This Week in Texas Music History, marks the debut of a dancing destination on the high plains.
Episodes written by Jason Mellard, Alan Schaefer, and Avery Armstrong
n November 11, 1938, the Cotton Club opened in Lubbock, one of the largest dance floors in West Texas. For over 40 years, it stood as the most influential venue in the region. With over 2,000 feet of hardwood floor, the Cotton Club could serve over 100 customers for dinner and allow another 500 to dance at the same time.
High-society big band orchestras from across the country were the Cotton Club’s first performers. After a few years of operation, however, it became apparent that the club needed to expand its appeal to a wider audience. The Cotton Club began to book country-western acts such as Hank Williams, Tex Ritter, and especially Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, who were the club’s regular Friday night performers from 1953 to 1955 in what had become a mecca of western swing.
With the rise of rock ‘n’ roll in the mid-1950s, the Cotton Club became a regular performance spot for acts such as Elvis Presley, who infamously met Lubbock native Buddy Holly during a 1955 “Teen Night” show at the club – greatly influencing Holly’s musical style. With appearances by Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Roy Orbison, the club emerged as a West Texas leader in rock ‘n’ roll, at one point serving as the main profitable venue for bands to play between Dallas and Los Angeles. After the original building burned down in 1958, Tommy X. Hancock and his wife Carlene – both well-known Lubbock musicians – bought the club and built a second location 14 miles out of town. By the late 60s and 70s, the Cotton Club became an unlikely site where cowboys and hippies mingled and a new wave of artists like Waylon Jennings and the Maines Brothers ruled the stage. As one observer noted, “Tommy Hancock . . . was doing the thing Willie got known for in Austin: peaceful coexistence.” In 1978, Hancock sold the club to Joe Ely and C.B. Stubblefield of Stubb’s fame, who booked up-and-coming acts such as Stevie Ray Vaughan before the club closed for good in 1982.
