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43-465: Levelland is a city and the county seat of Hockley County, Texas , United States . As of the 2020 census , the city population was 12,652, down from 13,542 at the 2010 census. It is located on the Llano Estacado , 30 miles (48 km) west of Lubbock . Major industries include cotton farming and petroleum production. It is the home of South Plains College . Levelland is the principal city of

86-526: A Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court ), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town Manchester , and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington. In 2024, Connecticut , which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending

129-514: A county library in the 1950s and the South Plains Museum in 1968. South Plains College, a two-year community college, opened in 1958. Levelland is at the center of Hockley County. Texas State Highway 114 runs through the north side of the city, leading east 30 miles (48 km) to Lubbock and west 43 miles (69 km) to the New Mexico border. U.S. Route 385 passes through the center of

172-410: A county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in

215-497: A family was $ 32,408. Males had a median income of $ 29,800 versus $ 20,042 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 14,296. About 15.7% of families and 20.2% of the population were below the poverty line , including 25.8% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those age 65 or over. Levelland operates under a council-manager form of government. The Levelland City Council consists of the Mayor and four City Council members. The Mayor

258-531: A new album, The Horses and the Hounds , was announced on June 9, 2021 and released on August 20. Lead track "Canola Fields" was released to streaming services at the time of the announcement and would go on to get an Americana Music Award nomination. The album, produced by longtime collaborator Russ Hogarth and recorded at Jackson Browne's Santa Monica Groove Masters studio, was reviewed positively, scoring an 81 on Metacritic. Pitchfork reviewer Stephen Deusner said of

301-478: A physicist at the University of Arizona , and Dr. J. Allen Hynek , an astronomer at Northwestern University , disputed this explanation. Both men argued that no electrical storm was in the area when the sightings occurred. County seat In Canada , the provinces of Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below

344-647: A rollicking tune about a dead grandma and the events afterwards. Walk Between the Raindrops followed in 1998 and 2002 brought St. Mary of the Woods . In April 2004, McMurtry released a tour album called Live in Aught-Three . " Choctaw Bingo ", one of McMurtry's most popular songs, is featured on both St. Mary of the Woods and Live in Aught-Three . In 2005, McMurtry released his first studio album in three years. Childish Things again received high critical praise, winning

387-578: Is a song about life in the city, told from a slightly acerbic point of view. The song has also been recorded by Robert Earl Keen . Held in the third week of July, Camp Bluegrass is a large social event, with public concerts, held on the South Plains College campus. Levelland is home to the 12-year-old state champions in baseball, the Levelland Kekambas. This was the first team to ever win state from Levelland. The team ended up placing fifth at

430-504: Is an American rock and folk rock/ americana singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader, and occasional actor ( Daisy Miller , Lonesome Dove , and narrator of Ghost Town: 24 Hours in Terlingua ). He performs with veteran bandmates Daren Hess, Cornbread and Tim Holt. His father, novelist Larry McMurtry , gave him his first guitar at age seven. His mother, an English professor, taught him how to play it: "My mother taught me three chords and

473-414: Is elected at large for a three-year term, and council members are elected to represent residents in four election districts for two-year terms. The terms are staggered, resulting in the election of two council members each year. The Council appoints a City Manager responsible for the day-to-day administration, ensuring the provision of public services. The James McMurtry song "Levelland", recorded in 1995,

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516-409: Is known as the seat of its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in the county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of

559-603: The 2020 United States census , there were 12,652 people, 4,880 households, and 3,245 families residing in the city. As of the census of 2000, 12,866 people, 4,574 households, and 3,361 families resided in the city. The population density was 1,296.5 inhabitants per square mile (500.6/km). The 5,186 housing units averaged 522.6 per square mile (201.8/km). The racial makeup of the city was 70.34% White, 5.36% African American, 0.95% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 20.92% from other races, and 2.21% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 39.21% of

602-517: The University of Arizona in Tucson . After traveling to Alaska and playing a few gigs, he returned to Texas and his father's "little bitty ranch house crammed with 10,000 books". After a time, he left for San Antonio , where he worked as a house painter, actor, bartender, and sometimes singer, performing at writers' nights and open-mic events. In 1987, a friend in San Antonio suggested McMurtry enter

645-534: The Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk songwriter contest; he became one of six winners that year. Also around this time John Mellencamp was starring in a film based on a script by McMurtry's father, which gave McMurtry the opportunity to send a demo tape to Mellencamp. Mellencamp subsequently served as co-producer on McMurtry's debut album, Too Long in the Wasteland (1989). McMurtry also appeared on

688-503: The Levelland micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Hockley County and part of the larger Lubbock–Levelland combined statistical area . Levelland was so named on account of the flat land at the town site. Levelland became the county seat upon its organization in 1921. Initially named Hockley City by Charles W. Post in 1912, development began in 1921, and the town was swiftly renamed for its local topography. The town's foundation

731-600: The McMurtry canon. Cold and Bitter Tears: The Songs of Ted Hawkins , released in late 2015 on Austin-based Eight 30 Records, includes McMurtry's take on the late busker's song "Big Things". Additionally, Dreamer: A Tribute to Kent Finlay , released in early 2016 (also on Eight 30 Records), features McMurtry's version of Finlay's "Comfort's Just a Rifle Shot Away." McMurtry contributed his rendition of Adam Carroll's "Screen Door" to Highway Prayer: A Tribute to Adam Carroll (Eight 30 Records, 2016) as well as "Grandpa's Promise" to

774-935: The United States, followed by Towson , the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland . Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey , though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township , an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original Thirteen Colonies , county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia . Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Georgia , Iowa , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Mississippi , Missouri , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of

