Remember Sugar Shack?

Those of a certain age will remember Sugar Shack sung by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs. We visited The Norman Petty Recording Studio where this number one song was recorded. In the fifties and sixties Norman's great talent as a recording engineer produced a sound, the "Clovis Sound," that was sought out by the likes of Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, Buddy Holly and many other great artists of the grand days of rock and roll.

In the 50s and 60s the highway ran through Clovis right in front of the studio. Due to road noise, Norman often recorded groups at night. 

This studio is frozen in the fifties. Ken was a personal friend of the Petty's and gave us a terrific tour. He related many interesting stories about the groups that recorded here. The nice thing is that nothing is roped off or behind glass.  You can sit where the greats sat and touch the key boards and instruments their fingers played.

Buddy Holly and the Crickets used this microphone to record Peggy Sue.

The control room is tight and was state of the art in its' day. To achieve the sound Norman was looking for he modified off the shelf equipment and built his own custom recording equipment.

5/12/15

5/11/14

Current location  35.158761, -103.722091