PATRONS OF THE Midtown Promenade shopping center can currently hear the sounds of renovation in the corner spot formerly inhabited by Hoedowns, but Deana Collins plans to replace that noise with a country beat when she opens her new gay bar, 3-Legged Cowboy, in that spot on Dec. 31.

Collins, the original owner of Hoedowns, says her bar will stick to a very simple formula.

Stone country, she says of the atmosphere of 3-Legged Cowboy. Pure country. I don't want anything else.

As Collins looks toward a return to the country roots that made Hoedowns so popular among its patrons for most of its tenure as Atlanta's only gay country-western bar — and as she welcomes back former Hoedowns bartending staff — she says she still wants to give 3-Legged Cowboy its own distinct identity. That starts with a renovated décor, including a red oak dance floor and bar, as well as a tin-roofed front porch.

We worked real hard on this because we didn't want it to look like a Hoedowns, Collins says. I didn't want to go back to that. I wanted to give [our patrons] a brand new place to come, so its going to be much better than what we had at Hoedowns.

THE NEW FEEL EXTENDS TO THE NEW name, which Collins says was inspired by a drink called the three-legged monkey. I thought, ‘How crazy is that? No one has three legs, she says. It would be a sense of fun." Also on tap is a new slogan: I been wrong so long, but I'm going to get it right tonight.

And getting it right includes an ear toward learning from Hoedowns mistakes. When asked if her new bar would feature drag performances, one aspect many former patrons noted as a sign of decline for the former bar under Ben Elliott, Collins is quick to answer.

No, she says. I love my queens, but I don't want them [performing] in a country bar.

She wont venture a guess as to whether Atlanta can support two gay country-western bars, but Collins says she harbors no ill will towards the Wild Mustang and its owner, Brad Williams.

What he did was nice, Collin says, I did tell him before he even opened that I'm going to be opening a country bar, but its not competition. The people that want to go there will go, and that's OK with me.
Collins plans a grand opening on New Years Eve, full of surprises for patrons, and she says she knows exactly who she plans to welcome: everyone.

Bring your mother, bring your brother, I don't care who you bring, she says. Anyone that just wants to laugh, because it's going to be a lot of fun.