ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060095
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NASHVILLE, TENN.
SOURCE: JOE EDWARDS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Calling the Wildhorse Saloon a honky-tonk is downright insulting to the people who shelled out $7.5 million to open the joint.
``We like the name `contemporary country mecca,''' sniffs general manager Richard Roy.
Roy's right. As he says, this is no down and dirty dive. The floor is not sticky from spilled beer or littered with cigarette butts and peanut hulls. Fists rarely fly.
The Wildhorse even has its own TV show and a dance named for the place.
Vice President Al Gore has dropped by. So has House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
No matter what you call it, the Wildhorse has become the most celebrated ``honky-tonk'' since Gilley's near Houston was immortalized in the 1980 John Travolta movie ``Urban Cowboy.''
Just ask the 1 million people a year who patronize it.
Or the millions of cable TV viewers who watch the shows ``Wildhorse Saloon'' and ``Wildhorse Saloon Concerts,'' which originate from the nightclub on The Nashville Network.
``It's seen all over the country, and people want to go there,'' says Yvonne Gutsch of Santa Rosa, Calif., who has visited the Wildhorse eight times during three visits to Nashville. ``That's impressive.''
Nestled among downtown skyscrapers, just a two-step away from a Hard Rock Cafe and a Planet Hollywood restaurant, the Wildhorse is certainly no ordinary beer joint. A former warehouse, it has a rustic elegance set off by frenzied fiddle playing and spirited country dancing.
The focal point is a 3,300-square-foot maple wood dance floor that is overlooked by two horseshoe-shaped balconies. Caricatures of 35 country music stars adorn the walls. A huge mural on the ceiling features a constellation map.
Dancers in brightly colored Western shirts, jeans, boots and cowboy hats do the Texas two-step, the cotton-eyed Joe and newer dances such as the electric slide. They also do the line dance named after the club, the Wildhorse stampede.
``It is the place that every visitor feels like they have to see in Nashville,'' says Butch Spyridon, head of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau. ``It fills that void nicely.''
Guest dance groups come, often to be on one of the TV shows. A handicapped group named the Dancing Wheels from Newport News, Va., visited earlier this year.
Capacity is about 1,500. Clusters of people stand around - many of them in Nashville for conventions - watching in amusement as the dancers whirl around them.
Or, in the best country tradition, you can sit on a bar stool and just drink if you want.
But the emphasis is on dancing, not drinking.
``We don't push the shooter girls, the special shots,'' Roy says. ``There are few drink specials, few quarter beer nights. People are here to have fun, dance and not slam down drinks or start fights.''
Consequently, the Wildhorse does not have bouncers.
``We call them door control hosts,'' Roy says. ``We're not the roughneck, honky-tonk side of music.''
In the club's first two years, there have been only two fights, he says.
``It's not just a bar to hang out in,'' Gutsch says by telephone from Santa Rosa. ``The attraction is the dancing or watching.''
For the record, Gore didn't dance.
``The Secret Service kept him under tight wraps,'' Roy says.
There's no menacing mechanical bull like in ``Urban Cowboy,'' but guests can take a more sedate carriage ride outside in good weather.
Indeed, the Wildhorse is not strictly for the country crowd. Officials from the NFL's Houston Oilers used the nightclub a year ago to announce that they were negotiating a move to Nashville.
And Gingrich was in the nightspot earlier this year to raise funds for fellow Republicans.
In just two years of existence, the Wildhorse already has been a venue for performances by the top names in country music:
Merle Haggard, Alan Jackson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, George Jones, Travis Tritt and Clint Black. For good measure, Blackstone the Magician also has performed in the nightclub.
And two of the house bands, Lonestar and Ricochet, have gone on to sign recording contracts with major labels.
``You can spot bands here that are moving on and becoming bands on the biggest labels out there,'' Roy says.
The Wildhorse is owned by Gaylord Entertainment Co., which also owns the Grand Ole Opry, the Opryland USA theme park and cable channels TNN and CMT.
It's open seven days a week and has four dance instructors among a staff of 150. Admission is $3 to $6 - or more for name acts. Franchise outlets are in the works.
``It's done a great service for country dancing,'' says Gutsch, who has won country dance contests at the Wildhorse and elsewhere. ``By having it televised, it's brought dancers into country dancing and into country music.''
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. AP The Wildhorse Saloon's focal point is itsby CNBexpansive, maple dance floor. color
2. Dancers fill the 3,300-square-foot dance floor underneath two
horseshoe- shaped balconies. color
3. Bobby Randall, host of The Nashville Network's ``Wildhorse
Saloon'' country dance show, keeps things moving during a taping
session in the nightclub. color
4. A fiberglass steer is posed with a cocktail at the bar. color
5. The Wildhorse Saloon can count among its 1 million customers Al
Gore. The vice president, however, did not dance.