Austin Way Magazine - GreenGale Publishing - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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photography by leah overstreet celebr ating 50 years Country-MusiC LandMark Broken spoke doesn't Miss a (two-) step in a Changing City. by sarah beckham When James White opened the Broken Spoke on November 10, 1964, there wasn't a whole lot around it. Today, the little red dance hall is smack in the middle of a growing Austin—more specifically, in the midst of a bunch of new apartments on South Lamar Boulevard. "They're really close," says Ginny White-Peacock, the Spoke's gen- eral manager and White's daughter. But, she says, some of those new neighbors are also new customers. As this Texas institution turns 50, stop by to pay homage and do some two-stepping. Wear your cowboy hat, or your ball cap, or even your hipster fedora. All hats, all ages are represented in a Saturday- night crowd. Keep an eye out for James White (who marked another milestone this year, turning 75), reigning over it all in a Western shirt. For the celebration in November, White-Peacock expects Spoke longtimer Alvin Crow to lead a lineup of other mainstays. The stage where they'll play is a hallowed spot in country music. White-Peacock remembers country legend Ernest Tubb's performances there: "He would always play me a song," she recalls. And a family photo shows Willie Nelson holding her when she was 6 months old. Pictures of famous visitors grace a memorabilia room dubbed "The Tourist Trap," because, well, they get a lot of tourists. Broken Spoke pil- grims arrive from everywhere—Poland, Japan, Korea, Australia, even Iran. And, White-Peacock says, they all tell her the same thing: "This is what we thought Texas was going to be like." 3201 S. Lamar Blvd., 512- 442-6189; brokenspokeaustintx.com AW Fans from all over the world flock to the Broken Spoke for a real down-home country music experience, telling the general manager and founder's daughter, "This is what we thought Texas was going to be like." AUSTINWAY.com 149 the guide the Best of Fall