TULSA, Okla. – For over a century, Cain’s Ballroom has been more than a music venue. To musicians, historians and fans, it is a living archive of sound — a place where Western swing took flight, Red Dirt music found its footing and generations of artists have chased a feeling they say can’t be replicated anywhere else.
“Music lives here,” said John Cooper of the Red Dirt Rangers, recalling a moment when a visiting promoter from Sweden stepped inside the ballroom for the first time. “That may be the most profound thing I’ve ever heard. He felt it the second he walked in.”
Brought Western Swing to the Country
The historic venue, located along Route 66 in downtown Tulsa, played a pivotal role in shaping American music beginning in the 1930s. Writer and music historian John Wooley said Cain’s became ground zero for Western swing through a rare convergence of place, timing and technology.
“Cities of any size, many of them have their own music — Kansas City jazz, New Orleans jazz, Memphis blues,” Wooley said. “We have Western swing because of the Cain’s Ballroom and Bob Wills and KVOO radio, the confluence of those three things that started back in the 1930s.”…