Upstate New York Clubs and Bars Keep Country Line Dancing Alive!

Full disclaimer.  I was a country music DJ in Central New York for more than 30 years.  When I started in 1989, the "newcomers" who were changing the sound of country music were Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, Clint Black, Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood, and others.  Newcomers?  Yup, that far back.  So classic country music, the sounds of Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn et. al. was starting to shift gears a bit.

I saw a lot of changes in the world of three decades worth of country music.  But I had never seen anything like what happened in 1992.

A young, unknown singer named Billy Ray Cyrus had picked up a song called "Achy Break Heart," recorded it, produced a sexy, hot video of him performing it in a club, and off we went.  It was a phenom!  Line dancing, often to this song and others that came along shortly after the BRC success (hello to Brooks and Dunn), started proliferating the dance floors of America.  All of a sudden I was getting asked to judge country line dancing contests, to host line dancing nights at local bars, and, yes, to even go and take some lessons myself!

So whatever happened to that crazy line dancing sensation?  Well, to be honest, it did have its ups and downs.  And some of those downs were, well, way down.  But I think it is coming back.  Throw in a little "Electric Slide" or "Macarena" or even the "Wobble" and all of a sudden line dancing is roaring back.

Here are several hot spots, bars, clubs, and dancehalls, that have very popular line dancing nights.  Most of them also give free lessons to newcomers to the reborn fad.

We know there are many, many other places to enjoy line dancing, but this is just a short starter list.  We encourage you to visit our Facebook page and give a shout out to your own favorite Upstate New York place to go out and do some "boot scootin' boogie."