Tommy Allsup was a guitarist who famously avoided "The Day the Music Died" after losing his plane seat in a coin toss to Ritchie Valens in 1959. The three-passenger aircraft, which took off in a snowstorm for a flight from Mason City, Iowa, to Fargo, North Dakota, crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa. In addition to Valens, the fatal accident claimed the lives of Buddy Holly and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

Allsup was a highly regarded musician in his own right, and was a master of western swing and rockabilly music. He performed with the likes of Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Merle Haggard and Bob Wills.

Allsup also appeared on television, in the series or movie documentaries Arena, Behind the Music, Asleep at the Wheel: The Making of 'Ride with Bob,’ The Final Day, and 6 Degrees of Martina McBride, as well as the films Gotta Travel On: Remembering When the Music Died and The Man from the Rio Grande.

He died January 11, 2017, in Springfield, Missouri. He was 85.