The annual Texas Cowboys' Christmas Ball returns to Pioneer Hall (2301 Ave G) in Anson, Texas for three nights of Texas swing music and old-fashioned fun on December 16-18, 2021.

Cowboy poet and performer Michael Martin Murphy will take the stage on December 16, with Texas swing legends Jake Hooker and the Outsiders and Jody Nix & The Texas Cowboys following on December 17 and 18 respectively. Music begins at 8 PM on all three nights.

Want tickets to see Michael Martin Murphey, Jake Hooker, or Jody Nix at the Texas Cowboy's Christmas Ball?

Adult tickets are $25, while teens age 13-17 are $10, and children under 12 get in free. Separate tickets are required for each night of the event. You can purchase tickets to the Texas Cowboys' Christmas Ball here.

Please note that according to the traditional, historically-accurate dress code, women must wear skirts (no pants or split skirts on the dancefloor) and men should check their coats and hats before hitting the dancefloor.

The Texas Cowboys' Ball has roots in the pioneer era of West Texas when the town of Anson was the site of a Christmas Ball, that inspired Larry Chittenden's 1890 poem titled "The Cowboys' Christmas Ball." That poem was later published in John Lomax's book Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.

Michael Martin Murphy set the poem to music in 1985 and has performed the song at the Christmas Ball ever since.

The Texas Cowboys' Christmas Ball began as a historical reenactment project created by Anson schoolteachers that eventually led to the building of the Pioneer Hall in Anson (now a historical site recognized by the state of Texas, which serves as a general community center/venue) and the creation of the nonprofit Texas Cowboys' Ball Association in Anson.

The event's pioneer roots are carried on in traditional cowboy and Western swing music, classic folks dances, and even some attendees in period-accurate American West attire.

You can find out more about Pioneer Hall, the Texas Cowboys' Christmas Ball, and the Association's nonprofit preservation work here.

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