This is part of a series of reviews of weekly events at local bars. Having lived in the valley all my life, I only recently realized that tons of bars offer weekly events featuring must-have bands from the music community. The shows are almost always free and the bands are almost always some of the best and most seasoned in their styles. We will review them all…

The show: Psychobilly Rodeo Band at the Rusty Spur Saloon

The look: Like a small town bar, but with suburban people inside.

The smell: Leather and air conditioning.

Taste: Sweet and bitter – like a mixture of scented skin and cigarettes.

Three words/phrases to describe the night: Cowboy hats, high heels, lipstick.

Who to take with you: A good drinking buddy

Evening drink: Miller Lite (Note: this category is not my drink of choice. Personally, I don’t believe in light beer. It’s against everything I stand for. Rather, this designation belongs to the drink that best represents the evening and/or is the most ubiquitous drink of the night.)

Normally I’m averse to anything in Old Town Scottsdale, but somehow a country bar has a certain sense of place that helps put my blue collar on easy.

The reality is that the Rusty Spur Saloon’s clientele seemed like a healthy mix of working class and Scottsdale socialites. While some of the patrons seemed like true country fans, some seemed like they were there for the novelty.

The bar was decorated like so many small town watering holes. The small room had a stage tucked into the corner raised about a foot off the ground. The main source of lighting came from domestic beer lamps. Tables, chairs and bar stools were tight. Almost every square inch of wall space was covered with license plates (mostly from Arizona) and $1 bills with the names and hometowns of their former owners scrawled in magic marker.

The people were friendly, and although I unfortunately walked out like a sore thumb, with a big camera slung around my neck and all, many of the customers seemed to be regulars, and no one hesitated to ask me who I was. was and why I was there with a bulky camera.

This included Jimmy Hornick, the leader of the Psychobilly Rodeo Band. After a brief introduction at the set break, Jimmy told me how his four-piece band opened for Dierks Bentley and proudly explained that he owned a guitar signed by a slew of notable country legends. It’s this kind of random conversation that makes country/musician/fan bars so endearing. There’s an unpretentious nature to small national shows that can’t be replicated in many venues. Offstage, Hornick spoke humbly of his family (his son is currently serving in Iraq) onstage he was nothing short of shy.

The Psychobilly Rodeo Band aren’t afraid to piss off the crowd either, and change the occasional lyrics to talk crazy. (At one point during the night, Jimmy even half-jokingly asked the girls present to blink.) They also did a cover of “The Pussy Cat Song” which includes a boatload of double meanings about a girl and her, uh , cat. Their antics are laced with sarcasm, and there’s a flashing light sign at the front of the stage that read something like “Fuck tip the band.” Psychobilly Rodeo Band is a bit of a misleading name, as the band mainly plays country and southern rock covers.

All joking aside, the band was kind enough to acquiesce to my request for one of my favorite Arizona countrymen, Waylon Jennings. The likes of David Allan Coe and Hank Senior could also be heard. Not bad for a Thursday night in Old Town Scottsdale.