Low key traditional country bar/honky tonk? (Mesa, Scottsdale: school, living)

[urbex]

Are there any traditional country bars in the valley that aren't the modern dance club style? As in a place to go to have a few drinks, relax, able to move around, be able to converse in normal conversation volumes, and more likely to hear Merle, Strait, Brooks & Dunn, etc than Keith Urban or Taylor Swift at obscenely high volumes and feeling like we're packed in like sardines (I have anxiety issues with large crowds, and deal very poorly with other people very close to me, having to push through a crowd, etc).

I'm in the north west valley near Arrowhead, don't mind driving a bit, but hoping I won't have to head to east Mesa, Queen Creek, or the like, lol.

[phx1205]

Harolds or Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek might work during the week. They would be crowded and loud though on weekends.

[liz451]

Handlebar J's is tucked away near Scottsdale and Shea. You'll definitely get some drunks on weekends but not bad like Toby Keith's bar for instance, it's also been around forever so is not trendy. Also, they definitely play classic country there (Garth, George, Alan) with very little Taylor Swift type music thrown in.

[sunluv]

Harold's, Buffalo Chip Cave Creek.

Another in north phx the name escapes me i'll post it later.

[miran]

San Tan Flats!!! This place is awesome...great music, great atmosphere, great food....
San Tan Flat#!

[AZ Tracy]

Originally Posted by miran

San Tan Flats!!! This place is awesome...great music, great atmosphere, great food....
San Tan Flat#!

Fun place, but a little far from the north west valley!

[Finger Laker]

If you want to make it to the SW Valley there could be 2 that fit the bill ..... Romans County Line @ 107th and Indian School is a low key, strip mall bar, crowd tends to be mid 30s+ (type of people that don't listen to Taylor Swift) and will have a band on the weekends - they offer line dancing lessons throughout the week and line dancing is popular there

Romans Oasis is near Cotton Lane & Yuma - this is a larger, stand alone establishment - maybe a little more character, but you'll also get more of a mix of people there - especially on the weekends - they also typically have a live band on the weekends and the dance floor is decent sized, although really not the focus on line dancing as the other place

Both are cash bars - ATMs inside, but best to bring money in so you don't have the fee

You'll have better luck on the weekdays as far as what you are looking for though - weekends get busy, the music gets louder and you'll have more of a crowd to deal with

[urbex]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check them out!

Coming from small town living, it's times like this that I wish my mother hadn't convinced me to get a "modern" career that essentially locks me into big city living (she wanted me to go into business, like corporate office high level management..I chose computers/tech instead...part of me is thinking perhaps I should go back to school to get a degree in something like wildlife management so I can go back to small rural town living, lol)