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Cowboy singer brings a full country sound to San Tan Flat
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BIG HIT: Cowboy singer Lee Alexander of Mesa is a popular fixture at the Mammoth Steak House in Goldfield and San Tan Flat near Queen Creek.
Ralph Freso, Tribune
When Lee Alexander auditioned for a job as house singer for San Tan Flat, he had to drive a tough bargain.
He told the Queen Creek-area saloon's owner his price; the owner made a counteroffer. Alexander didn't take it.
"I told him to get an act for that price and give me a call," Alexander says. "Two weeks later, he called."
That was two years ago. Since then, Alexander has been a fixture at San Tan Flat three nights a week. He also plays his stable of 400 country, western and cowboy covers at Apache Junction's Mammoth Steakhouse twice a week.
Making it as a one-man band in a karaoke kind of world isn't easy, says Alexander, 47, who's also worked as a church music director, a cabinet maker and a talk radio host. Since 1999 - when he moved from Michigan back to Arizona, his childhood home - he's been able to play music full time, supporting his wife and two stepchildren.
On stage, Alexander, who lives in Mesa, plays a 12-string guitar, uses a drum machine to back him and sometimes runs his voice through vocal harmonizer to add the effect of background singers.
"It's a very full sound, for a one-man band," he says. "I'd like to teach other people how to do what I do, because it's pretty easy. If more people realized how easy it was, they'd be doing it."
Easy enough, he says, that there's no reason more nightspots can't opt for live entertainment instead of hiring a karaoke DJ.
The shortage of stages open to guys like him made it hard for Alexander to sit back during the recent brouhaha over the "Footloose"-style dance ban in Pinal County, when county officials sought to enforce a 60-year-old statute outlawing outdoor dancing.
Alexander, who's seen a number of restaurants and bars give up live music, didn't want to let the county swipe his meal ticket, so he wrote "You Can't Dance Outside." Almost every national media outlet covering the story mentioned the song.
Alexander, who says he was never afraid the ban would stand up to examination by "a real judge," is just happy he still has someplace to play.
"I used to really work for a living and this isn't it," he says. "This is just fun."
Don't tell the management at San Tan Flat that - they might try to renegotiate.
If you go
Who: Country singer performs evening shows
When: Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights
Where: San Tan Flat, 6185 W. Hunt Highway, in Pinal County
Cost: Free admission
Information: (480) 882-2995 or santanflat.com
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