Legends and Legacies honors Ben Nix

Editor’s Note: Each year new members are added to the honorees of Legends and Legacies through the Heritage Museum. Over the next seven editions, the Big Spring Herald will feature this year’s inductees. This is the final installment in a series of seven.

Special to the Herald

Ben Nix was born June 6, 1920, on the family farm north of Big Spring. His father Jonah L. Nix was a talented musician and passed that talent on to his boys, Harry, Ben, and Hoyle. This set the tone and driving force for a large part of their life's work. J.L. and Myrtle (Brooks) Nix lost their oldest son, Harry, in a horse accident when he was just 16 years old. After Harry's passing, Ben and Hoyle devoted more of their time to music.

Ben started performing at Center Point school functions and area dances. November 11,1946 marked the professional start of Ben's music career along with brother Hoyle, as they formed The

West Texas Cowboys. Ben was a great singer and rhythm guitar player. For almost 30 years, they played 5 to 6 nights a week, entertaining fans that would follow them from town to town. Ben, along with his brother Hoyle, had the honor of playing events with other legendary musicians such as Bob Wills, Marty Robbins and Ernest Tubb.

In 1949, Ben and Hoyle signed their first recording contract with Talent Records out of Dallas Tx. Jody Nix said, “Uncle Ben wrote several songs for the recording session and all of the songs were good, heart-felt, and each told quite a story.”

1954 marked another milestone as Ben and Hoyle joined together to build their own dancehall on Snyder Highway and naming it the Stampede.

The historical dance hall has become a Big Spring and Texas legend. Throughout the decades, young love has found its way, dancers have two stepped to the fiddle, and family members, young and