March 28, 2024

Auction for classic music set will benefit scholarship fund

Mattingly Music will take bids for limited-edition Crickets set

A limited-edition music set is up for auction and will benefit one Class of 2017 high school graduate.

A collection that includes a compact disc of music and other items commemorating Jerry Naylor’s 50 years with the Crickets will be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to a specific NHS scholarship fund. Longtime rock historian and concert promoter Dennis Farland said the sets were donated by Naylor, and anyone who wants to enter a silent-auction bid can enter their name and contact information at Mattingly Music.

The auction ends shortly before Labor Day weekend, which is when the winning bid will be announced. A Class of 2017 Newton High School senior will have a chance to apply for a Winter Dance Party scholarship next spring.

“It’s a really unique set,” Farland said. “It has a number of authenticity and a signature from Jerry himself.”

Naylor took over as the lead vocalist of The Crickets in the early 1960s after Buddy Holly was killed in the 1959 “Day the Music Died” plane crash in Clear Lake. He was one of many lead vocalists the band would use through the years, and though he has not remained consistently active with the Crickets, he is one of the musicians associated with the band’s survival past the death of Holly as rock progressed into the 1960s.

The commemorative set sells online for about $500.

The Winter Dance Party Tour Scholarships — named for the ill-fated 1959 tour and plane crash and the attention it has drawn to Iowa’s rock history — go to high school seniors who plan to pursue a post-secondary education in a music-related field.

There were, at one time, eight scholarships funded from a statewide pool, with applications accepted from all over the state. However, that’s been reduced to three school-specific scholarships in Spirit Lake, Clear Lake and Newton. Kate Wyre was Newton High’s 2016 winner.

Farland will have a full Labor Day weekend. After helping get some other Iowa talent into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he will be one of this year’s inductees as a contributor. One of his efforts has been helping raise Winter Dance Party Scholarship money, which he’s done for almost 20 years.

The program has raised close to $50,000 in scholarship money over the past 17 years, Farland said.

To bid in the auction for the commemorative set, stop into Mattingly Music on the west side of the Newton courthouse square.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com