Popular country and western singer Jody Nix and his band The Texas Cowboys will be performing at the Heart of Texas Events Center in Brady, on Friday, January 30, from 8:00PM until 11:00PM. The dance is BYOB.
Advance tickets are $20 and now on sale at Heart of Texas Country Music Association Live Show Schedule
Nix comes by his mixture of traditional western swing and true country music quite naturally. The West Texas Cowboys was a band started by his father, Hoyle Nix, during the 1940s and 1950s when Nix and Bob Wills developed the legendary Texas swing. Today Jody’s high energy stage shows and easy dance music provide just the sound Llano Country fans have come to expect.
Jody Nix and the Texas Cowboys offer the perfect music for a tribute to Bob Wills. ills was born in Kosse, Texas on March 6, 1905. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968. He recorded for Columbia, Kapp and United Artists. Wills became a house hold name with songs like “San Antonio Rose” “Rolly Polly” “Faded Love” “Maiden’s Prayer” and “Bubbles In Me Beer.”
In 1973, Merle Haggard and Wills began planning a Texas Playboy reunion album, featuring Leon McAuliffe, Al Stricklan, Eldon Shamblin and Smokey Dacus among others. The first session was held on December 3, 1973, with Wills leading the band from his wheelchair. That night he suffered a massive stroke in his sleep. The Texas Playboys finished the album with guests including Jody Nix. Wills never regained consciousness. He died May 15, 1975, in a nursing facility. He was buried in Tulsa, where his career began.
“Of course, Bob Wills was one of my biggest influences,” Nix said. “He became a huge legend in the music industry. I have always felt honored that I got to work and know him as well as I did.”
Jody Nix began playing drums for his dad’s band at the age of eight. After the death of his father, Jody moved from drums to fiddle and his natural talents helped form the Texas Cowboys’ music style that has dazzled audiences across the country.
Hoyle Nix wrote one of the most popular anthems in Western Swing music-“Big Balls In Cowtown.” The songs would sell millions of copies and become a standard at virtually every dance hall for the next six decades.
“He wrote his own version that was different enough to copyright and recorded it for Talent Records in Dallas in 1949.” Jody said. “He did it again for a regional label, Caprock Records, in 1959, which I think is the better version. George Strait recorded it in 1993 and sold three million records.”
Jody has recorded seven albums and was a County Music Association nominee for “Album of the Year” in 1994.
His latest album was released in 2024 on Heart of Texas Records. “It’s About Time” was Nix’s first project in over ten years and features both Western Swing and Traditional Country with favorites including “Faded Love” “Somewhere In Texas” “Memory Maker” and “Tribute To Bob Wills”.
