Longhorn Ballroom

The Longhorn Ballroom is a music venue and country western dance hall in Dallas, Texas (USA). It was known in the early 1950s as Bob Wills' Ranch House when the large ballroom was built and operated by O.L. Nelms, an eccentric Dallas millionaire, for his close friend, western swing bandleader Bob Wills. When Wills left, O.L. Nelms leased the sprawling dance club to Jack Ruby who later killed Lee Harvey Oswald, John F. Kennedy's accused assassin. O.L. Nelms then sold the property to his close friend and business partner Dewey Groom.

The Longhorn Ballroom sign as of January 8, 2017.

On January 10, 1978 it achieved brief infamy in national music circles when the Sex Pistols appeared there and during their performance taunted the audience, resulting in a woman head-butting Sid Vicious. Before the Sex Pistols, the venue hosted mainly country music artists including Charley Pride, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Ray Price, Conway Twitty, Bob Wills, Loretta Lynn, Hank Thompson, Willie Nelson and Patsy Montana. A famous photo that often circulates on the internet shows the venue's marquee advertising both the Sex Pistols concert and a Merle Haggard concert the following night.

The Bob Wills concert album, "The Longhorn Recordings" featuring the music of Bob Wills and his steel guitar player Gene Crownover was recorded in the early Sixties at Longhorn Ballroom.

One of the two music videos for Aerosmith's 1989 single "What It Takes" was filmed at the Longhorn Ballroom.

The Longhorn Ballroom returned to brief infamy in 1991, when 2 Live Crew refused to go on stage for a scheduled show, resulting in fights among their fans and police.

Dallas soul stalwart Johnnie Taylor released a live video filmed at the Longhorn in 1997.

Bobby Patterson, who claims in the introduction to his KKDA radio show to be "able to leap the Longhorn Ballroom in a single bound," recorded a live album there in 2002.

From October 1996 to February 2017 it was owned and operated by Raul Ramirez who also operates the restaurant Raul's Corral Mexican Restaurant adjacent to the ballroom.

The current owner of the Longhorn Ballroom is Jay LaFrance who has plans to restore it.[1][2]

References
  1. "Historic Longhorn Ballroom that's hosted Sex Pistols and Playboys has new Dallas owner, plans to remodel | Real Estate | Dallas News". Dallas News. 2017-02-07. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
  2. "The Return of the Longhorn Ballroom - D Magazine". D Magazine. 2017-02-10. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  • Noel E. Monk: 12 Days on the Road: The Sex Pistols and America, HarperCollins (1992) ISBN 0-688-11274-9 Google books
  • Loretta Lynn, with Patsi Bale Cox: Still Woman Enough: A Memoir, Hyperion (2002) ISBN 0-7868-6650-0 Google books
  • Patsy Montana, Jane C. Frost: Patsy Montana: The Cowboy's Sweetheart, McFarland & Company (2002) ISBN 0-7864-1080-9 Google books
  • Dallas Observer article from November, 2008

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