Historical Marker
Norman Petty Recording Studios
Historical marker location:
US 60 , Clovis, New Mexico
( at 7th Street; west side of Clovis at a small park along with aircraft memorial.)
At thirteen, Norman began cutting records in his father’s filling station. With money earned from the Norman Petty Trio’s “Mood Indigo,” Petty converted a family grocery store next door into a modern recording studio where he experimented with echo and microphone settings. In 1957, Petty made rock’n’roll history recording Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ “That’ll Be the Day.” The sound influenced a generation.
New Mexico was the birthplace of several famous figures in American history, including the outlaw Billy the Kid, the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who was one of the last men to walk on the moon.