#Country music bar austin how to
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Besides live music six nights a week, you can stop by for two-step lessons on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Inside, you’ll find a long bar, sticky tabletops, neon lights, and a tiny stage crammed into the corner. That’s because former owner and musician Dale Watson added a steeple when he officiated a wedding there years ago. Little Longhorn Saloonįrom the outside, the Little Longhorn Saloon looks a bit like a repurposed house of worship. On cool nights, the staff flips open the building’s side flaps for open-air two-stepping, and you can sip a Shiner Bock in the beer garden under the stars. The walls went up in 1878, and you can still catch live music every day. Make the 40-mile jaunt down Interstate 35 from Austin to the oldest continually-operating dance hall in Texas, Gruene Hall. Gruene Hall, just 40 minutes outside the city, has live music daily. Founder Donn Adelman still shows up to play regularly-just check the calendar. Regulars play dominoes, sing along to the music, or two-step on the cozy dance floor. The inside of Donn's Depot hasn’t changed much since then, either, other than an occasional fresh coat of paint or (maybe) some new carpet. This combination dance hall, piano bar, and honky-tonk has been keeping toes tapping since 1972.

Things aren’t quite so rowdy these days, but you can still crank up the jukebox, talk to the regulars who show up every afternoon, or practice your country western dance steps in the attached dance hall. You can still see bullet holes lodged in the neck of a mounted deer head at Devil's Backbone Tavern, and some claim that the ashes of long-time patrons have been scattered between the floor planks. It’s hard to separate fact from lore at this Hill Country juke joint 30 miles southwest of Austin, which opened in 1932. Bands play every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. When you’re not taking a spin around the wooden floor, in front of a stage that looks vaguely like the one in the cafeteria of your elementary school, you can kick back on the big wraparound porch outside. The Mercer Dancehall operated for years in downtown Dripping Springs, but in 2018 it moved to an expansive new location in Driftwood, 20 miles south of Austin.

Courtesy Mercer Dancehall Mercer Dancehall Mercer Dancehall in Dripping Springs has a wraparound porch and bands playing every weekend. Don’t want to drive home after a night out? Book a room in The Brothel bed and breakfast upstairs. Then venture onto the dance floor, in front of the stage where a huge Texas flag serves as the backdrop. You can sit on a stool made with a saddle and order a cold one from a bar that once served customers on an old Mississippi river boat. You’ll know you've arrived at Coupland, 25 miles northeast of Austin, when you see the sign that says “Eat, Drink, Dance, Stay a Little Longer.” Take that advice and mosey inside the dance hall, where music lovers sashay across the floor of a structure built nearly a century ago.

#Country music bar austin free

Crowds come for a taste of old Austin and live music, and to take advantage of free two-step and swing dance lessons every Thursday through Saturday night. All the greats have performed here, from Garth Brooks to Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Travis Tritt, and more. Today, modern apartment buildings rub shoulders with this comfortably creaky old honky-tonk, but the music’s the same as always. Broken SpokeĬouples have been twirling around the dance floor at the ‘ Spoke, as locals call it, since the 1960s. Read on for the best dance halls in Austin (and close nearby), and don’t worry if you don’t catch on right away-most spots on our list offer lessons at least once a week. The basic moves are simple-two quick steps followed by two slow steps-but the best dancers put their own spin on it.

#Country music bar austin how to

Learning how to two-step is a rite of passage in Austin, where locals can practice boot scootin’ at a different honky-tonk every night of the week.