Carl Bunch, a drummer who backed up Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Hank Williams Jr., has passed away. He died of complications from diabetes at Antelope Valley Hospital on March 26, 2011. Carl Bunch was 71 years old.
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In January 1959 Carl Bunch was enlisted by Buddy Holly to join him on the tour after the original Crickets broke with the rock & roll star.
The drummer, then 19, thought of the tour as an audition for a permanent position with the band.
The tour turned out to be a miserable ordeal for the performers, who were subjected to long overnight travel in a bus plagued with a faulty heating system in -25 °F (-32 °C) temperatures. The bus also broke down several times between stops, including during a Wisconsin snowstorm on February 1, 1959. Carl ended up with frostbitten feet and needee to be treated in the hospital.
That's why Carl was not on the plane when Buddy Holly and some other members of the Winter Dance Party Tour (Ritchie Valens and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson) were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake. Carl learned of the crash in the hospital.
The drummer rejoined the tour on February 5, in Sioux City, Iowa for its final days and then joined the army. 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. and Roy Orbison.
Carl Bunch, a drummer who backed up Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Hank Williams Jr., has passed away. He died of complications from diabetes at Antelope Valley Hospital on March 26, 2011. Carl Bunch was 71 years old.
