From Nashville to Newcastle: Country music bar Ruby Rae’s hosts it’s first ever music festival in Times Square
Written by Lirael McKenzie on 29th October 2026
On October 23rd country music Bar Ruby Rae’s hosted their first ever festival, Ruby Rae’s XL in Times Square Newcastle. Hosting a star-studded line up of tributes acts from the late Dolly Parton to Shania Twain and many more.
Ruby Rae’s, which was co-founded last year by Dean Saunders is Newcastle’s first dedicated country music bar,they regularly host live music tributes and even have cowboy and cowgirl themed toilets.
The night brought together country music lovers from across the North East from both Newcastle and York, as Ruby Rae’s have opened their second bar in York earlier this year.
It was a country music extravaganza, with people decked out in their finest western duds, they enjoyed a night of line dancing, beer and great tribute artists.
The night stared off strong, Shania Twain tribute (Tia Dodds) brought the house down singing Shania’s hits, including Man i feel like a Woman! and the iconic love song Still The One.
Dolly Parton tribute, (Jo Fry) followed suit with her touching rendition of I will always love you.
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Dean Saunders – co founder of Ruby Rae’s was pleased with the turnout, he shared his reflections on the night, with hopes to host the festival again, he said: “The cop out answer is Ruby Rae’s XL XL will go bigger and bigger… Honestly today’s been amazing a lot of the regulars from Ruby Rae’s Newcastle and York have been here already.
“It’s lush to see everyone, everyone’s enjoying themselves it’s given us a bit of. Motivation to maybe do another one.”
Dean Cooke, added “I think everyone else in there would like it to be fair, we’ll see what happens.”
To view the live music schedule and see the the opening times for Ruby Rae’s Newcastle and York, please see the website here.
