Jay Webb rolls his West Coast run into Whiskey Dick's on Nov. 6

The country singer plays the Union Avenue bar on a Friday night, 21 and over, with tickets starting around $19 on Eventbrite.

By the time Jay Webb pulls into Las Cruces, he'll have spent a couple of weeks playing his way down the western side of the country. Spokane, Seattle and Portland came first. Orange County, Las Vegas and Tucson are still ahead. Then, on Friday, Nov. 6, he plays Whiskey Dick's at 101 East Union Avenue, the first Jay Webb show we have on record in this town.

The details from the Eventbrite ticket page: doors are set for a 9 p.m. start, the night is 21 and over, and tickets start at $19.35. The listing runs the event about three hours, so this is a full Friday night, not a quick set before last call. There's free parking, which matters on a weekend in Las Cruces.

Whiskey Dick's is a good fit for this. The room holds about 900, which is a lot of space for a country bar, and on a Friday that space tends to fill with people who'd rather dance than stand still. A singer like Webb, whose songs are built for a crowd that knows the words, works better in a room like that than in a sit-down theater. Plan to arrive early if you want a spot near the stage; a 9 o'clock show in a bar this size gets crowded once people finish dinner.

The timing helps, too. Webb plays Tucson on Nov. 1 and comes into Las Cruces five nights later, so this isn't a tired band dragging off a long drive. It's the end of a western swing that has taken him from the Pacific Northwest down through Southern California and the desert. For Las Cruces, that means a touring country act booked on a Friday rather than passing through on a Tuesday, which doesn't happen often enough here.

If you've only heard Webb through a phone speaker, a bar like Whiskey Dick's is the right place to hear him properly. Country music this direct is meant for a loud room, a cold drink and a few hundred people singing along. That's what Union Avenue is promising on Nov. 6.

A few practical notes. Buy through the Eventbrite page the venue uses rather than a reseller. Bring ID, since it's a 21-and-over night. And if you're coming from El Paso or across the county, the free lot makes the drive simpler.

There are bigger country shows on the calendar this fall in bigger rooms with bigger prices. But a Friday night at Whiskey Dick's for under twenty bucks, with a singer coming off a run up and down the West, is the kind of show people end up talking about later. Get there by nine.

Sources: Jay Webb – Whiskey Dicks Las Cruces (Eventbrite) (eventbrite.com); Whiskey Dick's Las Cruces (Facebook) (facebook.com)