Recording artists reuniting

CLOVIS — They’re getting the bands back together, at the place where the music all started — and for some of them, the place where it ended.

Recording artists of all stripes are scheduled to descend upon Clovis this coming weekend, as Saturday marks what will be the first Norman Petty Studios Alumni Reunion.

Around four dozen artists with some ties to Clovis’ Norman Petty Studio and their families are expected to come to the event, which features a 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday meet-and-greet with a $6 admission charge.

Clovis-Curry County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ernie Kos said there will also be private events for the artists, and public tours of the Petty Studio at 1313 W. Seventh St. from 8 a.m. to noon.

Kos said she couldn’t take credit for the inspiration, or the rounding up of artists for the event that will take place on what would have been Buddy Holly’s 83rd birthday.

“Less than a year ago, George Tomsco of the Fireballs contacted me,” Kos said. “As someone who recorded there, it would be cool to have a reunion of the people who recorded at Norman Petty Studio.”

Before it merged with the June Draggin’ Main activities, the Clovis Music Festival was held in September to honor Holly’s birth month. The reunion allows Clovis to cross-promote Holly-themed events in Lubbock over the weekend.

The spectrum of guests will include artists who went on to recording fame, all the way to people who never recorded music again.

Shawn Nagy first came to Clovis as part of the Shakeshackers that performed at a late 1990s Clovis Music Festival. He soon became an unofficial historian for the Clovis Sound.

“In 1997, my wife and I were visitors for the first time at the studio,” Nagy said. “I was very amazed stepping into that time capsule. I took interest in learning more about it. I enjoyed hearing the stories from the musician. After a few passed away ... I realized there’s a lot of history that’s going out of the window and disappearing.”

So Nagy’s used the contacts he’s built over the last 20-plus years to see just how many were interested in coming back to the studio for an event like this.

Some weren’t interested, but the ones who were have been all in, with travelers coming from across the United States, Canada and England.

“I think the reaction has been that they’ve always meant to go back, but they haven’t had a reason,” Nagy said. “It is out of the way. Once they know they’ll see the same faces ... they get excited to have everybody in one spot together.”

Nagy said the Petty Museum in the chamber of commerce’s basement contains memorabilia that the Seventh Street studio doesn’t have room to house, and the studio is the “shell of activities” that always brings back memories.

“The thing I notice the most is people almost break into tears because everything is in the same spot,” Nagy said. “It’s kind of like going back to your childhood home.”