How's the country music scene in Phoenix? (Scottsdale, Chandler: 2015, living in)

[Hschlick84]

I listen to country music once in a while, not a die hard though. What's the country music scene like in the metro area? Are there concerts that come to the valley every summer? What about dive bars that play local country bands? Are there places similar to the Grizzly Rose up in Denver, that does line dancing, country music and serve up all American western food?

Does Phoenix have something similar to this?

[AZJD]

Huge country music scene.

All the main acts come to town.

Country Thunder 4 day music festival every year.

Many amazing bars. Harold's Corral in Cave Creek, San Tan Flat in Queen Creek to name a couple. Dierks Bentley's Whiskey Row bar even attracts main acts. Thomas Rhett has plays there and I've run into Jake Owen there one night (he wasn't playing, just in town drinking)

Toby Keith comes to Phoenix a lot. My buddy saw him at Blue Martini in Scottsdale.

[KurtAZ]

Mean like this?

Country Thunder

Denim and Diamonds

Buffalo Chip

Rusty Spur

Handlebar J's

[Hschlick84]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Mean like this?

Country Thunder

Denim and Diamonds

Buffalo Chip

Rusty Spur

Handlebar J's

Yeah, that's what I had in mind. Thanks!

[phx1205]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Mean like this?

Country Thunder

Denim and Diamonds

Buffalo Chip

Rusty Spur

Handlebar J's

Pretty good list here. It was mentioned earlier, but add Harolds to this list for sure. Harolds Live Music

[KurtAZ]

There used to be more but Graham Central Station shut down, our favorite...Mr. Lucky's is gone...ah memories.

[azriverfan.]

There is not a large country music scene here. Large country music scenes are in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, Jackson, Charlotte etc.

This is similar to the traffic issue. People who have not lived in other cities think the traffic here is bad. Likewise, people who haven't spent any real time in the South have no clue when they claim our country scene is huge. It is anything but that.

Sure, there is enough country music to keep you entertained but it's hardly "big" or "huge"

If anything, our country music scene is dying. Country music stations have been shut down. Both Toby Keith's bars shut down. Rawhide used to be a big deal when it was in Scottsdale and then was relocated to Chandler and isn't the same. Rock n Rodeo/Graham Central Station closed over a decade ago. Scottsdale used to be a horse and western themed city and that has slowly eroded and is now another metrosexual party electronic music city. Even Dierks bar is not really a pure country bar. It has to appeal to urban residents to become successful; if it was the real thing it would be out of business.

[YAZ]

Gotta agree, Riverfan.

It's not a stretch to say that Phoenix's country music scene rivals that of Detroit's. This was one of the biggest surprises to me when I first moved here.

[Hschlick84]

It's a good thing I listen to a wide variety of music. Classic Rock, Country, Alternative, Indie rock/pop, Electronica/techno, Smooth Jazz, Power Metal, Hard Rock and Oldies. It would be nice if NOT every urban area is trying to be hip and trendy with the metrosexual stuff.

[ScottsdaleMark]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

There is not a large country music scene here. Large country music scenes are in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, Jackson, Charlotte etc.

This is similar to the traffic issue. People who have not lived in other cities think the traffic here is bad. Likewise, people who haven't spent any real time in the South have no clue when they claim our country scene is huge. It is anything but that.

Sure, there is enough country music to keep you entertained but it's hardly "big" or "huge"

If anything, our country music scene is dying. Country music stations have been shut down. Both Toby Keith's bars shut down. Rawhide used to be a big deal when it was in Scottsdale and then was relocated to Chandler and isn't the same. Rock n Rodeo/Graham Central Station closed over a decade ago. Scottsdale used to be a horse and western themed city and that has slowly eroded and is now another metrosexual party electronic music city. Even Dierks bar is not really a pure country bar. It has to appeal to urban residents to become successful; if it was the real thing it would be out of business.

Do you see this as a problem with the Phoenix area or with the continuing decline in the quality of popular music, including popular country music, in the internet age?

There's still a few good acts out there but in terms of the popular/radio stuff, it's no wonder the radio stations struggle. The stuff on the commercial radio stations is mostly just the middle-of-the-road, lowest-common-denominator type of music. And the real money seems to be in festivals and so forth that are all just an assemblage of whatever's catchy at that exact moment, 90% of which will be forgotten in a year or two.

I don't know 100% why it is but everything is so fragmented by the internet nowadays that the stuff that makes it to the radio in most genres usually isn't that compelling. You have to search and dig on the internet or in small venues a lot of the time to find authentic music and who has time to do that?

It's pretty depressing. All the legends are passing and we'll never see another Johnny or Merle or George walk through that door.

To be on topic, I do think Phoenix is less and less a Western town, obviously. This is an issue in most American metros that used to be "Western" ... population growth and people moving around and the fact that very few Americans anymore have any connection to the land, especially (of course) those living in metro areas, are the reasons why this continues to happen.