(All photos by John Rowlands)

“In two, two and a half minutes, he taught you everything you need to know about life and love,” says Lyle Lovett of Buddy Holly before proving his statement by launching into a cover of “I’m Looking for Someone to Love.” These two and half minutes teach you everything you need to know about rock and roll, too, because none other than the Master of the Telecaster and guitarist to Elvis, Ricky Nelson and EmmyLou, and nearly every other important name in the rock era, James Burton, takes two blistering breaks in the song.

This September 7, 2011, the day that Buddy Holly would have turned 75 years old.  We are in Hollywood and this morning Holly finally received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  We are now three songs into the evening, an invitation-only concert at the Music Box, a beautifully restored 1920s theater on Hollywood Boulevard just around the corner from Holly’s freshly-minted star on Vine Street.  The concert is being filmed by PBS for airing this December and, judging by the quality of the performances so far, is destined to be the chosen annoyance for pledge drives for years to come.  From Stevie Nicks’s funky, driving opener, “Not Fade Away,” to Lovett’s two tunes (the other was a beautifully mournful “Well Alright”), this is the sort of stuff that not only will motivate you to sit through the plea to “pick up your phone now,” but you might even be tempted to heed the request and pull out that credit card.  Consider yourself warned.

The concert is the brainchild of Songmasters, a marketing firm that actually does good, and lots of it. Tonight’s concert could serve as exhibit one in an offer of proof in support of its mission to bring “music and celebrity to the aid of charitable and educational endeavors.” The program’s revenues will serve a number of charities, including The GRAMMY® Foundation, the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame and Artists House Music.

But, tonight’s principal focus, as host and producer Peter Asher notes in introducing the program, is to put on “a serious rock ‘n’ roll party.” Two things pretty much guarantee that he’ll succeed. First, many of the performers and all of the songs hail from Songmasters’ excellent Buddy Holly Tribute CD, Listen to Me. Second, the house band has got to be one of the finest rock ensembles ever assembled.  And, OK, I admit that it’s been assembled a number of times over the decades, but always to stunning effect and most often by Peter Asher in his production of albums by Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Carol King and others.  The rhythm section consists Russ Kunkel on drums and Leland Sklar on bass.  Leading the band is Waddy Wachtel, the man who invented the raw but elegant guitar solo.  I spent the better part of the past two days watching these guys rehearse and what was great has somehow gotten even better.  As James Burton put it to me, “This is one hot band.” James ought to know: he put the “hot” in EmmyLou Harris’s legendary “Hot Band.”

The concert opened with Brian Wilson singing happy birthday via video and, courtesy of modern technology, we see video tributes sprinkled throughout by the likes of Keith Richards, Ringo Starr, Jackson Browne and Imelda May.

But it’s the live stuff that mesmerizes. As the evening continues to unfold, there’s nary a clunker of a performance and several shine bright even among the already stellar. Seeing James Burton in action in this production is really special.  James was the first rock guitar god. There’s a great YouTube clip of one of James’s 1960s appearances on the television show “Shindig!” in which host Jimmy O’Neill expresses utter amazement over the fact that James is a “big star” in England despite never having a record “issued under his own name.” He has also played with EVERYBODY and anchored the band in that great other pledge drive favorite, Roy Orbison’s “Black and White Night.” Earlier in the day, I played my own very small role in connecting the circle of rock when I was privileged to introduce James to Roy Orbison Jr.  When James is on stage, an already hot band scorches.

In addition to the scorchers, there are some achingly beautiful performances.  Shawn Colvin’s “Learning the Game” is simple and perfectly complimented by her guitar playing and the band’s spare accompaniment.  Chris Isaak’s “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” has us all, well crying and hoping that he won’t stop singing.  Chris, though, confesses to experiencing a different emotion.  At song’s end, he looks at the audience, points to Phil Everly sitting at the front table, and says, “If you don’t think that’s nerve-wracking to sing that for Phil Everly, I dare you to come up here.”

