Tequila Cowboy opens Thursday in Lansing Mall

LANSING - Country, rock, all today's hits. Bringing Music City to your city.

That's the Tequila Cowboy concept. And they're bringing it to the Lansing area soon.

Tequila Cowboy Bar & Grill and Wanna B's Karaoke Sports Bar & Grill will open Thursday in the Lansing Mall near Regal Cinemas at the north end of the mall.

The grand opening kicks off at 8 p.m.

"We just had a great opportunity to come to Lansing," owner Adam Hesler, said. "We really liked it and what it had to offer. We wanted to bring the party up here."

Hesler, 32, owns two other Tequila Cowboy Sports Bar & Grills. The flagship store opened in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2012. The Columbus, Ohio, store opened in 2014.

Tequila Cowboy will open in the space formerly designated for a Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill, which never was completed.

The venue is huge. There are four bars inside the 18,000-square foot space - three in Tequila Cowboy and another in the adjoining Wanna B’s Karaoke Sports Bar & Grill.

Tequila Cowboy holds about 900 people. An enclosed outdoor patio, which will be open year-round, has the capacity for 785, and Wanna B’s can hold another 200.

"With Nashville blowing up the way it is, we wanted to bring that Nashville Music City up to Lansing," Hesler said.

And they are.

Tequila Cowboy will have live acts from Nashville every Friday and Saturday. When they're finished, Hesler says, they'll kick the rest of the night off with a DJ.

On Wednesdays, Tequila Cowboy will host line dancing lessons. On Thursdays, "We’re going to bring regional-to-up-and-coming acts in – The Josh Thompson, Colt Ford, Craig Campbell, Phil Vassar types," Hesler said.

Wanna B's offers 250,000 karaoke songs to choose from, pretty much anything you can think of.

"They really complement each other and give you that multi-venue feel, but you’re in the same space," Hesler said.

A mechanical bull awaits anyone who wants to give it a whirl.

"You can test your luck on it," Hesler said.

Tequila Cowboy is known for its 32-ounce Music City Margarita, which won Best Margarita in Nashville in 2014.

"That’s kind of our staple bread-and-butter piece," Hesler said. "It’s a great taste. It’s a Patron margarita and it’s phenomenal."

On Thursday, they'll have the Jamie Baxter Band from Nashville and drink specials. WITL will be there live.

Tequila Cowboy is ready to kick off and have a party, Hesler said..

"We encourage everyone from right now until the Dec. 3 opening to come look at the place," Hesler said. "It’s built. It’s ready to go. We want people to see it, feel it and be excited about it."

Contact Vickki Dozier at (517) 267-1342 or vdozier@lsj.com . Follow her on Twitter @vickkiD .