Clovis – RDZ Photography

Welcome to New Mexico. As you will see by the length of this post, New Mexico was one of the last states I got to but has become one of my favorites.

State Capitol – In my opinion (!) the New Mexico State Capitol is the very finest in the country. Located in Santa Fe, which is amazing by itself, this is the only round capitol in the country.

It was designed to represent the Zia sun symbol when viewed from the air. This is the symbol on the New Mexico State Flag.

Unique State Symbols

Official Litter Control Mascot – Dusty the Roadrunner.

State Cookie – Biscochito

State Guitar – New Mexico Sunrise Guitar

New Mexico Cultures

1946 1973 Acoma 2007 Abo Ruins

Government State New Mexico 1946_renamed_21859

Santa Fe – It seems as though New Mexico has a better respect for all of the cultures that exist in their state than most, and Santa Fe as the capital and cultural center embraces all of those.

Art and culture abound everywhere in the city. It has been recognized by UNESCO as a ‘Creative City’.

In addition Santa Fe was established before the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, and is home to the oldest public building in the United States (photo on bottom row – with bell at the top).

Albuquerque – Easily the largest city in the state with a metro population of around 1 million, Albuquerque is cultural unique like Santa Fe, but with a much more urban feel to it.

Hotel Andaluz – We were lucky enough to spend our one night in Albuquerque at the Hotel Andaluz. This historic hotel was opened in 1939, with an extensive remodel occurring in 2008.

Artesia – This small town celebrates it’s oil industry history with a collection of sculptures around town.

Clovis – This small eastern New Mexico town is legendary for the recording studio there that was the place where Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and others had their start. Our amazing good fortune had us show up, unannounced, to a tour with a cool guy named Dave who had been a backup singer in the studio.

There is a museum in town as well, but the studio is the true museum – with most of the original equipment still there. For this posting I have included a photo of nearly every piece of original equipment.

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Quirky New Mexico

1947 – Dude Ranch 1950 -Taos Mountains

As you travel across the state you always come across something unusual and interesting.

The baseball team in Albuquerque is called the Isotopes, and have adopted the Simpsons as their mascot since Springfield’s team in the show had the same name.

The town of Portales has a retired fighter jet in the median strip.

Roswell – I have had the good fortunate to travel in every state, and in 22 foreign countries but never have I seen a town play up their legend more than Roswell. And we loved it! Nobody is alien in Roswell.

And to top it off they have an ‘airplane boneyard’

Outdoors

1958 – Cristo Rey Church 1974 1992/1994 Pecos National Historic Park

Rio Grande Gorge

View from Sandia Peak in Albuquerque

Lonely Eastern New Mexico Highway.

Carlsbad Caverns – America’s best cave.

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Roads

2003 – US 84 near Abiquiu 2014/2015 Las Cruces

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge

Cool freeway bridges in Santa Fe

Sandia Peak Tram

Trains in the plains.

Route 66 in Tucumcari

Thanks to a man named Norman Petty the small eastern New Mexico town has a big piece of American music history. It is here that Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and others first recorded their music.

When I was planning out the road trip I discovered this, and made plans to stop by the ‘studio’. When the navigation system said we arrived it was in front of a newer building that was the Chamber of Commerce, as well as a museum. Upon entry I asked about the studio, the person at the desk said that is across town – and rarely open. Disappointed, we checked out the museum.

The museum was in the basement. After watching a video about Norman and Vi Petty, we toured their exhibits. They have a number of nice displays.

After leaving I was able to google and find the actual studio address. It was located across town, just a couple of miles away.

When we arrived I noticed the gate to the compound was open. When I walked in I tried a door to a building and to my surprise it too was unlocked. There were four people standing in the lobby and when I asked if I could take some photos outside they said yes, but then said they were starting a studio tour – would we like to see it!

Our first stop and the room that the recording engineer worked the soundboard.

Our tour was lead by a man named Dave Bigham. Our good fortunate hit the jackpot here, as Dave was one of Buddy Holly’s backup singers back in the 1950s.

Dave was a fantastic guide – he was very knowledgeable, adding tons of background to each of the songs. When he started to sing his backup parts along with the song he was playing I got goose bumps!

While the mixing board was updated in the 1970s, most of the other equipment is from the 1950s when Buddy and others recorded here.

In the back of the building is an apartment where the musicians would crash when recording here. The story was told that they tended to record overnight, and sleep through the day.

The studio is where the magic occurred. Nearly all of the instruments, amps and other equipment is original from the 1950s.

We were very honored to have lucked into this tour, and to have Dave lead us through the facility. It was easily one of the highlights of the 3 week road trip.