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Old General Store, Steakhouse & Saloon

Not the bad kind of blues

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The town of Roy is out there. Way out there. Leaving from Olympia, I drive past a tribal casino, multiple taverns, the unincorporated community of McKenna and a number of barbeque joints before I roll into Roy.  The trip takes almost an hour. Nineteen miles from Tacoma my ass. Roy is the sticks.

But remember when '80s glam band Warrant sang "there's love enough for you in the sticks"?  Well, they were right. 

The Old General Store Steakhouse & Saloon in Roy isn't like any sort of South Sound club I've ever visited. It's more like an old-timey watering hole than a nightlife hotspot. Horseshoes, deer antlers and wagon wheels decorate the walls. Instead of poppin' bottles of champagne, most of the Saloon's customers cut into home-style steaks. Male patrons wear cowboy hats and the ladies wear faded, high-waisted jeans. A majority of both sexes sport shiny cowboy boots. The band onstage plays exclusively country music. To top it off, the preferred (almost required) dance technique at the Saloon is line dancing.

Cowboy boots, line dancing and country music? Did I travel through time?

Regardless of how unfamiliar the place feels (why aren't these people wearing baggy clothes?), I grab a booth and order some jalapeño poppers. The band, Robbie Walden and the Gunslinger's, plays a mean set. In between country favorites like "Working Man Blues" and "Folsom Prison Blues," the band encourages the Saloon's patrons to drink and be merry. The crowd complies. Couples and singles alike line up to dance the Watermelon Crawl, the Cowboy Cha-Cha and the Sweetheart Schottische.   Pretty, single cowgirls show off for cowboys. The cowboys who can dance have first pick of the ladies looking for a partner. Knowing only the more traditional forms of booty grinding club dance, I sit quietly in my booth.    

The Saloon in Roy reminds me that unfamiliar settings make for the best nights out. The place is soaked in Americana. The food, the tunes, the dancing. A great weekend spot even for those not familiar with dancing on a line. And for those cowboys that are: yee-haw.

Old General Store, Steakhouse & Saloon


Renegade On Stage country band, Friday, Feb. 4-Saturday, Feb. 5, 9 p.m.
104 McNaught Rd. S., Roy, 253.843.9171

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