Best Club For Country Music

For the Valley's consummate country experience, load the posse into the pickup on a Saturday night and head west to this neon-lighted Phoenix landmark. Order up a $6 plate of country cookin' -- always involving chicken-fried something -- wash down the day's dust with a Coors Light longneck, and watch the cowboys -- urban, rhinestone and otherwise -- lead their ladies across the dance floor. When the band goes on break, the real fun starts: The crowd stampedes outside to gawk at the open-jackpot bull riding in the nearby corral.

While Saturday night's all right for ridin', Thursday brings dance lessons, and Friday features a kids' talent show and all-you-can-eat fish fry. House band Western Bred, led by Lucky's owner J. David Sloan, performs Wednesday through Saturday. And downstairs, the karaoke machine is at the ready, loaded with songs of love lost and dogs gone bad.

So you wanna be a cowboy, but you're short on gear? Lucky's has got your fringe-vested back: Jackson's General Store, right inside, peddles cowboy hats, riding supplies and, of course, handcrafted belt buckles.