THE SMALL KEEPSAKE WAYLON JENNINGS KEPT FROM BUDDY HOLLY — AND WHY HE COULD NEVER THROW IT AWAY. Long before the outlaw legend, before the long beard and the thunder of “Luckenbach, Texas,” Waylon Jennings was just a young Texas musician lucky enough to stand beside Buddy Holly. They shared stages, jokes, long drives between shows — the ordinary moments that later feel priceless. Years later, Waylon kept a small, worn guitar pick in an old drawer. Nothing fancy. Just a cheap pick Buddy Holly had once handed him during rehearsal when Waylon snapped a string and didn’t have a spare. A friend once asked why he still kept it. Waylon turned the pick over slowly in his hand and said quietly, “Because that little piece of plastic reminds me of the night everything changed.” After Buddy Holly’s tragic plane crash in 1959, that simple pick became something else entirely — a reminder of friendship, survival, and the strange twists of fate that follow musicians for the rest of their lives. Waylon Jennings carried it for years, tucked away among old strings and handwritten lyrics. Not because it was valuable. But because sometimes the smallest things are the only proof that the past was real. And if that old pick could talk… what stories from Buddy Holly do you think it would tell?
The Small Keepsake Waylon Jennings Kept From Buddy Holly — And Why He Could Never Throw It Away Before the…