Don Guess

Born Aspermont, Texas 13th May, 1937 - 21st Oct 1992

Don was a contemporary of Buddy Holly, who could play Stand Up Bass and could also play Steel Guitar really well too.

Like Bob Montgomery, Don Guess is probably best known for his association with Buddy Holly. At the age of 6, Don moved to Clovis, New Mexico, with his musical family. His mother and three sisters sang on KICA in Clovis and had their songs recorded at Norman Petty Studios in the late 40s as The Guess Sisters.

At a very young age, Don learned to play slap bass, play guitar, piano and steel guitar. Don met Buddy Holly when they were at school together, and they soon ended up accompanying Don's mother on piano, Don on guitar, Buddy played the violin. By the age of 13, Buddy, Don, Jack Neil & Bob Montgomery were picking in clubs together locally. They started out performing Gosple, Bluegrass and Country, but after 1955 when they saw Elvis Presley in Lubbock, they soon switched to Rock & Roll. "We were alternating our instruments, but later on I only played steel and bass fiddle for Buddy". Don is credited as (co-)writer for "Flower Of My Heart", "Queen Of The Ballroom", "Girl On My Mind", "Modern Don Juan", "You Are My One Desire", and "Baby Won't You Come Out Tonight". He made the three recording trips to Nashville for Buddy's "Bradley's Barn" sessions with Owen Bradley.

Don Guess

Buddy, JI Allison, Sonny Curtis and Don Guess went to back Nashville in the Summer of '56 and recorded "That'll Be The Day" for Decca, the first version. Then Buddy, Don and JI did a two week tour in the late Summer/early Fall of '56. They toured backing up George Jones, Hank Loflin, Mitchell Turock, Justin Tubb. The star of the show was Hank Thompson. He had his own band, but backed up five, six, seven acts and had a ball, earning ten bucks each day.

After Buddy and Don parted ways in 1956, Don recorded four singles under his own name. At Clovis, he appeared on recordings of Charlie Phillips' "Sugartime", and various Terry Noland songs. He also appeared on recordings by Faron Young, Marty Robbins, Buddy Knox, Roy Orbison, Trini Lopez, as well as touring with Hank Thompson, Sonny James, George Jones and Wanda Jackson.

Don was a recording artist in his own right, see the videos below to listen to him. There is very little information on his music career. If anyone has any info, please contact me here

Eventually, he left the full-time music scene to pursue a career in Insurance.

Don died of cancer in October of 1992.