New Pahrump saloon offers big sound and unique experience

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A new experience is coming to Southern Nevada in Pahrump. It’s just about an hour outside the bright lights of Las Vegas, at the intersection of rock and country, this new saloon is setting the stage for fun. It may be a small stage inside the Dry Creek Saloon, but its big sound is what the investors and performers hope will draw you in.

“She said, ‘I’ve got this thing down here in Pahrump that I’m going to do, it’s going to be huge. I want you to come down and do that. I want you to open the show for us,'” said Wild Bill Young. That was all it took for him to pack up and leave Nashville.

That phone call from Ria Jean Schumacher started it all. She said, “From the very beginning, the only person I thought of, was him.”

“I don’t even think it took me 20 minutes to actually commit to leaving the tour,” Young added.

They’re an unlikely pair in an unexpected place where both set out to change a narrative.

“I’ll be honest with you, I was told, yeah, it’s pretty racist out there. I said I don’t know where because I ain’t ran into nobody yet,” Young said.

“I think Pahrump gets a little bit of a bad name, but Pahrump is small, but there’s a lot of big heart here,” Schumacher said.

The location of Dry Creek Saloon used to be another bar. It looks every part an old western saloon you might see in the movies, complete with shiny glassware and neon lights, but with a top-to-bottom renovation and some original pieces still in place, like the bar itself.  Schumacher said, “We do know that it came from overseas in England.”

It’s a transformation, literally and perhaps figuratively.

“For me, it was about giving back to a society that I was taken out of for so long,” Schumacher said. She spent 12 years in prison, convicted of murder as a teen she said she didn’t commit. She won an appeal and was released early. Now she’s a mother of four, an entrepreneur, and an author. She said Pahrump is home and she’s all in.

“We wanted to give something to the community that could benefit them and create good-paying jobs,” she said.

The saloon is non-smoking. No gaming. Food during the day and 21+ after 7 p.m. Schumacher said they will have, “line dancing, a lot of live authentic music, good entertainment, comedy shows, magicians, all kinds of stuff.”

And while it may be a smaller stage than Wild Bill Young is used to, he said,  “It’s more quaint. It’s more organic and I know for me, it’s more sincere happiness and desire to have fun with the crowd.”

Schumacher and the other investors even hired an independent film crew to create a reality show based on the Dry Creek Saloon and Pahrump. She said her goal is to share the stories of her community.

The doors will open to the new live music venue

The doors will open to a new live music venue on Saturday, Oct. 19.

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