Dance Hall
Broken Spoke
Rustic dance hall and honky-tonk with a live band, two-step lessons, and chicken-fried steak.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Broken Spoke in Austin follows James White, who opened the honky-tonk on a rural stretch of South Lamar in nineteen sixty-four and lived to see condominiums and cranes rise around it decades later. It traces the dance hall from Bob Wills and Willie Nelson on its early stage through White's calm standoff with developers who wanted the land beneath it. You will hear how he talked about staying put. Listen for the low ceiling and worn dance floor that still look much as they did the night it opened.
This audio guide was created using AI.