Janelle Authur
As Country music and dancing becomes increasingly popular nationwide, interest is also growing at SaddleBrooke Ranch (SBR). Dance lessons fill up quickly and the monthly Western dances consistently sell out, with dancers showing off their new dance skills on the expanded Sol Ballroom dance floor.
The SBR Social Dance Club began offering monthly Western dances in September 2021. Since then, the monthly dances feature some of the best Country music talent in Southern Arizona. New bands are sprinkled in with “bring them back again” favorites. The Mark Miller Band, winner of Tucson Weekly’s 2025 “Best Country Band,” and the house band at Tucson’s Maverick Club for three years, played at the January 2026 dance. Wild Ride, a perennial Ranch favorite, brought their great voices and fiddle to the February 2026, pre-Valentine dance. The Jesse Colt Band, a frequent performer at Tucson’s Whiskey Roads, Maverick, and the Outlaw, will bring classic and new Country to their first appearance at the Ranch on Friday, March 6.
Popular Hold My Beer Band returns to the Ranch on Friday, April 10, with Highway Outlaws riding onto the Sol Ballroom stage on Friday, May 8. Clear Country and its steel guitarist, Mickey G, will be featured at the Friday, June 5 dance.
Each monthly Western dance includes a door prize, with entry requirements that change each month—such as cowboy boots, hats, or jeans, or something in a specific color or pattern. For February, dancers who wore “something red or with hearts” were eligible for the drawing. Ranch resident Bob Johns won a heart-shaped box of Valentine chocolates.
All levels of dancers are welcome at the monthly dances. We dance a variety of dance styles, including the Two-Step, Western Waltz, swing, Partner Pattern, 3-step, the Barn Dance, and a Western line dance or two. We wind down the evening with a tribute to our adopted state of Arizona, with dancers partnering up for “I Love You Arizona.”
The club offers Western dance lessons throughout the year on a rotating basis, including Arizona Two-Step, Western Waltz, and Partner Pattern. For more information on the Western dances, band schedule, and/or lessons, go to the club’s website at sbrsbdc.club.
See you on the dance floor!