Editor’s Note: Jack Becker is the editor of Caprock Chronicles and is a Librarian Emeritus from Texas Tech University. He can be reached at jack.becker@ttu.edu. Today’s article about Joe Ely’s Tornado Jams is the second of a four-part series by frequent contributor Chuck Lanehart, Lubbock attorney and award-winning Western history writer.
Joe Ely’s original 1980 Tornado Jam was considered a remarkable success, and Joe was hoping his festival would catch on and become an annual event like Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnics. His hopes were realized, at least for a while.
The date for Joe Ely’s 2nd Annual Tornado Jam was set May 3, 1981, a Sunday. The first Jam had been held on the 10th anniversary of the devastating May 11, 1970, Lubbock tornado, but May 11, 1981 fell on a Monday. Organizers thought it made sense to schedule the festival earlier, when Texas Tech was still in session, to attract an even bigger crowd than the 17,000 fans who enjoyed the first Jam.
Like the previous year, there would be no admission charge, though producers hoped those attending would donate about $1 each to offset costs.
A commemorative Tornado Jam booklet featuring artwork by Paul Milosevich and stories on the Lubbock Tornado, Buddy Holly and Joe Ely would be sold at the concert for $3.
Again, bands waived fees, though travel expenses were paid.
The site was moved to another part of the Holly Recreational Area just south of the site of Jam #1, which offered a natural amphitheater. The new location provided better sound projection and visibility from a longer distance.
Among the new acts added from the first Jam were sax legend Bobby Keys, Marcia Ball, Gary P. Nunn, Alvin Crow and Ray Wiley Hubbard, who was chosen to close the show.
Citing national and statewide publicity and press conferences, Lubbock A-J entertainment editor William Kerns wrote: “I fully expect every music fan even close to Lubbock to be traveling into the city for the all-day music festival which will see more than a dozen Texas bands perform live from noon to midnight.”
Just as predicted, on May 3, more than 30,000 fans swarmed to the festival site, overwhelming sponsoring Lubbock Parks and Recreation officials, surprising concessionaires who for the 2nd year in a row were caught short.
There was rarely a dull moment, with more than 13 hours of stage performances.
Jam #2 was marred by a stabbing, attacks with beer bottles and other incidents. An organizer said, “We had enough policemen; they couldn’t have done much more with personnel. The crowds simply have to control themselves.” Still, the consensus was that everything worked out “ten times more smoothly than last year.”
Kerns reported, “The Planets drew a huge response. Alvin Crow used guitar and fiddle to perform what was labelled ‘The World’s Largest Cotton-Eyed Joe,’” with throngs inspired to participate in the honky-tonk partner and line dance song.
“The most exciting performance was Ely,” wrote Kerns, “with the crowd taking part in ‘Long Snake Moan’ and reacting raucously to ‘Musta Notta Gotta Lotta.’”
Joe played almost two hours. Hubbard closed the show but had to play to a smaller crowd, since many left after Ely.
Producer Steve Moss filmed the concert, using at least four cameras, one on a crane above the crowd, 24-track sound was provided by Paul Christiansen’s Omega Sound of Dallas, and a fully equipped sound truck was utilized.
Early in the day, a legendary non-musical event took place which almost everyone involved in the festival remembers. Ron Odom of Lubbock owned a 1964 Austin Princess model Rolls Royce. Jim Casey, involved in security at the Jam, got permission from Odom to borrow the classic car to use as a limo to pick up musicians arriving at the airport and bring them to the concert.
Casey parked the car at the festival site, thinking he had set the emergency brake, and went about his Jam duties. But soon, the Rolls began slowly sliding down a slight incline, past a few astonished fans, rolled across a sidewalk and splashed into the shallow tributary of the Brazos River that runs through Buddy Holly Park.
The uninsured car was completely submerged, with oil slowly bubbling to the surface. Tow trucks arrived for the delicate operation of removing the Rolls, which was towed away around 1:30 p.m.
Following the festival, Joe said, “The plan is for us to play every year at this concert. But I think the reason they’re using our name on the show is just because, you know, our band thought up the thing last year.”
By the time of the second Tornado Jam, Ely had moved from Lubbock to Austin, but he said he held strong emotional ties to Lubbock.
“The people I work with are down there, and my manager has a studio down there, and I wanted to record in Texas,” he said. “But I still have some kind of bizarre, romantic tie with Lubbock. Some people think of romance and think of the islands. I think of the flatlands. I love coming back here whenever I can.”
And Joe did come back to Lubbock hundreds of times during his career, including his next big Hub City project, Joe Ely’s Third Annual Tornado Jam.
Part 3 of this series will be published at a later date.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Caprock Chronicles on when Joe Ely’s 2nd Lubbock Tornado Jam drew 30K fans
Reporting by By Chuck Lanehart, special for the Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chuck Lanehart, special for the Avalanche-Journal | USA TODAY Network
