The Broken Spoke: Austin\u2019s Legendary Honky-Tonk<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\nHardcover, 256 pages, 978-1-62349-519-0, $24.95; also available in ebook formats<\/p>\n
April 2017<\/p>\n
Reviewed by Si Dunn<\/p>\n
In the early 1960s, James White was far from Austin<\/span> and longing to hear country music. He was an American soldier stationed in Okinawa, serving on a launch and maintenance crew for Nike Hercules missiles. The nearest dirt-floor bar had a jukebox but only two country-western songs. White and his buddies played them over and over.<\/p>\nMeanwhile, White wondered what he would do once his enlistment ended, and an image inspired by Western movies began forming in his mind. He would have \u201ca place\u201d of his own \u2014 something grander than a dirt-floor bar.<\/p>\n
In her entertaining and engaging new book, The Broken Spoke: Austin\u2019s Legendary Honky-Tonk,<\/span> Austin writer Donna Marie Miller<\/span> describes what happened next: the humble birth of a honky-tonk now known around the world.<\/p>\n\u201cThe day James received his honorable discharge from the army, at twenty-five years old,\u201d she writes, \u201che began building the one-room honky-tonk and called it the Broken Spoke. It opened November 10, 1964, about a mile outside what was then the Austin city limits.\u201d (It\u2019s well inside the city limits now.)<\/p>\n
The author paints warm, inviting portraits of the Broken Spoke, plus the bright and sometimes startling parade of musical stars that have delighted listeners and dancers. Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, the Dixie Chicks, Roy Acuff,<\/span> and Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel,<\/span> yes. But famed University of Texas running back Earl Campbell,<\/span> singing \u201cYou Never Call Me by My Name\u201d? And actor Robert Duvall<\/span> doing a tango? Yes and yes.<\/p>\nMiller also digs into the struggles and hard times that sometimes threatened the Broken Spoke\u2019s success and longevity. The honky-tonk opened with almost no money on hand, she writes. But James White\u2019s wife, Annetta White, <\/span>and other family members also played key roles in helping the new venture survive. Annetta White recalls, \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a dime to spare. When we sold one case of beer, we went and bought another case. We had ten dollars in a cigar box when we opened.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cThe Broken Spoke is a little bit like the Alamo now,\u201d popular Austin musician Marcia Ball<\/span> states in the book. \u201cThe Broken Spoke draws tourists to town, to Texas really.\u201d<\/p>\nThe staying power of James White\u2019s honky-tonk has become legendary. But it got a second big test during an era that spawned a hit movie starring John Travolta.<\/span> Marcia Ball recalls how \u201cJames White weathered all of the competition that ever existed in this town. In the late 1970s when Austin was overrun by pre-fab metal buildings pumping out Urban Cowboy-type country music, James White just stayed there in this little spot and kept it real.\u201d<\/p>\nIndeed, she adds, \u201cJames is still here and it\u2019s still real.\u201d<\/p>\n
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HISTORY \/ MUSIC Donna Marie Miller Foreword by Charles R. Townsend The Broken Spoke: Austin\u2019s Legendary Honky-Tonk Hardcover, 256 pages,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}