In some ways it’s a little difficult to write an introduction to a book in which you are quoted and featured in a couple sections. Even for someone with an oversized ego like mine, it presents a challenge. But this fine book is not about me or any of the other people quoted within its pages. We simply banded together in print to talk about the amazing phenomena that was and in many ways still is Buddy Holly. Buddy was a music innovator who influenced countless artists who came after him. He was the force behind the “Texas radio with the big beat” that Jim Morrison of The Doors wrote about. Buddy was the creator of that rock-a-billy sound that everyone in the 1960s, including The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, openly borrowed from.
This is a fun book with a sense of humor that is true to both author and subject. Gary Moore has been a friend of mine for a long time. He’s a talented writer and if you have experienced his work before, you know he’s a lot of fun to read. Gary says some very serious things while poking fun at himself for having the audacity to put them in print. I admire that.
I also understand Gary’s passionate interest and deep need to “pursue” Buddy Holly. Some of us are just built that way. When that virus gets inside you there is no cure and there is no choice but to let it follow its course. When I was writing Break on Through, a biography of Jim Morrison, I had no alternative but to eat, sleep, dream, and study the man and his life and music. Many writers personally caught up in their subject matter experience this roller coaster ride of emotion. It is all-consuming. In some cases it can also be life-changing and awaken something within long dormant or forgotten. In so many ways Gary is the perfect person to revisit the legacy of Buddy Holly. Unraveling its meaning and impact with Gary makes Hey Buddy a memorable experience.
Because he died in a tragic plane crash that in itself has become the stuff of legend—the day the music died—people forget that Buddy Holly was about so much more than his death. He was a musical pioneer, a consummate performer, and a dedicated family man. He was also a man of faith. Like Buddy, I’ve had my ups and downs but when all is said and done, I know that being true to my Creator is the ultimate goal. Buddy knew that, too.
I think Hey Buddy will fill in the shadows surrounding the myth of Buddy Holly and portray him as not only a legend but a good hardworking young man of flesh and blood who tried his best to remain true to his beliefs.
In the end, what greater thing can we do than that?
James Riordan