Buddy Holly With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: ‘True Love Ways’

Decca/UMe is pleased to announce the U.S. release of Buddy Holly with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: True Love Ways, a stunning new collection of Buddy Holly’s most beloved hits set to brand new orchestrations. The album is available now for digital purchase and streaming, and for preorder on CD and 2LP vinyl.

February 3, 2019 is the 60th anniversary of Buddy Holly’s tragic plane crash death at the age of 22. That day became known as “The Day the Music Died,” famously referenced in Don McLean’s song, “American Pie.” Holly is survived by his wife Maria Elena, to whom he had been married for less than a year.

True Love Ways (the name of the song written for Buddy’s wife, Maria Elena) features Buddy Holly’s distinctive original vocals and guitar playing, set to exquisite arrangements newly recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London’s Angel Studios. The album is produced by Nick Patrick, the man behind successful orchestral albums for Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys, and The Carpenters.

True Love Ways is the poignant realization of a dream Holly first explored just four months before his tragic death. On October 21, 1958, Holly embarked on a musical adventure he would have continued, had he had the chance. He entered the Decca Studios in New York for a three-and-a-half-hour recording session with an 18-piece orchestra, fronted by Dick Jacobs, known for bringing strings to rock & roll. They recorded four tracks: “True Love Ways,” “Raining In My Heart,” “Moondreams,” and “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” all of which are soaked in strings, clearly demonstrating a new direction for Holly’s music.

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