He was never a household name; never earned the fame and fortune his peers achieved, but Tommy Allsup was a giant in the music business.
Tommy Allsup spent decades becoming a highly talented session guitarist and band member of back up bands that supported Leon Russell, Willie Nelson, George Jones, The Ventures and more. Unfortunately he passed away in Lubbock, TX this week at the age of 85.
Tommy was the man that lost the coin flip that fateful Feb. 3, 1959 night, as Buddy Holly had chartered a plane out of Clear Lake, Iowa, hoping to avoid taking the cold broken down tour bus to their next stop in Minnesota. Within minutes of losing that coin flip, The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly would be gone forever. Had Tommy won the coin toss for the seat on that plane, he would have perished in what Don McLean later would call ‘the day the music died.’ Instead, Tommy was given another 57 plus years on earth.
Tommy Allsup, the luckiest guitarist in all of music, dead at the age of 85.