There’s a lot going on during that atomic summer. Buddy Holly, for instance. His career’s taken off by 1957, thanks to hits like “That’ll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” and “Everyday,” songs that combine country inflections with rock’s insistent rhythm. He looks ordinary, like someone you went to high school with; in fact, you were born knowing him, the bird-chested guy, sexless and safe. But look more closely. At the story of how he gets into a “scuffle” with his buddy Joe B., the bass player, before a show, and Joe B. accidentally knocks off Buddy’s two front caps. He solves the problem by smearing a wad of chewing gum across the empty space, and they all play the gig. Or the story of how he met Maria Elena in a music publishing office and that same day, asked her to marry him, and she said yes. Or look at this, a clip from a TV show he played in December of ’57.

Excerpt from a book. Begins as a slice of life "you had to be there" look at a specific time in America, evolves into a what might have been ode to Buddy Holly.