Clovis Rocks!

April 13, 2019

Sloane

 

Ruger

 

Clovis Rocks!

If you are asking yourself why on earth would someone willingly travel to visit Clovis, New Mexico, trust me you are not alone. I asked myself that question many times in considering this most recent trip. Kathy has of course already made two trips to the small city located on the far eastside of the state near the Texas border and we actually have a very good reason to visit as our friends Dakota and Andy and their daughter Sloane all live there. Andy is currently serving in the United States Air Force and is stationed at Cannon Air Force Base which is in Clovis.

 

Dakota

Kathy and I made the trip just to see them and to help celebrate the first birthday of their adorable daughter Sloane. Kathy as I mentioned had already made two trips to Clovis since Sloane was born, but for me it was first time to Clovis, first time to meet Sloane and first time seeing Andy and Dakota in way too long.  Traveling to Clovis is something of a trick as there is only a tiny regional airport located there. That means we had to fly from Key West, through Atlanta to Dallas and then catch a small commuter aircraft on Boutique Airlines in to Clovis.

 

It was so worth the effort. Not only was it amazing to meet Sloane and see our friends, Clovis as it happens is not nearly what I had perhaps frightened myself into believing it was. In fact as small towns in the middle of nowhere go, Clovis is pretty good. It has a fascinating history and with a population of just under 40,000, helped a great deal by the base, Clovis has a surprising amount of interesting things to do, some decent restaurants and even some interesting shopping opportunities.

 

Though the city is mostly agricultural, it does have a significant role in the history of rock and roll music. The town achieved some local fame in the 1950s and 1960s when it was home to the Norman Petty Recording Studio, founded by musician Norman Petty, whose "Norman Petty Trio" topped charts with "Mood Indigo" and "Almost Paradise" in their lounge/pop style. Artists such as Buddy Holly, Buddy Knox, Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs, and The String-A-Longs had top-charting hits recorded there (Holly's "Peggy Sue" was recorded there in July 1957). Artists including Waylon Jennings, Charlie "Sugartime" Phillips, Bobby Fuller and Roy Orbison cut their earliest recordings at the studio. From the late '50s to the late '60s Petty had recordings on every major label in the USA and Canada.

The original recording studio is still there, though closed up, but the city has created a wonderful Vi & Norman Petty Rock n Roll museum downtown in the Chamber of Commerce, which includes a precise recreation of the famous studio including much of the original recording equipment. The museum also has a ton of artifacts from that era, which is really well represented in some really top-notch displays.

 

Having visited a lot of rock museums including the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland, this little place really holds its own and is well worth a visit should you happen to find yourself in Clovis. The history of the “Clovis Sound” is pretty fascinating and is well documented and preserved at this spot. 

 

With Andy busy at work, we spent our first day in Clovis exploring the downtown area, doing some shopping mostly along Clovis’s historic Main Street. It is easy to tell that Main Street of Clovis was at one time a happening place that fell on some hard times and the town is trying hard to bring it back and revitalize the area which has a ton of potential. 

 

There are three abandoned theaters with-in a few blocks and many of the storefronts are empty. But there are also a bunch of interesting stores, mostly large flea market/ antiques dealers that have huge inventories of all sorts of cool artifacts both old and new. Development is coming too, as a new brewery is scheduled to begin construction right on Main, which will certainly help draw people back to the area.

Train traffic has always and still plays a huge role in the Clovis economy, though passenger service has gone away leaving a sad abandoned train depot right downtown, but we still had a great time checking the entire place out. Of course the main reason we were there was not to play tourist, but to spend time with our friends which we were happily able to do.

 

http://clovisnm.org/pages/rock-nroll-museum

http://clovismainstreet.org/