MUSIC SCENE Austin comes to Portland BY SAM PFEIFLE

Just when we were lamenting that the roots-music scene was without a home (see "The Little Things," Dec. 31, by Sam Pfeifle), a home could be about to open. Austin’s Boot & Buckle Saloon will be welcoming in pardners possibly as early as Super Bowl weekend, with a grand opening planned for the weekend of February 12. Located in the 4000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Warren’s Towing, out on Warren Avenue in Portland, Austin’s "focus will be new country, Kenny Chesney," rockin’ pop country, that sort of thing, says Eric Flynn, one of the new club’s owners and someone with experience in the Portland club scene at both Zootz and $3 Dewey’s.

Makes sense, then, that Austin’s has teamed up with local country-pop station WTHT to help get the word out, Flynn saying they started a slate of teaser ads earlier this month alerting Portland to "something new and exciting" coming to town. The grand opening weekend is also the occasion for a dance to support WTHT’s annual St. Jude’s hospital fundraising, so "we have to be open by February 12," jokes Flynn.

Austin’s currently has live music scheduled for Saturday nights, with a schedule of DJs, line-dancing, dart and pool tournaments, and country karaoke during the rest of the week. Flynn says he thinks Portland is ripe for this kind of bar. "Before we even started advertising," he says, "people have been coming up to me saying ‘You’re the guy who’s going to be opening a country/western bar.’ " He looks at a place like Coyote’s, up in Waterville, as a successful model. "They opened Memorial Day," he says, and already "they don’t have enough space. I went up on a Saturday night and they had 150 people in there by 9:30."

Also, Flynn isn’t worried about being in a non-traditional location for a nightspot. "We intentionally put ourselves out of the Old Port," he says. "I think to a degree people are really sick of the Old Port," and he notes that they’re right off of Exit 8 (the old Exit 8, anyway — does anyone really know what the new number is?), near to Platinum Plus, and right on the normal travel path of people coming into town from places like Gorham, Windham, Buxton, and Standish, where Flynn figures there’s more than a few country-music fans.

"It’s a real crossover crowd," says Flynn, "we’ll have motorcycle parking out front and one spot reserved for a tractor. We’re having fun with it."

Shoot, I forgot to ask if there’d be sawdust on the floor.