AUSTIN -- You know you've made it when they write a song about you. The Broken Spoke has been mentioned in more than one. Fifty years have gone by and not much has changed at the Broken Spoke. From rhinestones to revolvers, nearly every inch of spare space is packed with memories.
"The day I got out of the Army, I started building the Broken Spoke. That was 1964 and I was 25 years old," said James White, who built and has run the dance hall ever since.
It's a business the 75-year-old built with his wife, Annetta, and has run with daughters Ginny and Terry. He got the name after watching the western "Broken Arrow" starring Jimmy Stewart.
"So I thought, 'Well, hell, I'll just get me a couple of wagon wheels and put 'em out front, and I'll knock a spoke out of each one, and when I got it built, I'll name it The Broken Spoke,'" said White.
The beer was 25 cents a bottle and sitting just outside Austin city limits, there was whiskey, too.
"The city limits was a mile down the road on the right out here, and now it is about six miles down that way," White gestured.
Paddle fans still swirl in the original building. It only took a year in business to realize the Spoke needed more space.
"They would dance right out the front door into the dirt parking lot, turn around and come dancing back in. It was wall to wall people so I thought, I better add this dance hall," said White.
It was an addition that would make the Broken Spoke legendary.
White loves to run down the list of faces who have played the Spoke about as much as he likes showing off photos posing with the greats.
"We've had people like Bob Wills, Willie Nelson, George Strait, Dolly Parton, Ernest Tubbs, Tex Ritter, Roy Acuff, the list goes on and on and on. I've had over 20 country music Hall of Famers that have performed here," White said.
White first booked Willie Nelson in 1967. He famously put out a tip jar for Willie when the musician ran into trouble with the IRS. When he's in town, Willie still drops by for a set on the old stage.
Ray Benson and his band Asleep at the Wheel were another James White discovery 41 years ago. They quickly became regulars.
"James heard our record on the local radio station, and we played Bob Wills music, and so he hired us out there, and it was fields all over the place. It was where, if you excuse the term, rednecks went to dance and drink a beer," said Benson.
In recent years, the landscape has changed around the Spoke. Apartments have sandwiched the old building. White said it's his version of the Alamo, but by standing strong he's preserving more than just a building.
"It's a place not only where people get to dance and socialize, etc., and bands are employed, but it keeps alive this great tradition of Texas dance halls," Benson said.
The Broken Spoke is such a big part of Dale Watson's career, he penned that song to mark its place in history.
"This is the last of the true Texas dance halls and the last one in Austin, Texas. I wrote a song about it recently just because, the 'Never Mending Broken Spoke,' because it ain't going to change," said Watson.
And that's just the way the Whites want it.
"It makes me feel good through my heart that people let me live my dream and I get to do exactly what I want to do, and that's run the Broken Spoke," White said.
