Country alive and kickin’ at Dixie’s

Leila Navidi

Belgian tourists, from left, Joran Van Ginderachter, Dries Parmentier, Jeremie Vaneeckhout, and Kenzo Vannieuwenhove take in the sights and sounds at Dixie’s Dam Country Bar in Hooters on Tropicana Avenue.

By Jerry Fink (contact)

Monday, June 16, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Leila Navidi

New Country Strings members, from right, Kristina Bauch and Alicia Enstrom play with their fiddling partners at Dixie's, which opened Memorial Day weekend.

Leila Navidi

Marty and Ellie Koppel, who have been married for 47 years, dance at Dixie's. Spokesman Joe Donato says country music is perfect for Hooters. "We wanted to create something that would bring people in. Country music and Hooters are a good tie in."

The 100-year-old fiddle sounds new as Scotty Alexander bows through lively versions of Charlie Daniels’ “The South’s Gonna Do it Again” and George Strait’s “The Fireman.”

Grandpa left his fiddle in good hands.

Alexander waltzes through one country song after another using the antique fiddle and an arsenal of other instruments — keyboards, guitar, mandolin, banjo.

His Smok’n Nashville Band mixes old country with new at the Dixie’s Dam Country Bar in Hooters.

Dixie’s opened Memorial Day weekend and is riding the latest wave of popularity in country music.

For 10 years or so, there were only a few clubs in town that catered to the country crowd – Larry’s Hideaway, Dylan’s Dance Hall & Saloon and Saddle N Spurs. In recent years, a few more have opened — Toby Keith’s I Love this Bar and Grill, Hogs and Heifers Saloon, Coyote Ugly and Stoney’s Rockin’ Country. Stoney Gray, owner of Stoney’s, recently announced plans to create another country club at Santa Fe Station.

Hooters, which bills itself as “delightfully tacky yet unrefined,” figured country was a perfect fit.

Hip hop and salsa didn’t really don’t fit the Hooters’ brand, Hooters spokesman Joe Donato says. “We wanted to create something that would bring people in. Country music and Hooters are a good tie in.”

Dixie’s is an intimate club with 3,000 square feet of polished wood and 220 seats.

Scotty Alexander and the Smok’n Nashville Band play three hourlong sets Wednesdays through Saturdays. The last 15 minutes of each of the first two sets are capped off with New Country Strings, four female violinists who perform some of the wildest fiddle music you can imagine.

The Smok’n Nashville Band includes Alexander’s wife, Lisa, on vocals, Tommy Wayne on steel guitar and Donny Castleman on bass. The drummer is John Wackerman, who comes from a talented family of musicians. Brother Chad played drums for the likes of Frank Zappa and Barbra Streisand, brother Brooks played drums for Bad Religion and Suicidal Tendencies, and brother Bob played bass for Maynard Ferguson and Henry Mancini.

Alexander’s roots go deep in country and bluegrass. He came to Las Vegas in 1993 at age 19 to be co-host and featured performer in the old Aladdin’s show “Country Tonight.”

Back in 1993, country was big in Las Vegas.

“There were four major production shows in town featuring country music,” recalls Alexander, a native of Oregon. The others were “Country Fever” at Golden Nugget, Rex Allen Jr. at the Orleans and, “Opry Land” at Boomtown, now the Silverton. “They disappeared in ’95 or ’96.”

Alexander didn’t quit performing. He played in Wayne Newton’s band for seven years, the last three as musical director.

In September he became musical director for ventriloquist Terry Fator, who has a contract with the Las Vegas Hilton through this year and moves to the Mirage in February after signing a deal worth a reported $100 million.

Maybe Fator’s luck will rub off on Alexander. If so, fans should rush to Dixie’s while they can still hear one of the city’s best country entertainers perform for free.