“The music lived for the very last time,” Jennings reflected in “The Stage (Stars in Heaven),” his 1963 homage born of survivor’s guilt after giving his seat to The Big Bopper and catching the bus on Feb. 3, 1959—when a Beechcraft Bonanza crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, claiming Holly, Valens, and Richardson—a single song of remembrance that transformed his pain into a soaring, heartfelt legacy.
Introduction Waylon Jennings recorded “The Stage (Stars in Heaven)” shortly after giving up his seat on the fateful 1959 flight…