Good country bands in and around AZ?

February 13, 2008 9:22 AM

Good country bands in and around AZ?

I've been put in charge of booking a summer's worth of bands for the western-style steakhouse and bar where I work. I've found some leads through MySpace, and while there were some pretty good groups on there, I feel like I have to be missing a bunch of great ones too.

Who do you recommend? (While I personally happen to love alt-country, anything too indie may not fly with the brass, so fair warning I guess.)

posted by joshuaconner to media & arts (6 comments total)

You probably know about them, and they may be out of range cost wise, but I've found my Calexico live recordings to be universally loved - my alterna-rock fiancee, my space-cadet grandma, my strict-Catholic church-music parents, etc.
posted by notsnot at 10:07 AM on February 13

Also, Giant Sand, which gave birth to Calexico and a bunch of others.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 10:24 AM on February 13

Personally (and being a Tucson native) I have deep love and respect for both Giant Sand and Calexico.

Professionally, I think I'm looking for stuff that's a little more mainstream/top-40 country sounding; though Merle Haggard and Hank Williams get a lot of action on our jukebox, neither of them get as much as Toby Keith does.
posted by joshuaconner at 10:50 AM on February 13

Damn, dude, that's a tough corner to be in. Toby Keith can go eat a bag of dicks, far as I'm concerned.
posted by notsnot at 11:26 AM on February 13

I live up in Cave Creek, and we go out to places like Harolds, Satisfied Frog, Horny Toad, The Buffalo Chip, and Greasewood Flats all the time - sounds a lot like where you work, and they have live music all the time. Maybe you can call them and ask what bands they have coming up, then try to find those bands.
posted by uaudio at 11:40 AM on February 13

I'd look in the Tucson Weekly gigs section if I were you. They list tons of little bands and groups that play random hick bars around town. Even if you're up in Flag, bands might be willing to swing up cool ways for a summer gig.
posted by carsonb at 9:54 PM on February 15