One of the musicians who helped create the Lubbock sound has received another major honor. Jerry “J.I.” Allison, Buddy Holly’s drummer, Crickets bandmate and co-writer of rock ’n’ roll classics including “Peggy Sue” and “That’ll Be the Day,” was inducted posthumously into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Monday night.
Allison was honored at the October 26 gala in Nashville alongside Taylor Swift, Lyle Lovett, Bruce Channel, Shawn Camp and Lee Thomas Miller. His wife, Joanie, accepted the Legacy category honor. Music historian Robert K. Oermann presented a tribute, and Chuck Mead performed “That’ll Be the Day.”
A Crickets legend and the Lubbock sound
Born Jerry Ivan Allison in 1939, the Hillsboro, Texas, native became an essential part of the music Buddy Holly made famous in Lubbock. He played drums on Holly’s early 1956 Nashville sessions and helped form The Crickets in 1957. His drumming gave the group its distinctive drive, and his writing helped produce songs heard worldwide.
Allison shared writing credits on “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue,” as well as “More Than I Can Say,” “Tell Me How,” “Think It Over,” and “Well… All Right.” “That’ll Be the Day” topped the pop chart, and “Peggy Sue” became another Holly and Crickets hit. These recordings remain central to Lubbock’s musical history.
The Crickets entered the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Allison died in 2022 at age 82. Monday’s Nashville induction recognizes the songwriting side of the legacy he built with Holly and the band.
Texas songwriter Lyle Lovett joins the Hall
Another Texas connection was Lyle Lovett, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter born and raised in Klein, near Houston. Lovett developed his songwriting while attending Texas A&M University, blending country, folk, jazz, blues and Western swing into a style of his own.
Kathy Mattea performed Lovett’s “If I Had a Boat” at the ceremony. Lovett thanked the musicians and writers who welcomed him to Nashville, including the late Texan Guy Clark. His induction adds another distinction to a career rooted in Texas music.
George Strait honored for the songs he made famous
George Strait, born in Poteet and raised in Pearsall, received the Hall’s separate Career Maker Award. The honor recognizes his role in bringing songwriters’ work to a broad audience through decades of country hits; Strait was not one of the six new songwriter inductees.
Songwriters Dean Dillon and Gary Nicholson presented the award, along with a guitar signed by nearly 50 writers. Strait responded by crediting the writers themselves: “They made my career. I didn’t make theirs.”
Texas native Bruce Channel, best known for “Hey! Baby!,” was also among the newly inducted songwriters. The evening brought together the legacies of early rock ’n’ roll, Texas country and modern pop, with Allison’s partnership with Buddy Holly giving the celebration a particularly strong Lubbock connection.
