Live & Kickin’

An illuminated marquee outside the Simi Valley club Mixers advertises “Winslow Playing Tonight.”

Music from the country band’s first set, on this Saturday night, reaches the parking lot as a pair of twentysomething cowboys unload from a pickup truck and stride purposefully to the unassuming storefront entrance. Their IDs checked and cover charge paid, the two pause inside to survey a sea of cowboy hats while their eyes adjust to the bar room’s dim lighting.

Clusters of patrons chat amicably at the bar and around the two pool tables near the door while others, seated on high stools at tables along the wall, converse over the music. A dozen more couples gracefully execute the fluid moves of a Cowboy Cha-Cha.

It’s a typical country nightclub scene, except for one glaring, blaring difference. The music enveloping the room is live, not the recorded stuff of CDs and tapes.

It’s a scene that is becoming more and more difficult to find in and around Ventura County, largely due to the economic constraints of hiring live bands, particularly during normally slow weeknights.

The trend toward replacing live bands with deejay music in most of Ventura County’s country dance venues in the last two years has forced some folks to travel far and wide for a glimpse of pedal steel. But the new club Mixers--a gentrified cowboy fern-bar--and the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills--a sort of “theme-eating” country Sizzler--have arrived on the local country scene, offering the real deal: live country bands.

“More clubs use deejay music because it is cheaper and some people prefer dancing to popular songs the way they sound on the radio,” said Sam Rafeh, owner of Mixers. “But in the last four months it seems when you tell somebody we have a deejay, it turns them off. They always want a band. Regardless of how good the band might be, almost every time you tell people there’s a band, they are more willing to come out and give it a try.”

Mixers, located in a strip mall at the corner of Cochran Avenue and Tapo Street, technically is a recycled club rather than new one. After Rafeh bought the former Golden Spur in October, he added rock and hip-hop to the musical format. But Saturday nights remain a country stronghold, featuring free country dance lessons by Pam Donovan at 7 p.m., followed by a country band at 8:30.

Beginning May 7, Rafeh plans to offer Wednesday dance lessons at 7 p.m. followed by deejay music or, on occasion, a live band.

First-time patrons Jan Giannunzio and Bob Teague came from the Hollywood Hills and West Los Angeles, respectively, on this particular Winslow Saturday night to try out Mixers at a friend’s invitation. They liked what they saw.

“It’s a very friendly, very welcoming atmosphere,” Giannunzio said. “We’d been told the dance floor was very small. But we’re delighted to see it’s just been expanded--and it’s fine for the size of the club,” added Teague. “We don’t do a lot of two-step so I like the mix of line and couples dances the band is playing,” Giannunzio added.

Newbury Park resident Lana Eriksson and Ed Meyer of Simi Valley were decked out in dark hats, boots and coordinated outfits for the evening. “I like the live bands. What I like about [the owner] is he listens to the customers. And he’s bringing in the bands we like,” Eriksson said.

So far that includes bands popular at the Cowboy Palace including Mr. Dyer’s Daughters, Larry Dean and the Shooters, Coolwater Country and New Frontier.

“It’s a nice atmosphere and it’s got a lot of promise,” said Meyer.

Even before Mixers became Mixers, live country music was getting a boost locally from Vance and Pat Moran.

Last August, the Morans put country-western music on the menu of their 16,000-square-foot “Canyon Club Buffet,” a remodeled building in the Whizin’s shopping center near Kanan Road and the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills.

Initially the couple used a one-man-band, deejay music or live bands on various nights to seek customer feedback. Encouraged by the favorable responses to live music, the couple recently upgraded the club to facilitate the musicians and the dancers.

The club, scheduled to reopen Friday as the Canyon Club, has a larger dance floor and stage and new sound and light systems. The club also will now provide sit-down dinner service instead of a buffet.

“We’ll have live bands on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” said Vance Moran. “If you’re gonna listen to deejay music, you might as well go home and put on a record or listen to a jukebox.”

The Morans will toss in a little big band music and other non-country genres on these live-band nights. But Moran said live country music will have a prominent place on his yet-to-be-finalized schedule.

