Country Music legend Waylon Jennings passed away on Wednesday.
Jennings had a long and distinguished music career, but TV fans will know him best as "The Balladeer," the off-camera narrator on The Dukes Of Hazzard.

I was also saddened to hear of Waylon Jennings' passing.

In a way, you could say that he had been living on borrowed time since Feb. 3rd, 1959, an infamous day in Rock and Roll history referred to as "the day the music died".

A young Waylon Jennings was travelling with a number of Rock and Roll stars of that era in what was billed as "The Winter Dance Party". Among the stars on the tour were Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

After finishing a show in Clear Lake, Iowa late in the evening of Feb. 2nd, Holly and some of the others decided to charter a plane to the next stop on the tour, rather than ride in the bus they had been using, which was uncomfortable and constantly breaking down.

Waylon Jennings was supposed to be on the plane, but agreed to give up his seat to Richardson, who was suffering from a cold, and didn't want to ride the bus all night. In the early morning hours of Feb. 3rd, minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed, killing all on board.


(Richie Valens, who was killed on the flight, got his seat on the plane by "winning" a coin toss with a musician named Tommy Allsup).