Music Never Stops for Premier Deejay, Dance Teacher : Even with a day job, Rick Henderson, 35, makes the rounds nightly at swinging clubs and competitions.

You’ll spot Rick Henderson by the trademark ecru Resistol straw hat and shock of shoulder-length white hair. But he really wears more hats than you can shake a stick at. And the 35-year-old dynamo, whom many consider the county’s premier country dance instructor and deejay, seems to be everywhere.

On Mondays, he coaches a competition dance team in Ventura. He teaches and works as a deejay Tuesdays at Splash nightclub in the Simi Valley Radisson Hotel. He gives private lessons on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, Henderson teaches an intermediate couples class at the Port Hueneme Community Center. Fridays and Saturdays find him teaching at Jay Bee’s Bar and Grill in Agoura Hills. And on Sundays he teaches on family night at the Crazy Bull Steakhouse & Saloon in Camarillo or provides outdoor dance lessons the second Sunday of each month at Oxnard Harbor Landing.

You’ll hear his name mentioned on K-Hay radio in connection with remote country celebration broadcasts, the opening of a new club or a country dance night at Ventura Concert Theatre. You’ll even find his photo smilin’ back at you from his Kountry Kickin’ line dance instruction videos on store shelves across the U. S. and Canada.

During the last four years, Henderson has fanned local entrepreneurial flames of country music. And he has inspired a sense of professionalism in a new generation of country dance instructors. In 1991 he expanded his teaching by creating J. R. (Jumpin’ Rick) Productions, an umbrella business that trains and places his own instructors.

“Everybody who works for me is supposed to teach the dances the same way. We supply deejays for clubs, parties, whatever,” he said. And look for videos and T-shirts under his newest brainchild, an entertainment enterprise called Kountry Konnection. Or join Henderson and pals for a country-western dance festival in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in April.

Yes, country has been very good to Henderson. But he reciprocates by promoting the fun, family aspect of dance. In 1990, Henderson helped create the 230-member Country Lovers Country Western Dance Club and served as president the first two years. He now coaches their competition dance team. And he donates time and money to related fund-raising activities.

He also juggles a family and a day job with this killing schedule.

But he doesn’t do it alone.

“Jamie does a lot of the behind-the-scenes things that I can’t do, like returning phone calls. She’s very supportive,” said Henderson of his wife. “And when I leave the house before her, she shows up with the shirt I forget for the second gig that night.”

The couple met in Ojai, their present home, as high school students. They married, and then divorced, two years later. “But we stayed in touch. And eight years later we began dating again and going to the Ban-Dar for free dance lessons,” recalled Jamie.

In the spring of 1987 they began competing and winning trophies in waltz, two-step, shuffle, shottische and swing. And they remarried in September, 1989. Henderson’s wife backed off from couples competition after the birth of their second child. But she often brings the girls (ages 14 and 3 1/2) and helps him demonstrate couples dances on Sundays at the Crazy Bull.

“Country music and dance are here to stay,” she said. “It’s not a trend like Urban Cowboy, because our kids are growing up with it and getting influenced by it.”

And Henderson wants them to learn properly. “I decided the closest thing I could get to competing was to teach as many nights as possible and share with people what I had learned on the circuit,” he said.

To that end, two years ago he created Rockin’ Rodeo country nights, Tuesdays at Splash.

Last week I found him behind the low deejay booth designed to be accessible to patrons. Henderson had just put the crowd through an hour of fast-paced line dance lessons. Some folks had dined on the $5 all-you-can-eat barbecue tri-tip buffet. Carolyn Gilbert, one of Henderson’s J. R. production instructors, brought graduates of her six-week country-Western dance class at Moorpark park and recreation district on a field trip. And about half of the 150 people were chompin’ at the bit to try their new skills.

But Reggae Cowboy and the Kentucky Chug had to wait.

As eight o’clock approached, Henderson asked men to remove their hats as he displayed the American flag in a tight freeze-frame shot on the giant video screen behind him.

“Let’s pay a little respect to Old Glory,” he said, as Lee Greenwood’s stirring rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” set an upbeat tone for the evening. “It’s a tradition we began during the Gulf War. And the people really seem to like it.”

Minutes later he threaded among a gauntlet of ten-stepping couples to slick the floor with cornmeal. Next, he called a Horse Shoe Shuffle and Bull Rider’s Stomp. “We teach you how to crawl, walk, then run. How to do quick, quick, slow, slow and turns. I emphasize terminology, not counting the numbers. And I explain what foot you’re moving and weight changes,” said Henderson.

And his efforts are much appreciated by regulars such as Nancy Lee Denton, 58. “Rick’s really good and patient. And he makes it fun. He’s not a drill sergeant--he’s a teacher.”

Jerri Holmes and her boyfriend, Joe Noone, who are both 51, agreed. “We’ve been coming here every single Tuesday night for a whole year,” said Holmes. “At first it was for the club. Now we go to most places we can find Rick, because we’ve had other teachers. But Rick is the greatest. He has a good personality. And he teaches you very accurate,” Holmes added.

“I like to think of myself as a teacher-entertainer,” said Henderson. “Not only can people come and learn. But hopefully with my joking, the evening is entertaining.”