Norman Petty Recording Studios

Norman Petty Studios at 1313 West 7th Street in Clovis, New Mexico, is where Buddy Holly recorded the songs that invented rock and roll's vocabulary of the electric guitar, the rhythm section, and the double-tracked vocal. In January 1957, Holly and The Crickets drove to Clovis and recorded 'That'll Be the Day' in Petty's studio -- a converted building that Petty had turned into one of the finest small recording facilities in the Southwest. The sessions at Clovis over the following two years produced 'Peggy Sue', 'Oh, Boy!', 'Not Fade Away', 'Everyday', and a body of work that McCartney, Lennon, Richards, and Jagger all cited as foundational.

Petty built the studio largely himself and filled it with equipment he understood intimately. The room had a particular sound -- warm, present, punchy -- that suited the energy of the music Holly was making. Petty would often record through the night; Holly and the Crickets would drive back and forth from Lubbock, 110 miles east, for sessions. The studio also recorded Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, and other artists, but Holly's recordings are the ones that put Clovis on the musical map permanently.

The Norman Petty Studios building still stands at 1313 West 7th Street and has been preserved as a heritage site. Guided tours are available by appointment through the Norman and Vi Petty Rock and Roll Museum on East Grand Avenue. The studio interior has been maintained in period condition, with the original equipment still in place. Standing in the room where Holly recorded 'Peggy Sue' -- a room in a small city in eastern New Mexico, far from any music industry centre -- is an unusually moving experience.