After several years with the Crickets, he became a recording engineer at Gold Star Studios, the Los Angeles studio which became the "hit factory" for Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, and other major 1960s rock performers.

During his time at Lubbock Junior High, he learned piano, trumpet and steel guitar.

[3] He was one of the founding members of the Crickets, the others being Buddy Holly, drummer Jerry Allison, and guitarist Niki Sullivan.

The first rock band he played in, starting in 1955, was a Lubbock group named the Four Teens.

Allison, Sonny Curtis, Glen D. Hardin, and occasionally Niki Sullivan.