Country Roundup

Get your dance cards ready, country music fans. The area’s two most popular bands will be playing in Ventura County this weekend for a winning offering of live music.

Tonight is touted as Caught Red-Handed night at the Ban-Dar Nite Club, Ventura County’s oldest two-steppin’ nightspot. If you’ve never been to the Ban-Dar, this is a good time for a field trip.

The pool table area, eclectic seating of tuck and roll upholstered booths, tables and chairs, combined with low lighting and low ceilings, give the venue enough ambience to make any Texas dance hall Bubba feel at home.

Musically, the guys of Caught Red-Handed provide a good mix of top 40 and traditional country songs to satisfy practitioners of both line and partner dancing. And for more than 10 years, the band’s George Strait look-alike lead singer, harmony vocals and pedal steel guitar sound have kept fans coming back.

Show time is 9:15 tonight. The club, at 3005 E. Main St. in Ventura, features live country and country-rock music Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 653-9176.

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For those who like their venues a bit tamer, the family-oriented dance at the Camarillo Community Center on Saturday featuring the band Last Call is another good bet.

The Santa Barbara-based country group takes the stage from 8 to 11 p.m. after a dance lesson by Dave and Esther Howells at 7. Last Call, previous headliner at Santa Barbara’s Fiesta Days, is a coed, dancer-friendly band known for its rich harmony vocals and choice of current top-40 tunes and refreshing revivals of traditional favorites. Last Call visits Ventura County only every couple of months, so catch the band Saturday.

The Camarillo Community Center is at 1605 E. Burnley St., 482-1996. $5 adults, $2.50 youths.

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Up the coast, you can expect good-dancing, good-listening, power country-rock music by Harvest at the Galleon Room at 9 tonight and Saturday. Also Saturday, on-air personality Bonnie Campbell from “Country Radio” KKSB-FM (106.3) will host an evening of music, contests and prizes. And on Thursdays, Steve Woods and Kerri Wilson continue to entertain the dance crowd starting at 9 p.m. The Galleon Room is at 5925 Calle Real in Goleta. For more details, call 967-0128.