The Cain’s Ballroom is one of the most well known music venues in the nation, if not the world. This facility is a piece of rock 'n' roll history and is the undisputed ‘cornerstone’ of western swing music. The Cain’s is where western swing matured.
People from all over the country traveled to The Cain’s to hear legends such as Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys, Hank Thompson, Hank Williams, who played there not long before he died.
Cain's Ballroom was built in the heart of a burgeoning oil-boom Tulsa in 1924. Originally built as a garage, it was converted into a popular facility where two-steppers could buy a dance for a dime. History shows that Madison W. "Daddy" Cain bought the building in 1930 and christened it Cain's Dance Academy, where dance lessons were also 10 cents.
The music folks were dancing to what wasn't yet called western swing and wouldn't be for many years. Instead, people came to hear that "hot hillbilly music" or "hot string-band music.”