Nebraska Music History Sites You Can Visit
Reading about music history is one thing; standing on the dance floor where it happened is another. Nebraska still has a number of places where visitors can connect with the state's rock and roll, jazz, blues and ballroom heritage – from museum exhibits to venues that have been hosting live music for decades. This guide to Nebraska music history sites is organized as a loose road trip from Northeast Nebraska to Lincoln and Omaha. Hours, programs and even ownership can change, so always check current information before you travel.
Norfolk and Northeast Nebraska
Elkhorn Valley Museum, Norfolk
If you visit only one place, make it the Elkhorn Valley Museum at 515 Queen City Boulevard in Norfolk. Hall of Fame founder Jim Casey helped bring a Nebraska Rocks exhibit here, and the museum has presented Nebraska Rocks: A Mid-Century Music Scene, with posters, photographs, instruments, equipment and clothing from the region's bands. Norfolk was the early hot-bed of Nebraska rock and roll, home to The Smoke Ring, Don Sohl and the Roadrunners, Little Joe and the Ramrods and many more, so the exhibit puts the stories on this web site in context.
Nebraska Rocks
The annual Nebraska Rocks celebration in Norfolk, which grew out of a 1994 Smoke Ring reunion, is where new members are still inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame. Since Jim Casey's death in 2022, his family has continued the event. Dates vary from year to year, so check local news and event listings.
The site of King's Ballroom
King's Ballroom, built by Harry King in 1917 and home to Norfolk's legendary teen dances, burned down in 1986. The building is gone, but for many visitors the Norfolk area's ballroom history is best explored through the museum and through the story of the ballroom circuit.
The Skylon Ballroom, Hartington
North of Norfolk, Hartington is home to the Skylon Ballroom, built in 1952 with an arched roof and hardwood floor. It was threatened with demolition in the early 1990s but saved thanks to public support. Check locally for current events before planning a visit.
Lincoln
The Pla-Mor Ballroom
The Pla-Mor opened in 1929 and hosted everyone from Lawrence Welk, Glenn Miller and Count Basie to Bill Haley and the Comets. Remarkably, it is still an active venue more than ninety years later, with regular dance nights and private events. It is one of the best places in the state to experience a classic ballroom in use.
The Zoo Bar
Downtown at 136 North 14th Street, the Zoo Bar has presented live blues since 1973. Under Hall of Fame inductee Larry Boehmer it brought Chicago blues legends such as Magic Slim to Lincoln, won the Blues Foundation's "Keeping the Blues Alive" Club of the Year award in 1993, and celebrated fifty years of live music in 2023. It is a working club, so check the calendar and any age requirements.
University and downtown
Many 1960s bands, including The Chancellors and J. Harrison B. and the Bumbles, played around the University of Nebraska campus and downtown hotel ballrooms. A walk through downtown Lincoln and the campus area gives a sense of the college scene that supported them.
Omaha
North 24th Street and the Jewell Building
The Jewell Building at 2221–2225 North 24th Street once housed the Dreamland Ballroom, where Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and many other jazz greats performed from the 1920s to the 1960s. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Great Plains Black History Museum occupies one of its storefronts. Nearby, at 2510 North 24th Street, the North Omaha Music and Arts Center (NOMA) opened in 2021 in the space formerly used by Love's Jazz & Arts Center, which honored saxophonist Preston Love. Read the full story in North Omaha jazz and R&B.
The Orpheum Theater
Omaha's historic Orpheum Theater is where pianist Roger Williams was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004, during a concert run with the Omaha Symphony. Attending a performance there is a good way to see one of the city's grand old theaters.
Radio history
Omaha is also where Top 40 radio was born at KOWH in the early 1950s. There is no single museum dedicated to that story, but it is well worth reading about before you visit – see how Omaha gave birth to Top 40 radio.
Western Nebraska
In the Panhandle, Scottsbluff and Gering are the hometown of Eagles co-founder Randy Meisner and of The Drivin' Dynamics, who played their first paying job at a dance hall near Henry in 1961. The Hall of Fame held an induction in Mitchell in 2000 at the Scotts Bluff County Fair. Local museums and historical societies in the area are good places to ask about the region's music history.
Worth the Drive: Nearby States
- Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa – part of the same Midwest ballroom circuit Nebraska bands played, and known worldwide as the site of Buddy Holly's final concert in 1959.
- Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee – where The Smoke Ring's story took a national turn. See Sun Records and the Nebraska connection.
Tips for Planning Your Trip
- Check before you go. Museum hours, exhibit schedules and venue calendars change; confirm details on official websites or by phone.
- Combine a visit with live music. Plan around a dance night at the Pla-Mor or a show at the Zoo Bar to experience the venues as they were meant to be experienced.
- Talk to locals. Many towns have long-time residents who danced at the ballrooms or played in bands, and local historical societies often have photos and clippings.
- Bring the stories with you. Use the inductees by year list on this site to look up the bands connected to each place you visit.
Plan your Nebraska music road trip. Start with the history of the Hall of Fame, then browse the ballroom inductees: King's, the Pla-Mor, the Skylon and the Royal Grove.
Conclusion
Nebraska's music history is not only in books and on web pages. It survives in a museum exhibit in Norfolk, on the dance floor of a 1929 ballroom in Lincoln, in a blues club that has been open for half a century, and on a North Omaha street where jazz legends once played. Whether you are a lifelong Nebraskan or passing through, these places are a rewarding way to experience the music the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame celebrates.