Alan Freed's Big Beat Tour Program with Lubbock's Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly of Lubbock was one of the great pioneers of rock and roll. Best known for hits like "That'll Be The Day" and "Peggy Sue," Holly and his band, the Crickets, were among the first white artists to popularize rock and roll, which combined rockabilly country music with African-American rhythm and blues. He was also among the first in the genre to write and produce his own songs.

In 1958, Holly joined the Big Beat Tour, hosted by Alan Freed, the disc jockey who coined the phrase "rock and roll" and one of the earliest promoters of the music. Along with artists like Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, Holly and the Crickets performed an incredible 68 shows in just 44 days, touring the midwest and eastern U.S. and Canada. In Boston, the crowd turned so rowdy during Holly's set that the authorities turned on the house lights to end the show and reinstated a citywide ban on rock and roll. Holly died in a plane crash in Iowa on February 3, 1959, at the age of 22.