History
In 1999, the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas passed House Concurrent Resolution number 65, designating Lubbock and West Texas as the Music Crossroads of Texas. The West Texas region has produced an abundance of talent, artists and entertainers who have had an undeniable influence on music, art, and culture around the globe. In the spirit of the Resolution 65, the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library (SWC/SCL) at Texas Tech established the Crossroads of Music Archive.
The Crossroads project began in December 1999 when the original Lubbock location of Don Caldwell Studios at 1214 Avenue Q closed its doors. Curtis Peoples, who was working in another special collection at Texas Tech, learned that all of the original master tapes were scattered to various locations that were not conducive to long-term, or even short-term storage for audio materials. As a former Caldwell employee, Peoples knew the collection and the importance of preserving such a valuable anthology of West Texas music; he conceived an idea of a music archive at SWC/SCL. After several meetings among the interested parties, the decision was made to move the tapes to the library for protection. About a year later, Peoples joined SWC/SCL as a music archivist to initiate the Crossroads of Music Archive.
The first order of business was to create an advisory board to help facilitate the project. One of the original board members was Andy Wilkinson, now SWC/SCL artist in residence and co-director of the Crossroads archive. Andy helped form a new advisory board consisting of many of the original board members, but also some internationally renowned musicians and scholars. Andy has also helped to bring in numerous music collections including those of Texas Shorty, Buck Ramsey, Nolan Porterfield, and David and Rita (Box) Peek. Many more are on the way!
The Crossroads of Music Archive seeks donations (music recordings, posters and handbills, photographs, and oral histories, etc.) relating to all types of music in West Texas and throughout the Southwestern United States. Please contact us if you have materials to donate or would like to help the project in some other manner.