And that’s not surprising, given Moran’s history. The club owner has kept an eye on the local country entertainment scene for nearly 40 years. In the late 1950s he converted Ventura’s landmark Ban-Dar from rock ‘n’ roll to a country-western night club before selling it about five years later.

But Moran’s new place is a far cry from his old Ban-Dar. Once inside Moran’s family-friendly, smoke-free Canyon Club digs, one gets the sensation of being at a country-western wedding reception where guests, bathed in diffused pink light, have lingered after the bride’s and groom’s departure.

On one recent Saturday night about 300 people of all ages occupied booths or tables or milled around the buffet area while, from the raised stage in the center of the hall, Don McGinnis & His Country Boys played for a largely over-40 crowd of dancers.

The line dancers, in various forms of cowboy attire, gyrated to the Tush Push while the uninitiated marveled at their agility and made comments between spoonfuls of dessert. Others dropped in for a meal and were oblivious to the country antics.

The Canyon Club will offer country dance lessons and deejay music from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Two-Steppin’

Following are local events and venues where you can dance to live country music in April and May:

SATURDAY

The Rhythm Rangers (Carousel Lawn, Ventura Harbor Village, 1559 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura, 644-0169). The group performs Top 40 country and rock tunes from 1:30-4:30 p.m. (Also 1-5 p.m. on May 24).

Last Call (Camarillo Community Center, 1605 E. Burnley St., Camarillo, 482-1996). This five-piece band from Santa Barbara makes its Ventura County debut at this monthly family-oriented smoke-and-alcohol-free event featuring dance lessons by Dave Howells at 7 and live music ‘til 11 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for youth.

Winslow (Mixers, 2381 Tapo St., Simi Valley, 520-7787). Free dance lessons at 7 by Pam Donovan followed by this high-energy Top 40 band at 8:30 p.m. Cover $6.

SUNDAY

Ron Sexton (Fisherman’s Wharf Courtyard, Channel Islands Harbor, 3810 W. Channel Islands Blvd., Oxnard, 985-4852). Smooth country vocals from this guitar virtuoso, 1:30-4:30 p.m.

APRIL 24

Juice Newton (Conejo Valley Days Carnival, Janss Road and the 23 Freeway, Thousand Oaks, 371-8730). Newton will perform her hits at 8:30 p.m. on the main stage.

APRIL 26

Coolwater Country (Canyon Club, 28912 Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills, [818] 879-5016). This five-piece band won 1996 California Country Music Assn. regional awards for best band of the year; member Lynn Rutherford was named best female vocalist and best female entertainer. The group will perform Top 40 and traditional country music at 7 p.m. Cover varies. (Also May 3).

Fandago (Mixers). Members of former Cactus County will debut this new band at 8:30 p.m.

Sweet County (Conejo Valley Days). The band brings its pedal-steel sound to the Family Stage at 7:30 p.m.

APRIL 27

Sweet Country (Ventura Harbor) will play traditional and Top 40 country music, 1-4 p.m.

The Michael Jay Smith Band (Fisherman’s Wharf, Channel Islands Harbor). Free country-rock 1:30-4:30 p.m. (Also 3:30-6:30 p.m. May 18).

Old-Time Fiddlers (Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley View Road, Oak View, 646-1583). Free, family-oriented listening, dancing and playing old-time country tunes, 1:30-4:30 p.m. the second and fourth Sundays of each month. Line-dance instruction, 3:15 p.m. (also May 11 and 25).

MAY 3

Caught Red Handed (Ventura Police Department, 1425 Dowell Drive, Ventura, 339-4336). The band will play 2-4 p.m. on the south stage at this annual outdoor family block party featuring booths, food and demonstrations.

Rhythm Rangers (Fillmore Orange Festival, Central Avenue in downtown Fillmore, 524-0351). The group will play from 5:30-8 p.m. on the Grande Affair Stage in Central Park.

MAY 17

Rhythm Rangers (Camarillo Recreation Center). The band plays 8-11 p.m.

BE THERE

Mixers, 2381 Tapo St., Simi Valley. Ages 21 and over; $6; 520-7787.

Canyon Club, 28912 Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills. All ages; cover charge varies. (818) 879-5016.