817-496: The city, east of downtown, leading north 24 miles (39 km) to Littlefield and south 29 miles (47 km) to Brownfield . According to the United States Census Bureau , Levelland has a total area of 10.2 square miles (26.3 km), of which 0.004 square miles (0.01 km), or 0.06%, is covered by water. Levelland has a semi-arid climate ( Köppen : Bsk ) with generally low relative humidity levels. As of

860-517: The counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty , the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when the Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of

903-418: The county, especially if it is geographically large. A county seat is usually an incorporated municipality . The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia , where the county seat is the entire county. Ellicott City , the county seat of Howard County, Maryland , is the largest unincorporated county seat in

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946-420: The county. Examples include Harrison County, Mississippi , which has both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats, and Hinds County, Mississippi , which has both Raymond and the state capital of Jackson . The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of civic pride for

989-424: The imperial bureaucratic structure; in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of a county was the magistrate , who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of

1032-572: The increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. Protestant missionaries in China first romanized the term as hien . When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. By September 1945, Taiwan

1075-611: The independent city under an agreement, such as in Albemarle , or may in be enclaves of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in Fairfax . Others, such as Prince William , have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city: Bedford

1118-732: The later years of the Qing dynasty . Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions. In Taiwan , the first counties were first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning . The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With

1161-416: The population. Of the 4,574 households, 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.5% were not families; 23.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size

1204-570: The previous album's political themes and included the song "Cheney's Toy," McMurtry's most direct criticism of George W. Bush so far. Like "We Can't Make It Here" from the previous album, "Cheney's Toy" was made available as a free Internet download. McMurtry's ninth album, Complicated Game was released on February 24, 2015 on an L.A. record label also named Complicated Game. The album achieved critical acclaim, scoring 87 on Metacritic. Lead single "How’m I Gonna Find You Now" and other tracks such as album opener "Copper Canteen" have become staples in

1247-752: The provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in the People's Republic of China . Xian have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty . The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized

1290-452: The record: "McMurtry sounds more engaged here, more focused, and more generous to his hard-luck characters." McMurtry lives in Lockhart, Texas , 30 miles south of Austin, Texas where, until recently, he and The Heartless Bastards regularly played a midnight set at The Continental Club on Wednesday nights after Jon Dee Graham , another Austin roots rock musician. McMurtry's son, Curtis,

1333-506: The regional tournament in Fort Smith, Arkansas . Levelland is famous as the site of a well-publicized series of UFO sightings in November 1957. Several motorists driving on various highways around Levelland in the evening and early morning hours of November 2–3 claimed to see a large, egg-shaped object which emitted a blue glow and caused their automobiles to shut off. In most cases, the object

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1376-575: The rest I just stole as I went along. I learned everything by ear or by watching people." McMurtry spent his first seven years in Ft. Worth but was raised mostly in Leesburg, Virginia . He attended the Woodberry Forest School , Orange, Virginia . He began performing in his teens, writing bits and pieces. He started performing his own songs at a downtown beer garden while studying English and Spanish at

1419-621: The satirical album Floater: A Tribute to the Tributes to Gary Floater (Eight 30 Records, 2018). Also in 2018 McMurtry performed at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. During restrictions on touring and live music imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States , McMurtry started streaming several live acoustic performances a week on Facebook and YouTube. After using this platform to premiere new songs including "If It Don't Bleed",

1462-643: The song and album of the year at the 5th Annual Americana Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee . The album was perhaps McMurtry at his most political, as his working-class anthem "We Can't Make It Here" included direct criticism of George W. Bush , the Iraq War , and Wal-Mart . The music critic Robert Christgau ranked "We Can't Make It Here" as the best song of the 2000s. McMurtry released his follow-up album to Childish Things in April 2008. Just Us Kids continued with

1505-455: The soundtrack of the film Falling from Grace , working with Mellencamp, John Prine , Joe Ely and Dwight Yoakam in a "supergroup" called Buzzin' Cousins. McMurtry released follow-up albums Candyland (1992) and Where'd You Hide the Body (1995). 1997 saw the release of "It Had to Happen" which included a cover of " Wild Man from Borneo " originally done by Kinky Friedman and " Sixty Acres ";

1548-764: The state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough , has its borough seat located in another borough, namely King Salmon in Bristol Bay Borough . In Louisiana , which is divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats". In New England , counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Rhode Island has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and Massachusetts has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In Vermont , Massachusetts , and Maine county government consists only of

1591-416: The towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities. There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The Unorganized Borough, Alaska , which covers 49% of

1634-538: The use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the United States Census Bureau to a system of councils of government for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents. Two counties in South Dakota , Oglala Lakota and Todd , have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County , respectively. In Virginia ,

1677-399: Was 3.17. In the city, the population was distributed as 27.6% under the age of 18, 14.0% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 28,820, and for

1720-457: Was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of Bedford County . Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. James McMurtry James McMurtry (born March 18, 1962, in Fort Worth, Texas )

1763-623: Was divided into 8 prefectures ( 州 and 廳 ), which remained after the Republic of China took over. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as county-administered cities , urban townships , or rural townships . In most of the United States , a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government

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1806-471: Was further solidified with the commencement of Santa Fe Railroad service in July 1925. The 1950s oil boom led to the establishment of a refinery and gas plant. Levelland experienced civic development, including the opening of a municipal park in 1951 through fundraising by civic clubs. Infrastructure improvements, an airfield, road systems, and a hospital, were undertaken around the same time. The town established

1849-478: Was sitting either on the highway or close to it. When the object took off, witnesses claimed their vehicles would restart and work normally. Among witnesses were Weir Clem, Levelland's sheriff, and Ray Jones, the town's fire chief. The United States Air Force concluded a severe electrical storm (most probably ball lightning ), was the major cause for the sightings and reported auto failures. However, several prominent UFO researchers, among them Dr. James E. McDonald ,

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