Urban Cowboy: The Musical opens March 27 on Broadway, inciting homesick Texans to wax nostalgic for cold beer, bar fights, and Johnny Paycheck songs. If you’re looking to drown your sorrows in a six-pack (or two), these joints are the closest the big city gets to Gilley’s.
1. Doc Holliday’s
Want to do tequila shots with Pabst chasers while singing along to Hank Williams Jr.’s “Family Tradition”? No problem. Just duck when you see the barmaids climb onto the wooden bar. They get crazy when “Devil Went Down to Georgia” comes on. (141 Avenue A; 212-979-0312.)
2. Village Idiot
Merle Haggard’s “Fightin’ Side of Me” is playing, packs of 22-year-olds are knocking back $5 pitchers of Coors, and waitresses are strutting around in low-riders and tank tops. Can chair-flinging be far behind? (355 West 14th Street; 212-989-7334.)
3. Rodeo Bar
In addition to free, terrific live music every night at this cattle-skull-adorned club—the Hangdogs are a favorite band—you’ve got your free peanuts, a full Tex-Mex menu, and, naturally, a bar carved out of a horse trailer. (375 Third Avenue, at 27th Street; 212-683-6500.)
4. Cowgirl Hall of Fame
If your taste is more Patsy Cline than David Alan Coe, here’s one-stop shopping for margaritas in mason jars, chicken-fried steak, and all things fringed. (519 Hudson Street; 212-633-1133.)
5. Lakeside Lounge
Everyone from Tammy Faye Starlite to Steve Earle has graced this tiny stage. And since there’s never a cover, you can pump those extra dollars into the popular black-and-white photo booth. (162 Avenue B; 212-529-8463.)