Norman Petty sold Buddy an Ampex tape recorder so he could record various song ideas and demos at home. Buddy recorded 13 songs before leaving for the ill-fated Winter Dance Party on January 20th. At the time he was residing at Apt.#4H at The Brevoort Apartments, 11 Fifth Avenue in New York City, NY.
Buddy's Ampex Recorder
December 3, 1958 - That's What They Say / What To Do
December 5 - Peggy Sue Got Married
December 8 - That Makes It Tough
December 14 - Crying, Waiting, Hoping
December 17 - Learning The Game
When Buddy returned to Lubbock for Christmas, he stopped by KLLL Radio Studios on December 27th to see Waylon Jennings and recruit him as bassist for his upcoming tour. DJ Ray "Slim" Corbin was there too, and someone bet Buddy that he couldn't write a song within 30 minutes. Buddy came back with the song "You're The One", and being that the radio station had an acetate machine, the song was recorded. Waylon & Corbin clapped hands along with Buddy & his acoustic. Waylon recorded "More & More" and "When You Are Lonely" but these songs remains unreleased. Buddy also asked Tommy Allsup to come along as guitarist and Carl Bunch as drummer for the upcoming tour while in Lubbock.
Back to New York on the 31st, Buddy returned to his recordings, though none of the songs were ones he had written. Between January 1st and the 19th, he recorded:
Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie
Slippin' & Slidin'
Drown In My Own Tears
Dearest
Love Is Strange
Smokey Joe's Cafe
...and an untitled instrumental that was likely based on the song "Leave My Woman Alone", on bootleg releases it is usually named "Buddy's Guitar".
The Brevoort
Corner of 5th & W 8th
Courtesy of Paul King
The last thing Buddy is known to have recorded in any form is a :13 second spoken promo spot for the Winter Dance Party Tour. It has not been legitimately released.
"Hi, this is Buddy Holly. The Crickets and I are really happy to be coming your way on the Winter Dance Party. We certainly hope to see all our old friends and to be making some new ones too. Also, I hope you like my latest Coral release "Heartbeat". See you soon".
