This March, Frisco became the 42nd Texas city designated as a “Music Friendly Texas Certified Community” under the Texas Music Office’s pioneering music business-related economic development program. Two months later, the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards show came to town. Co-hosted by country legends Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks and streamed worldwide, the two-hour spectacle was held at the Ford Center, the 12,000-seat multipurpose indoor stadium at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ world headquarters.
Since its inception in 1950 as Bob Wills’ Ranch House, the Longhorn Ballroom has been Texas’s premier destination for some of the best live music in the country. Over the last several years, the Longhorn Ballroom fell on hard times, eventually landing in bankruptcy and was headed for demolition.