Audioguides Lubbock

Lubbock sits at 3,200 feet on the Llano Estacado, the high plains of West Texas, and the view from almost anywhere in the city is the same: flat land running to a horizon so uncluttered by hills or trees that the sky dominates in a way that takes adjustment. The city was incorporated in 1909 and grew on cotton. The surrounding South Plains region is the largest contiguous cotton-growing area in the world, irrigated by the Ogallala Aquifer, and the industry's character, practical, resilient, not given to excess, still shapes the city's personality.

Charles Hardin Holley, who became Buddy Holly, was born in Lubbock in 1936 and played his first professional shows in local clubs before recording Peggy Sue and That'll Be the Day in 1957.

He died in the plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa in February 1959 at age 22. The Buddy Holly Center on Crickets Avenue, named for the street where he grew up, houses his original horn-rimmed glasses, which survived the crash, alongside instruments, recordings, and documents tracing his brief career. A bronze statue stands outside, and Holly's star walk is inscribed in the nearby Walk of Fame alongside other West Texas musicians.