The original Winter Dance Party concert tour performed at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, 1959. After the concert, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (also known as the Big Bopper) were taken to Mason City Municipal Airport. The plane took off in the early hours of February 3 and crashed shortly afterwards, killing the three musicians and the pilot. Twenty years later a Winter Dance Party concert was held in Clear Lake as a tribute to the 1959 musicians. That Winter Dance Party has now expanded to a multi-day concert at the Surf Ballroom.
Buzz Campbell, who moved from San Diego to Temecula in 2004, is part the John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party tribute band named after the 1959 concert tour. That band played at the Surf Ballroom on February 2, 2026.
“It’s always special because it’s a special place,” Campbell said. “There’s a certain reverence about it.”
The 1959 Winter Dance Party tour consisted of concerts in 24 towns on 24 consecutive days. The tour began in Milwaukee on January 23, 1959. John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party began its 2026 Midwest tour on January 23 in Welch, Minnesota.
Venue availability, rather than geographic synergy, matched dates for the original Winter Dance Party concert tour with venues. The musicians returned to Wisconsin for a February 1 concert at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay.
John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party performed at the Riverside Ballroom on January 24, 2026. “Every time we play the Riverside it’s kind of special,” Campbell said.
Campbell and the other tribute band members had a January 25 concert in DeKalb, Illinois and next played January 30 in Des Moines, Iowa, at the Val Air Ballroom, where the 1959 Winter Dance Party performed on February 5. Campbell was then part of concerts on January 31 in Austin, Minnesota, and February 1 in Ottumwa, Iowa.
A colder than normal winter in the upper Midwest, combined with the failure of the heating system on the tour bus, caused Holly’s drummer, Carl Bunch, to be hospitalized due to frostbite February 1. Holly charted a plane for after the Clear Lake concert.
The 2026 winter was also colder than normal in many places, including Clear Lake. “It was cold. I think it was 20 below. It was one of the coldest times I’ve been there,” Campbell said.
Experiencing that weather aided Campbell’s understanding of why Holly chose to charter a flight. “I totally get it,” he said.
Campbell noted that the weather added similarities between John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party 2026 performance and the February 2, 1959, concert. “It gives you the full experience for sure,” he said.
This year the Winter Dance Party concert at the Surf Ballroom was a five-day event beginning January 28 and concluding February 2. As was the case in 1959, February 2 was a Monday. The February 1 session focused on personal memories and included members of the Valens, Richardson, and Holley families (Holly was originally Charles Holley; a misspelling in his first record contract changed his last name for professional purposes) along with a performance by a 1950s music band.
“You’re hearing their family members, but it really makes it real for you,” Campbell said. “You’re creating the music that their loved ones created.”
The presence of relatives of the musicians killed on February 3, 1959, is a reminder that family members lost loved ones that day. “It’s terribly tragic,” Campbell said.
Buddy Holly’s niece, Sherry Holley, was part of that session. “That was pretty cool. I had never met a Holley before, so that was exciting for me,” Campbell said.
“That was pretty special to me to be able to talk to her,” Campbell said. “That was my first time meeting a Holley, so that was a big deal to me.”
Campbell had previously met members of the Valens and Richardson families. He has also met members of the Allsup family; Ritchie Valens and backup musician Tommy Allsup had a coin toss for the final seat on the flight.
The coin toss took place in what would be the backstage of the Surf Ballroom if the room was actually in back of the stage rather than on the right side from the performers’ standpoint. Campbell was thus in the sidestage on the anniversary of the coin toss there.
“I don’t go there to dwell on the tragedy,” Campbell said. “I want to think about the music. I want to think about those guys rocking that place.”
That gave Campbell the mentality that February 2 is the anniversary of the Winter Dance Party concert at the Surf Ballroom rather than the anniversary of the final concert for Holly, Valens, and Richardson. “That was just a great time to be playing that music,” Campbell said.
In June 1959, the instrumental song “Sleep Walk” by Santo and Johnny was released. Johnny Farina from that duo also performed at the Surf Ballroom on February 2, 2026, so Campbell was able to meet Farina. “I got to hang out and talk to him,” Campbell said.
The 2026 Winter Dance Party also included the grand opening of the Surf Music Experience Center next to the Surf Ballroom. “It was a great experience,” Campbell said.
Campbell is also the guitarist for former Stray Cats bassist Lee Rocker. The Stray Cats also included vocalist and lead guitarist Brian Setzer and drummer Slim Jim Phantom. The Surf Music Experience Center includes a video on the history of the Surf Ballroom, and Phantom narrates that video. “It was a surprise to me,” Rocker said. “I just didn’t expect it.”
John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party had February 3 off and traveled by road for their February 4 gig in Akron, Ohio. “It was a long one,” Campbell said.
The ten-hour trip was split into five hours on February 3 and five hours on February 4. The travel from Clear Lake to Akron also utilized freeways rather than U.S. Highway routes taken by the 1959 musicians. “We had heat, and the roads were a lot better,” Campbell said.
Campbell also performed at concerts on February 5 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and on February 7 in Marion, Ohio.
The next Temecula performance for Campbell will be April 11 at Bolero at Europa Village. “I do what I call my day job gigs,” he said.
“I just do it as a solo,” Campbell said. “The music is so demographically friendly.”
