Together they co-wrote the band’s first hit, ‘That’ll Be the Day’, which went to number one in the US chart in 1957. The pair’s camaraderie and mutual respect laid the foundation for the band’s success. Their debut album, The ‘Chirping’ Crickets, features Buddy, Jerry, Joe B. Mauldin and Niki Sullivan on the iconic front cover.

When Buddy moved to New York in 1958 to become more involved with the business, Jerry and Joe decided to return to Lubbock. Retaining the name the Crickets, they recorded new material with Sonny Curtis, who’d played with Buddy before the band was formed, and singer Earl Sinks.

Released in 1960, the group’s final album for Coral, In Style with the Crickets, included the classics ‘I Fought the Law’, ‘More Than I Can Say’ and their version of Buddy’s ‘Love’s Made a Fool of You’. Going on to sign for the Liberty label, Jerry, Sonny and Tommy Allsup, another musician who’d played with Buddy, became the label’s regular studio musicians, backing such artists as Bobby Vee, Johnny Burnette and Eddie Cochran.

After a stint serving in the US Air Force, Jerry and Sonny Curtis provided backing vocals for Eric Clapton’s self-titled debut solo album. Later the Crickets toured with Waylon Jennings, who’d played in Buddy’s band on the ill-fated Winter Dance Party package tour.

In 2004, the Crickets released The Crickets and Their Buddies, featuring collaborations with such artists as Graham Nash, Rodney Crowell, Eric Clapton, Bobby Vee, Nanci Griffith and John Prine. As he had done on several of their previous LPs, Albert Lee played guitar on the album. In 2007, Jerry Allison was inducted into the Musician’s Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville and, as a member of the Crickets, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. On 6 February 2016, the Crickets

played their final gig at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, with Jerry, Sonny, Glen D. Hardin, Tommy Allsup, Gordon Payne and Albert Lee all performing. This was the venue where Buddy had played his last

show almost exactly 57 years previously. Jerry died in August 2022 at the age of 82.

J.I.’s guitar was, of course, named after ‘That’ll Be the Day’, appropriately for the guy who co-wrote the song that kicked off an incredible journey which ended too soon for Buddy, but left a legacy and inspiration for generations of musicians, singers and songwriters.

John Firminger