Waylon Jennings' career nearly ended before it began when, as Buddy Holly's bass
player, he narrowly escaped being in the 1959 plane crash that killed Holly,
Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, when he gave up his seat to someone else at
the last minute. From Littlefield, Texas, where he was born on June 15, 1937,
Jennings learned to play guitar when he was eight and first appeared on his
local radio station at 12, going on to lead his own band the Texas Longhorns and
dropping out of school to pursue his musical ambitions. Moving to Lubbock he met
Holly, who arranged Jennings' fir...