OUR STORY

Duke’s & Dottie’s opened on East Broad Street to give Athens one room that could be three things in a night. A honky-tonk early. A dance hall by ten. A club until close.

The name comes from the pair on the wall. Duke is the blue bull. Dottie is the red-haired cowgirl riding him, one hand up, grinning like she has done it a hundred times. She is the first thing you see and fair warning about the rest of the night.

The room does the rest. A stage big enough for touring country acts, a floor built for line dancing, a mezzanine that looks down on all of it, and a bar crew that keeps up on a Saturday in football season.

We run lessons for people who have never danced a step, and a club night for people who never stop. Most nights it is the same person doing both.