Few moments in music history are as haunting as "The Day the Music Died."
On Feb. 3, 1959, a plane carrying rising rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper crashed shortly after takeoff in Iowa, killing everyone on board and shocking the music world.
What many fans don't realize is that another future music legend was supposed to be on that flight.
That artist was Waylon Jennings, who was born on June 15, 1937, in Littlefield, Texas.
At the time, Jennings was a 21-year-old bass player performing as part of Holly's touring band during the grueling Winter Dance Party tour. After a series of freezing bus rides across the Midwest, Holly decided to charter a small plane so some of the musicians could travel more comfortably to the next stop.
Jennings had originally been slated to fly.
Instead, he gave up his seat to fellow musician J.P. Richardson, who was suffering from the flu and feeling ill after days on the road.
The decision likely saved Jennings' life.
In later interviews, Jennings recalled one final exchange with Holly before the flight.
Holly jokingly told him, "I hope your old bus freezes up." Jennings replied, "Well, I hope your old plane crashes."
When news of the crash arrived hours later, Jennings was devastated and carried guilt over the conversation for years.
Had he boarded the plane, country music history might have looked very different.
Over the following decades, Jennings became one of the defining voices of the outlaw country movement. Alongside artists such as Willie Nelson, he helped reshape country music in the 1970s by challenging Nashville's traditional system and embracing a more independent sound.
His 1976 album Wanted! The Outlaws, recorded with Nelson, 93, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser, became the first country album certified platinum.
Jennings later joined Nelson, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson in the country supergroup The Highwaymen and introduced himself to a new generation as the narrator of the television series The Dukes of Hazzard.
Jennings died in 2002 at age 64, but his legacy remains one of the most influential in country music. And it all came after a split-second decision that kept him off one of the most tragic flights in music history.
Related: The Personal Tragedy Behind Patsy Cline's Career Breakthrough
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