Take a trip back to the early years of rock
Former Clovis studio where Buddy Holly once recorded music is open to visitors
By Gregory “Highway” Hasman
Maryline Bigham has been giving tours at the Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, New Mexico, for about 25 years.
Bigham was married to the late David Bigham, who sang with a trio called The Roses. The group performed as backup singers for Buddy Holly (among other artists) in the late 1950s.
“I’ve always loved music since I can remember,” she said, adding that educating people about the artists who recorded at the studio is important because “we’ve lost so much of our history.”
“I think music history is just as important as fighting the battles,” Maryline said.
‘He had it all right here’
On an early July morning, Bigham and studio caretaker Kenneth Broad hosted a tour for about a dozen visitors looking to soak in some rock and roll nostalgia and learn more about the “Clovis sound.”
The first place they stepped into was an isolation booth that had walls decorated with 45s and other records from artists like Holly.
An isolation booth was needed “because it was all single-track, everything was recorded at the same time,” Broad said as he put on a clip of “That’ll Be the Day.”
Because Petty was an engineer, producer, performer, and musician, Broad added, “he didn’t have to go outside and contract with other people.”
“He had it all right here,” he said.
The next place the visitors went was the control room.
Petty and the artists worked at night because the Seventh Street studio was located off of a busy road during the day and the sound was crispier once the sun went down, Broad said as he invited guests to sit on a chair where Holly once sat and listened to the playback of “Peggy Sue.”
When the musicians finished a session, Petty brought them into the control room and played back their recording so they could hear what they would sound like on the radio, Broad added.
“If you listen to the music, you can hear every instrument, every vocal, everything, distinctively,” he said. “That was Norman’s talent of blending everything.”
The music came from next door in the recording studio.
Today, the room has a treasure trove of memorabilia including a celesta (a keyboard instrument with a glockenspiel-like sound) that was used in the song “Everyday,” and a Hammond Solovox organ that Petty used in Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs’ hit, “Sugar Shack.”
The tourists got a chance to admire those items as well as pose for pictures holding a similar Fender Stratocaster Holly would have used while wearing a copy of his famous heavy, thick horn-rimmed FAOSA glasses.
They were then brought into a hallway and shown a wall full of photos of the artists who performed at the studio.
The last stop of the tour was an apartment in the back of the studio. This was where the musicians stayed during their time in Clovis. The place consisted of a kitchen area with everything still original (except for the flooring), a living room and two turtle beds.
Petty “was very generous with these kids, he took care of these kids,” Bigham said.
‘I love what I do’
After his success with artists like Buddy Holly, Norman Petty expanded his Clovis operation in 1960 by buying the Mesa Theater (since renamed the Norman and Vi Petty Performing Arts Center) on Main Street to be used as another recording studio. In 1963, he started KTQM, the area’s first FM radio station, broadcasting country music and later, top 40 hits. Eight years later, he opened KWKA, which aired country and western music.
“I think music history is just as important as fighting the battles,” Maryline said.
Petty continued recording musicians until he died from leukemia when he was 57.
Who knows what would have happened to the studio if it were not for Norman’s wife, Vi Petty.
“As far as we he was concerned, they could have bulldozed it,” Bigham said. “He didn’t care about people knowing what he did, but Vi did.”
After Norman died, Vi kept his mission alive and in 1987 started the Norman and Vi Petty Music Festival featuring many of the Clovis studio artists.
Vi Petty passed away in 1992, but the annual event continued until it went on hiatus in 2002. A few years later it was revived as the Clovis Music Festival .
“Clovis is a huge music city,” Bigham said. “They believe music is so instrumental in a person’s education and well-being.”
As Bigham made her way back through the recording studio, she looked up at photos of Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs and other artists hanging on a shelf.
“They were laid-back country people. I just loved visiting with them,” she said.
As guests walked back toward the isolation booth, they complimented Bigham for the trip down memory lane.
“I love what I do,” she told one visitor.
Broad and Bigham shook hands with the guests and suggested they come back again some time.
People can schedule a tour of the studio, located at 1313 W. Seventh St. in Clovis, by calling the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce at 575-763-3435.
Afterwards ,they could visit the Norman & Vi Petty Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum.