Saddle Up TO Still Kicking Up Its Heels 15 Years Later

Although there's been a few stops and restarts in its unique history, Saddle Up TO (Toronto) has been a regular evening of traditional old-school country, dancing and fun. And despite founder Andrew Ennals currently residing in New Brunswick, the event's momentum isn't slowing down anytime soon.

Ennals says the inaugural Saddle Up TO in March, 2007 was from him seeing a gap in Toronto's strong roots music scene.

"It was one of those things where I wanted to go and I couldn't find it," Ennals says. "I didn't know of anything in Toronto that really fit, just the imagination of going to a legion hall, hearing some throw back country music and having a few beers.

"There were places obviously like the Horseshoe and the Dakota Tavern was just opening at that point but it didn't quite match what I wanted to do. So the only thing you can do when that happens is start it yourself."

A chance encounter on a Toronto streetcar with an acquaintance later led Ennals to Saddle Up TO's original home at the Canadian Corps Hall at the corner of King St. and Niagara St.

"It had wood paneled walls and a big portrait of the Queen," he says. "Bowling trophies lining the tops of the walls and Christmas lights. I thought, 'Oh this is exactly the place I want to be doing this!'"

After honing his deejay skills and playing classics alongside deep country cuts "people can dance to for a couple of hours," Ennals says social media also played a huge role in launching the event.

"Facebook had just taken over from Myspace as the social media platform of choice," he says. "And just as I was organizing the first Saddle Up Facebook introduced this new Events feature where you could invite people and see who was going. I think for a lot of people the first time they got an event invitation over social media where they could see who else was going was the first Saddle Up."

After the Canadian Corps Hall closed in 2010, a five-year Saddle Up TO lull ended in 2015 when the Owl's Club (847 Dovercourt Road) became the new home. A typical evening starts at 10pm where the "old-time stuff" is played as people arrive. Thirty minutes later a live band plays roughly 40 minutes before the classic hits are heard until two in the morning.

Ennals says his attraction to the country era of Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash among others is simple.

"It's what I grew up with in a sense," he says. "I also think it has more of an atmosphere to it that the newer country has a different atmosphere. The stories are a bit more varied. And there's something about that idea of 'tear in your beer' country and hearing Johnny Cash, and Dolly Parton, and getting to hear it on a dance floor as opposed to in the background of a movie."

And while there are a few songs by stars like Alan Jackson, Randy Travis and Shania Twain, there is one musical line in the sand Ennals uses in determining what gets played.

"If it has the Bon Jovi drums, it's a little too new for us," he says. "From a deejay perspective it's really hard sound-wise to keep the energy up going from a huge loudness-impacted country song to Johnny Cash. It just makes Johnny Cash sound really thin when of course nothing could be further from that."

Saddle Up TO, like most music events, was at a standstill during the pandemic. Ennals says a handful of Zoom calls where he deejayed enabled fans from around the world to break the monotony and isolation

The first post-pandemic shindig was this past March, a dance the founder says was "exciting and nerve-wracking and exhausting" given it being the first time in years many had spent a night on the town.

"It was funny because the first half of it was amazing in terms of lots of people and everyone excited to be back and the band sounded amazing," Ennals says. "Then at about 12:30 a.m. absolutely everyone buckled because nobody had been out that late or been around that many people for a long time. I was about halfway through the night and thinking, 'Can we stop now? I'm tired.'"

The next party is June 10 with a cover charge raised to $20. According to its Facebook site nobody will "be turned away due to lack of funds" but the increase is to help Owl's Club which like most bars is still reeling from the financial hit Coronavirus delivered.

As for the name, Ennals says the "Saddle Up" idea originated from a chat he had with a friend in Oakland about a country night. The friend, an HIV tester and counselor, took a line from a safe sex poster and told him to "just saddle up and do it." It's something Ennals still revels doing.

"It's still something I can do and that people still love it after all this time. It's still a joy."

Follow Saddle Up on Facebook for full details.

The Next Saddle Up event is Friday, June 10, 2022
Owl's Club, 847 Dovercourt (UPSTAIRS)
Live set at 10:30 pm sharp by Big Tobacco & The Pickers
$20 cover, bar is CASH ONLY
Proof of Vaccination required

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