I've only been to two of the bars on the list....Tootsie's in Nashville and The Broken Spoke in Austin. As a matter of fact, when I was going to The University of Texas back in '66-'72, I lived in an apartment complex right behind The Broken Spoke. Spent a lot of time there and even made some money playing music there. There is a room off the dance floor which serves as the Broken Spoke Hall of Fame and Texas Tourist Trap. Not braggin' too much, but my picture hangs on the wall in there along with a few other musicians that have played there from Hank Williams to Willie Nelson. OK, I wasn't in those guys league, but I was in a group that recorded a live album there. It would have been a big hit except for the fact that we put it out on the Oral Roberts label and the hole in the center kept healing up.
A little story. All the musicians that played the Spoke loved the acoustics in the building. Best dance hall acoustics I have been in. The city of Austin condemned the roof of the building because of all the leaks and weak structure. It was just a country dance hall and beer joint. They were going to try to make James White, the owner, tear it down. He refused and there was a pretty large battle in the newspaper and on country radio. Well, since all the Texas legislators got drunk hung out there and didn't want to loose this venue, they figured out the solution. They made the City of Austin let James White build a freestanding metal roof ( a pole barn, if you will) over the entire existing building without touching a single board of the original building saving the acoustics and the ambiance inside. Problem solved. Also, they serve the best chicken fried steak in Texas.
