Lubbock, Texas travel guide: walking in Buddy Holly’s footsteps in the year he would have turned 90

The statue stands in the Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza, the centerpiece of the West Texas Hall of Fame. Holly became the hall's first inductee in 1979. Sculptor Grant Speed revealed the statue a year later.

Across the street, the Buddy Holly Center honors Holly and also celebrates other musical artists from Lubbock and West Texas. The guide lists both among the must-see sites for rock and roll fans visiting town.

That gives visiting music fans a simple two-stop plan, and it points them to a local artist the whole music world still claims. John Lennon and Paul McCartney have called Holly a major influence. Bruce Springsteen has said he plays Holly every night before he goes on. Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys are on the list of artists he shaped, too.

Holly built all of that in a professional career of about 18 months. He died in an Iowa plane crash on February 3, 1959, at 22.