Timeline: 1959
 

January It is believed Buddy records three more songs, Slippin' And Slidin', Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Wait 'Till The Sun Shines Nellie, at the Greenwich Village apartment in January 1959. Buddy has recruited Tommy Allsup (guitar), Waylon Jennings (bass), and Carl Bunch (drums) for the Winter Dance Party, and they begin rehearsing for the upcoming tour.

January 5 Coral releases the Buddy Holly single It Doesn't Matter Anymore/Raining In My Heart.

January 20 - 22 Buddy, Tommy Allsup, Waylon Jennings, and Carl Bunch leave New York City and travel by train to Chicago to rendezvous with the other artists on the Winter Dance Party tour. From Chicago, the artists are scheduled to travel by bus on the tour route. Other performers include: Ritchie Valens, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Dion and The Belmonts, and Frankie Sardo.

January 23 The Winter Dance Party starts the tour with performances in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The tour will continue through February 15 with scheduled stops in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio.

February 1 The Winter Dance Party is stranded en route to Appleton, Wisconsin, when the bus breaks down. With temperatures at minus-30-degrees and no source of heat, the passengers burn newspapers in the aisles to keep warm. Sheriffs' cars pick up the freezing entertainers, and Carl Bunch is admitted to the hospital suffering from frostbite. With one performance cancelled, the Winter Dance Party continues and performs at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

February 2 Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, and Tommy Allsup perform and serve as back-up musicians during the performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.

February 3 Shortly after the performance in Clear Lake, Buddy Holly, J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens board a small aircraft chartered to take them to their next performance. Soon after take-off, the plane crashes killing all aboard.

{1936-1956} {1957} {1958} {1959}