be the Next One Honey." This recording was also performed at the Norman Petty studio in Clovis, New Mexico about six months before "Peggy Sue" was recorded.

In their early days at the Lubbock Youth Center, Buddy Holly's vocals and guitar were backed only by Allison's drumming, allowing for some of Holly's best guitar work.

Over time, Allison's rhythm backup ranged from slapping hands-on-knees or hand-clapping the beat to a modal plainness of cymbal drumming. His snappy cracks at the snare drum gave power to the songs released under the name The Crickets. Later songs, released under Buddy Holly's own name, were softer in tone and filled with innocence and longing. On these, Allison played only tom-toms in keeping with the sound of the vocals. His work on The Crickets recordings gave the records much of their distinctiveness and has influenced subsequent generations of Rock and roll drummers.

Norman Petty, the manager, often manipulated song-writing credits and Allison, although credited with another recording to which he contributed little, helped to compose the music for some of the famous songs, notably "That'll Be The Day" and "Peggy Sue" (Allison later married Peggy Sue Gerron, the namesake of the latter song who, in her biography quotes Allison admitting he did not write Peggy Sue, "Buddy did"). "That'll Be The Day" was originally recorded by Holly before he started working with Petty, so the latter's appearance on the songwriting credits for the later version by The Crickets illustrates the point about manipulation of the credits. Allison has referred in several published interviews to his role in composing "Not Fade Away", whose credits show Norman Petty/Charles Hardin - the first and middle real names of Buddy Holly (Original last name, "Holley").

Although Allison did not sing on The Crickets records made with Buddy Holly — despite misleading credits for the band's recordings as "vocal group with instrumental accompaniment" — in 1958 he did release the single "Real Wild Child" — having heard Johnny O'Keefe play the original during The Crickets brief visit to Australia that year — which he recorded under the pseudonym Ivan, with Buddy Holly on guitar and backing vocals. It was a minor chart entry in 1958 and the first studio recording of the song that would become a rock standard. Allison also sang on a few later releases by the Crickets, both singles and album tracks.

Allison also worked as a session musician. For example, he played on the studio recording of The Everly Brothers' "(Till) I Kissed You" in 1959.