Field trip before heading home: Roger Landes and I drove 100 miles up to Clovis, New Mexico, to take the tour of the Norman Petty Recording Studio from THE MAN, Kenneth Broad, who is the guy who got the original Petty studio back together and preserved it in a state of 1954–64 originality for the last forty years. What a time capsule! I’ve been here before, but I’ll take any opportunity to stand in the same room where Buddy Holly (and the Fireballs, and Waylon Jennings, and Roy Orbison, and many others) recorded back in the 1950s and early 1960s. I got to play “Everyday” on the Celeste—the one that’s on the record! We fired up THE Solovox that was used on “Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs! Kenneth’s wife Shirley played THE Hammond B-3 heard on Buddy’s “Take Your Time.” All the midcentury light fixtures and furniture and atomic curtains are all still in place from the 1950s. This place is one of my favorite places in the universe! Thanks to Kenneth for his preservation efforts all these years. Headed back to Lubbock now to get on a plane home. It’s been a great trip!
Check out Deke’s FB post for many, many more photos and videos!
