Norman Petty Recording Studios

The Studio Where Buddy Holly And The Crickets Recorded That'Ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue And Oh Boy Between 1957 And 1958, Preserved With Its Original Equipment And Furnishings And Shown By Appointment · Clovis, New Mexico

Norman Petty ran an advertising jingle business in Clovis and built a recording studio behind it, and in February 1957 a band from Lubbock drove over the state line because Petty charged by the song rather than by the hour and would let them work all night. What they cut there was That'll Be The Day, and over the following eighteen months Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Not Fade Away, Everyday and most of the rest of Buddy Holly's catalogue. Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings and Buddy Knox recorded here too. Petty's innovations - close-miking, the famous use of a cardboard box for percussion, the celesta on Everyday - came out of a small room in a small town on the Texas line. The studio has been kept as it was, with the original console, instruments and furniture, and it is shown by appointment by volunteers rather than run as a museum. There are no walk-in hours at all, several of the guides knew Petty or worked in the building, and that is most of the value of the visit - so ring days ahead rather than driving to Clovis and hoping.

1313 West 7th Street, Clovis, Clovis, New Mexico, 88101, United States

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. There are no walk-in hours. Tours are arranged in advance by telephone and are given by volunteers, which means availability depends on who is free, and a few days of notice is the minimum. The studio opens more regularly during the Clovis Music Festival in September, when tours run on a published schedule. A separate Norman and Vi Petty Rock and Roll Museum in downtown Clovis keeps its own limited hours.

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