Austin dance hall Broken Spoke celebrates 60 years

Broken Spoke celebrates 60th birthday

The Austin staple is celebrating 60 years of dancing and live music.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Broken Spoke is celebrating its 60th birthday.

The dance hall kicked the celebrations off on Saturday, Nov. 9, with live music and two-step lessons.

Austin City Council member Ryan Alter also made an appearance this weekend to declare Sunday, Nov. 10 Broken Spoke Day in the city of Austin.

The Broken Spoke is closed Sunday night and Monday, but will reopen Tuesday for more festivities and live music from the Malpass Brothers.

The dance hall was founded in 1964 by James M White and his wife Annetta when White was only 25 years old and fresh out of the Army. James White passed away in 2021 at the age of 81.

The dance hall has been an Austin staple, hosting several celebrities both on and off its stage, including George Strait, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, Willem Dafoe, Harry Connick Jr, Brooks & Dunn, and most recently ACL 2024 headliner Dua Lipa.

The dance hall was even featured on the cover of George Strait's album "Honky Tonk Time Machine."

The Broken Spoke is also the subject of a 2017 book by author Donna Marie Miller, published by Texas A&M University Press, and a 2016 documentary called "Honky Tonk Heaven: The Legend of the Broken Spoke" which premiered at SXSW.