![CarlBunch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/CarlBunch.jpg)
Carl H. Bunch (November 24, 1939 – March 26, 2011) was an American musician.
Carl Bunch was born in
Big Spring, Texas and began playing drums as a teenager while recovering from extensive surgery on his right leg. By age seventeen, he was recording with Ronnie Smith and the Poor Boys, in Clovis, New Mexico.
Buddy Holly was also recording in Clovis at the same time and was impressed with the young drummer.
Holly invited Bunch,
Tommy Allsup
Thomas Douglas Allsup (November 24, 1931 – January 11, 2017) was an American rockabilly and swing musician.
Personal life
Allsup was born near Owasso, Oklahoma in 1931, and was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Allsup had a son, ...
, and
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music.
Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...
to be his backing band for the
Winter Dance Party
On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event later became ...
tour in 1959. Holly's band also backed other acts on the tour, including
Ritchie Valens
Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed ...
and
J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper). When Bunch had to be left behind in the Ironwood Michigan hospital across the border from Wisconsin. He was hospitalized for frostbite he experienced after the tour bus heater failed, Holly and Valens took turns in the drum chair playing behind the various acts. On February 3, 1959, Holly, Valens and Richardson were killed in
a plane crash en route to the next tour stop. Bunch rejoined the tour on February 5, in
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...
.
Frankie Avalon
Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American actor, singer, and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including number one hits, "Venus" an ...
,
Jimmy Clanton
Jimmy Clanton (born September 2, 1938) is an American singer who became known as the " swamp pop R&B teenage idol". His band recorded a hit song "Just a Dream" which Clanton had written in 1958 for the Ace Records label. It reached number fo ...
and
Fabian were also recruited to help fill out the playbill. The tour ended on February 15, 1959, in
Springfield, Illinois.
Bunch then enlisted in the United States Army, but eventually he was drawn back to music. After his discharge from the Army, he spent some time playing for the Bob Osburn band, before moving to
Nashville to play for
Hank Williams Jr.
Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...
and
Roy Orbison.
Carl Bunch eventually departed from the music industry and became a minister. He attended Buddy Holly-related events during the 2000s, signing autographs as "The Frostbitten Cricket". Carl died on March 26, 2011, from diabetes at age 71.
References
External links
Interview with Carl Bunch: Real Country MusicInterview with Carl Bunch: Music Dish
1939 births
2011 deaths
American drummers
People from Big Spring, Texas
Deaths from diabetes
{{US-drummer-stub