BOOTSCOOTIN' B-TOWN

Bloomington seems like it should be the Hoosier country fan's dream. At five hours and 47 minutes away, B-town is near enough to Nashville, Tenn. to have all the country music you can shake your spurs at, while far enough to keep the country capital of the world from being fierce competition. But when's the last time your cowboy boots saw the light of day?\nIn recent years, Bloomington has become a stranger to the once familiar twangs of country. Mike Robertson, founder of Mike's Music and Dance Barn and its house band, Mike Robertson and Smooth Country, remembers a time when a country band in Bloomington had a place to play. \n"It's funny -- I've been open seven years, and before I opened there were several country places open in Bloomington," Robertson says. "They were mostly smaller bars. But not anymore. There are still country bands out there that have got no place to play."\nHe says he doesn't know why there isn't the following for the genre there used to be, but he guesses the recent crack down in law enforcement has contributed to bars' hesitation to book country bands.\n"With the new alcohol laws they've got in place, people just aren't going and bringing in the money these places need to bring in bands," Robertson says.\nChanges in law enforcement may not be the only reason local venues seem less than enthusiastic about booking country bands. If student feedback has anything to do with it, there's no question about where college loyalties lie. \n"We never, ever, ever get any requests for country music," says WIUS-AM DJ Will Odom. "At least here at WIUS, country's not in the format."\nEric Easton, manager in charge of entertainment at Kilroy's Sports Bar, doesn't go out of his way to bring country to the Bloomington hot spot.\n"We don't book a lot of country bands because we get a mixed crowd that enjoys a more Top 40 kind of music," he says. "Pop music is more inviting. It has a hook -- that's why it's popular. It hits a wider variety of people. Most bars play standard, middle-of-the-road music because people come to the bar to listen to the music. The top 40 music keeps them around."\nEaston says a country bar in Bloomington would have to rely on a niche audience to be successful.\n"The country bars you see don't play that kind of mix. They're all country," he says. "That's their shtick. I mean, if you opened up a country bar in Bloomington, it would probably be a success, but it would have to be an all-country bar. It would be a risk."\nCountry musician Larry Crane and his band played at Kilroy's Sports over spring break, and Easton says they were great. Sheila Stephen's show at the bar also garnered his praise, and he points out that you can find country music on the jukebox. But when it comes to the regular lineup, Easton considers Top 40 music the safest bet. \n"For the most part, people go to bars to see and be seen," he says. "They like to be around people. That's why parties exist. They go to be part of a crowd."\nThe theory that people go to bars and clubs to bump elbows instead of listening to good music is a theory shared by managers of other local establishments as well. \n"The ones who come out for the country bands are the ones who are there to hear the music, not the ones who say 'I just had four beers, I'm gonna listen to some music," says Vertigo Live Music Venue owner Dan Duncan.\nThis could be indicative of the relative maturity Duncan notices in people who come out for the occasional country band Vertigo books in contrast to the audiences that turn out for more mainstream shows. \n"The IU students who come out to listen to the country bands are mostly an older crowd of seniors and grad students," he says. "Their mentality's different. Because country's not as commercially popular, you get an older, more musically-educated crowd, especially ones who have been in bands of their own and can appreciate what they're hearing."\nRobertson cites the Music and Dance Barn, along with the Little Nashville Opry in Nashville, Ind., as being the only places someone in Bloomington can visit to hear country these days.\n"As far as country music, Mike's Music and Dance Barn is the only place with a dance floor," Robertson says. "We're really more a dancing place than a music place. Quite a few college kids are coming out. It's so much fun when the IU kids are here; they learn the dances so quickly."\nMike's Music and Dance Barn hosts a line-dancing instructor every Friday and Saturday, and offers lessons to the music of Mike Robertson and Smooth Country for $6 at the door, $5 with the student discount. All ages are welcome.\n"With all these alcohol laws they've got now, the Barn gives college kids a place to go other than parties, where they're liable to get in trouble. They can come out on a Saturday night, and they'll remember it the next day," Robertson says with a chuckle.