Graham Nash puts on what may be both the most elegant and most powerful performance of the evening.  He slips on stage without fanfare to sing backup for Michelle Branch on “Words of Love,” takes to the lead microphone and piano for “Raining in My Heart” and “Take Your Time,” and returns to the stage to sing “Rave On” with Boz Scaggs and Peter Asher.  He also receives one of the evening’s biggest ovations for his lovely harmonica break on “Raining.”  It’s a charming, unpretentious performance that, without the pedantry of some of the introductory remarks presented between the songs, puts Holly front and center.

Not all performers prove so self-effacing, or effective.  Before Paul Anka takes the stage to sing “I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” a song that he penned for Holly, Peter Asher, who has proven an eloquent host, needs several takes (that will fall on the cutting room floor before the TV airing) to get the introduction right. Anka displays his legendary, uh, charm, by quipping, “Let me do it.  I won’t fuck it up.”  He then recalls how Holly had stated, “I want to do what you do” and pledged to sing the song “the way I wrote it” rather than the “way Buddy did it.” It’s a jarring interlude during an evening that otherwise strikes exactly the right tone.  Still, his way is quite beautiful.  Let’s hope for some judicious editing.

But, back to those scorchers.  Toward night’s end, Stevie Nicks returns to the stage to revive Linda Ronstadt’s 1976, Peter Asher-produced magnificent interpretation of “It’s So Easy.” It’s a poignant moment in rock and roll history not only because Ronstadt nearly single handedly brought Holly’s music back to the public’s musical consciousness, but because the same band that backed Ronstadt is now on stage with Nicks.  Yes, Waddy Wachtel, Russ Kunkel and Leland Sklar are reprising their roles some three and a half decades later.  As Waddy launches into the guitar riffs that defined the arrangement,  smiles spread through the theater.  Maybe because Waddy and company want to prove they’ve lost nothing to the passage of time, but most likely it’s because they really are still, as James Burton put it, “one hot band,” this cover really rocks.  Nicks’s vocals rival Ronstadt’s, but with a bit more grit.  Waddy’s slashing at his low-slung Les Paul to produce those historic fills and the raw lead break stamps an exclamation point on the evening’s festivities.

Well, one of the exclamation points.  The concert punctuates the evening with an even more memorable performance.  The finale features all of the night’s featured artists plus guitar slingers James Burton and Albert Lee.  For the first time in over a decade and, as he says to me after the show, “for the last time … ever,” Phil Everly takes the stage and joins in singing a rowdy rendition into “That’ll Be the Day.” The house is rocking and the stage rocks, too, as Waddy, James and Albert trade solos.

It’s a moment in time that illustrates why three quarters of a century after his birth and more than half a century after his death, Buddy Holly’s star still shines brightly.

Rave on.

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The concert will air on PBS in December.

Here’s a full set list:

Stevie Nicks: Not Fade Away
Lyle Lovett : Well, Alright
Lyle Lovett and James Burton: I’m Looking for Someone to Love
Shawn Colvin:  Learning the Game
Patrick Stump (formerly of the Fall Out Boys): Everyday and Oh Boy
Chris Isaak: Crying, Waiting, Hoping
Michelle Branch (with Graham Nash singing backup harmony):  Words of Love
Graham Nash : Raining in My Heart and Take Your Time
Boz Scaggs: Maybe Baby
Boz Scaggs, Graham Nash and Peter Asher: Rave On
Raul Malo: Listen to Me
Michelle Branch & Chris Isaak:  Heartbeat
Gabe Saporta and Victoria Asher of Cobra Starship: Peggy Sue
Gabe Saporta and Patrick Stump: Think It Over
Paul Anka: I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore
Stevie Nicks:  It’s So Easy
Raul Malo: True Love Ways
James Burton, Albert Lee, Waddy Wachtel and a bunch of singers: That’ll Be The Day