On May 13, 1975, Ray Benson, leader of the Western-swing heroes Asleep at the Wheel, was readying his band to make their stage debut at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas, when he received the news that Bob Wills, the “King of Western Swing,” had died that morning in nearby Fort Worth.
“An AP reporter told me as I got off the bus,” the 72-year-old tells Rolling Stone backstage at the recent grand reopening of the Longhorn. “He says, ‘Are you going to cancel?’ I said, ‘Cancel? We’re going to glorify this and play his music.’ And 2,500 people showed up, just jamming up the place.”
Known as the “House That Bob Built” (a moniker shared with Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa), the Longhorn is a storied venue that’s seen better days in a part of Dallas that’s seen better years. Surrounded by old warehouses, empty lots, and vast fields on the outskirts of downtown, the Longhorn is now back in action after a long road of renovation and redemption — this new, promising chapter of one of the crown jewels of the Texas live music scene.
“It’s about time, man,” Benson says. “I was so worried that [the Longhorn] was just going to crumble into the river — there ain’t too many cool and historic places left that haven’t been torn down.”
The grand reopening was an opportunity to not only showcase the rich, vibrant history of the Longhorn, but also provide a window into what the future may hold for the massive property. Along with Asleep at the Wheel, the room was rechristened with sets by Morgan Wade, Joshua Ray Walker, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lucero, and Joshua Hedley.
“The Longhorn is in good hands after a long time of being passed around,” says Walker, a rising country star and Dallas native. “This place holds so much important history in the Dallas scene.”
Constructed in 1950 as the home base for Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, one of the most popular radio and stage acts of the era, the venue was initially known as Bob Wills’ Ranch House. It was later renamed the Longhorn Ballroom when record-label owner Dewey Groom took it over. At one point, Jack Ruby, who shot and killed JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, also ran the place. A safe once owned by Ruby, still unopened, sits in the Longhorn’s VIP lounge.
But Ruby’s association with the room is just a curiosity. Its reputation as a historic venue came from the titans who played there: The Sex Pistols and Merle Haggard’s names were both on the same marquee, and B.B. King, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette, Freddy Fender, James Brown, Selena, Charley Pride, George Jones, Ray Charles, Waylon Jennings, George Strait, and Stevie Ray Vaughan all passed through. As of last count, the stage has hosted 39 Country Music Hall of Fame and 21 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees.
The Sex Pistols onstage at the Longhorn in 1978. Photo: Richard E. Aaron/Redferns/Getty
Redferns
“This is one of the most historic venues and dance halls in the country,” says Brendon Anthony, director of the Texas Music Office in Austin, at the Longhorn’s ribbon cutting last month. “For it to have new life and to reenter the marketplace is important and impactful.”
The face behind the resurrection of the Longhorn is Edwin Cabaniss. Founder of Kessler Presents, an independent live music company based in Dallas, Cabaniss owns and operates the Kessler Theater in town and the Heights Theater in Houston. He also runs booking and promotional entities in Austin and Oklahoma.
“It’s pretty surreal to be standing here,” Cabaniss notes while strolling the ballroom floor. “It’s showtime, and this is what we really get excited about — there’s been a lot of time and effort involved in getting the doors open at the Longhorn.”
A larger-than-life character, Cabaniss is among the biggest cheerleaders for independent venues and stages in Texas, during an era of Live Nation and AEG corporate-run spaces from coast-to-coast.
“It’s about finding that authenticity when you come here or anywhere [with independent venues],” Cabaniss says. “Where you’re meeting and talking to the actual owner, because we’re putting our heart, sweat and tears into [these stages].”
Joshua Ray Walker remembers hanging out at the Longhorn when his mother did event promotion for the venue. Now he’s playing its stage with the goal of getting his fans to dance.
“Independent venue ownership is one of the hardest businesses in the U.S. and it’s been a rough few years for it. Without independent venues you don’t get independent music,” Walker says. “I’m glad there’s a place people can actually two-step in Dallas proper — it’s a real dance floor where people enjoy real country music.”
Following Walker’s performance at the Longhorn’s opening weekend, Old Crow Medicine Show played a rousing set with a surprise cameo by Texas troubadour Robert Earl Keen — his first public appearance since retiring from touring last fall.
Keen hadn’t planned on being in Dallas that day, let alone jumping onstage to play “Walkin’ Cane” with Old Crow. But Keen’s daughter was at the club working on an episode of the They Called Us Outlaws documentary (the reopening of the Longhorn appears in the final episode) and he dropped by.
“I remember playing here over 25 years ago. Texas used to be full of dance halls, but that era ended a long time ago, sadly,” Keen says. “There’s so few of these independent places — it’s so rare these days. And they’ll trip all over themselves to help and support artists. That means so much to musicians.”
ON SATURDAY NIGHT OF THE club’s rebirth, singer-songwriter Morgan Wade and alt-country stalwarts Lucero are set to make their debut at the Longhorn. Ticket sales are upwards of 1,800 in attendance, the first real test of this latest installment of the property and its amenities.
An endless stream of concertgoers heads into the Longhorn. Cowboy hats and snakeskin boots. Belt buckles the size of dinner plates polished to a mirror shine. Fresh denim jeans and cold cans of Lone Star. Once inside, patrons come face-to-face with the club’s history on the back walls.
Put together by curator Warwick Stone, the exhibit is dedicated to a handful of memorable nights at the Longhorn: the exact dress Loretta Lynn wore during a 1979 live broadcast, memorabilia from the Sex Pistols ill-fated 1978 appearance, and from Dallas’ own Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as one of Waylon Jennings’ guitars.
“I want an artist to come in here and understand the shoulders of the giants they’re standing on,” Cabaniss says. “But it’s also about the present and the future, as well as touching base with the history of this building. All we hope is that we’ve done this right.”