Celebrating the Clovis Sound

link Staff photo: Tony Bullocks

Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce Office Manager Helen Casaus places a sponsor banner Thursday afternoon at the Curry County Events Center for today’s Clovis Music Festival. The festival opens today with feature performer Michael Salgado.

Norman Petty’s name will always be synonymous with rock legend Buddy Holly and the No. 1 hits that came out of his Petty’s Seventh Street studio in Clovis: Holly’s “That’ll be the Day,” Buddy Knox’s “Party Doll,” and “Sugar Shack,” by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs.

Clovis celebrates Petty and the Clovis Sound he created in the 1950s with the annual Clovis Music Festival, which kicks off a two-day run today.

The musical history books are loaded with stories about the relationship between Holly and Petty; some say they were close even until Holly died in a 1959 plane crash at age 22, others report rifts.

What was it really like?

Kenneth Broad, the operator of Petty’s studio still visited by hundreds annually, said Holly and Petty “always had a genuine respect for each other.”

“They never did have a falling out,” Broad said. “They were still pretty close even up to the time (Holly) left here.”

But Jerry Allison, the drummer for Buddy Holly and The Crickets, said Petty, who died in 1984, was “possessive” of the stars he helped create.

“We never had any cross words with Norman,” Allison said in a telephone interview Thursday from his home in Tennessee. “But he was possessive of our money and actions.”

Allison said Petty received money and song-writing credit he did not deserve.

Allison said Petty had never heard “That’ll be the Day,” when Holly and the Crickets came to the studio to record the song in 1957, but Petty got a songwriting credit anyway.

“I just can’t have that,” Allison said.

“Everything wasn’t fine. That’s the truth. I’m 76 and want to set the record straight for history,” Allison said. “Buddy and I will not fade away.”

Broad, who was close friends with Petty but never met Holly, has heard those kinds of views before, and those opposite.

“No one really knows,” Broad said. “I think their relationship was fine.

“Buddy chose him, and Norman told him he needed to hire a manager. Buddy told him, ‘Well you are the manager.’ That’s not too bad, talking about their relationship if they chose to work together.”

Financial disagreements aside, Allison said there is no question Petty knew what he was doing when he engineered sound.

“He had good recording equipment and knew how to run it real well,” Allison said. “He let us try different things and didn’t charge us like studios in New York City or Nashville would.

“He was very open and there was an apartment in the back where we could nap and record later.”

Petty charged bands by the session instead of the hour, he said, which was a huge draw for musicians in the area.

Allison said he still has many fond memories of making music with Holly and Petty in Clovis.

“We just had an unbelievable time,” Allison said. “We met a lot of nice people in Clovis. It changed all of our lives; we changed Norman’s life. We just had a great time; it was a dream come true.”