Carp

Carp gained recognition less through its own recordings than through its role in kickstarting the trajectory of aspiring performer Gary Busey. The singer and drummer assembled the outfit during the spring of 1966 alongside fellow Oklahoma State University attendees Ron Getman on guitar, John Crowder on bass, and Glen Mitchell on piano. Once the musicians moved to Los Angeles, they secured a deal with Epic that yielded a self-titled 1969 album fusing rock, blues, and country elements; the label issued two singles, “Save the Delta Queen” and “Page 258,” yet neither made a commercial impression, prompting the group’s swift breakup. Getman, Crowder, and Mitchell kept working together as session players supporting Loudon Wainwright III and Janis Ian, while Busey turned his focus to acting even as he kept drumming under the pseudonym Teddy Jack Eddy and accompanying figures such as Kris Kristofferson and Leon Russell. In 1975 he also supplied his own composition “Since You’ve Gone Away” to Robert Altman’s film Nashville. Ultimately Busey’s musical background proved decisive in securing the part that brought him widespread fame: cast as the doomed central figure in 1978’s The Buddy Holly Story, he delivered his own interpretations of the rock-and-roll icon’s major successes and received an Academy Award nomination for the performance.