Occasionally, the consequences are felt by all of us.
Heres our first installment.
I was out of school for weeks at a time.
It was horrible, in a way.
I didnt do the schoolwork.
I didnt know the kids.
But I knew the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly, and thats all I cared about.
I had an obsession with Buddy Holly.
I lost myself in music and built this fantasy world around myself.
Once I had those chords down, I could play almost all the songs on the radio.
At the time, folk music was beginning to become the biggest thing.
Young people were learning to play guitars and mandolins.
Everybody was making their own music.
I cant tell you how perfect and wonderful it was.
Young people were innocent.
The only job I had at that time was as a paper boy.
It was as if a mule had kicked me in the chest.
I cried, I think, sitting there looking at this.
Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. Big Bopper Richardson had died.
Buddy was my guy.
The whole time I was delivering these papers, I was shocked.
I just couldnt believe it.
The response was, like, Oh.
What time is football practice?
That was an indication to me that I was on my own.
I never stopped believing, and I never forgot the power of that moment.
I have always kept Buddy in my heart.
In those days, you couldnt find out anything about anybody.
There were no books about rock n roll stars, because they were not thought of as important enough.
He looked so handsome on the album cover with those black glasses.
The first album I made was calledTapestry.
Things were happening in the country, and it was getting worse.
We had assassinations throughout the decade.
We had the war in Vietnam and rage against Nixon.
The country was in what I later called an advanced state of psychic shock.
