Words of Love features the fantastic WPA Ballclub:  Dennis Crouch on upright bass and Jim Gray on electric bass, Marty Lynds and Tommy Perkinson on drums, Jen Gunderman on accordian, and Fats Kaplin on fiddle.  PB sings and plays electric and acoustic guitar.  PB also plays drums on "Not Fade Away."  Will Kimbrough plays electric guitar and sings harmony on "Wishing." Kenny Vaughn plays electric guitar on "Blue Days, Black Nights" and "Midnight Shift."  Jen Gunderman sings harmony and Henry Burch sings background vocals on "Think It Over."  Paul Thacker plays saxophone on "Not Fade Away."  The album was recorded live to tape and mixed at Pan American Sound and mastered by Eric Conn and Don Cobb at Independent Mastering. Special thanks to Mark Nevers. Melissa Fuller took the photographs and Sheila Sachs designed the album art.

Who was this kid from Lubbock--this skinny high school graduate with glasses who was a hit producer, arranger, writer, singer, guitarist, and bandleader at 21? You may think you've heard him before but there are still suprises to be found.

There was no precedent for an artist like Buddy Holly, though I don't know if he thought of himself as an artist. Like Elvis ("without him none of us would have made it," Buddy said) his band, the Crickets, was just bass, drums, and guitars. Though Elvis was quite a good rhythm man, Buddy led his band with his electric Fender. Holly used the studio as a workshop, trying unusual sounds like celeste, double tracked voices, and box drums. On stage, the Crickets were loud, raucous, and lean. They once played the Apollo Theater for a week straight--the only rock and roll band on the bill--and got standing ovations. Once a star, Buddy sought collaborations with King Curtis, Ray Charles and Mahalia Jackson. Sensing that Greenwich Village might be the next great music scene, he and his wife, Maria Elena, found an apartment near Washington Square. He enrolled in Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio, made plans for a Spanish language album, and imagined a music center in Lubbock so young musicians, like his protégé Waylon Jennings, could learn the business. And then he was gone.

But he's still here. Everyday. I hear the echo of his forward thinking spirit in these strong, thoughtful songs. Buddy wasn’t allowed a long life yet somehow, his songs are all about perspective. They still cut. They still heal. “It’s the beauty of the language I’m interested in” he said. And isn’t it good to be reminded that beautiful things come from everywhere, even a little town in Texas. --PB