Country western dancers of all skills join at the Memorial Union Ballroom for a night of fun.

The atmosphere at Friday night’s Western Windup in the MU Ballroom could easily be described in the same terms as one of the event’s attractions. The mechanical bull is centered around having a good time and it takes strength, grace, good music and a couple of ‘yee-haws’ to truly enjoy the ride.

Put on by OSU Program Council, the Western Windup festivities included dancing, live music, a photo booth, a mechanical bull and live music.

Originally from California, country music performer Aaron Crawford now calls Seattle his home. He describes his music as a melodic mix of rock and country, drawing inspiration from musicians like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pink Floyd, Johnny Cash, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and more.

“There’s good music in every genre,” Crawford said. “You can pull things (from other music) and make it your own. That’s just what I’m trying to do, make it my own.”

Crawford was scheduled for a two hour set and played a mixture of original songs and covers.

“I just put an album out in July,” Crawford said. “Evergreen has been the hit off that record, which is basically a song about the Northwest. All these songs are written about the South, as far as country is concerned, but I love living (in the Northwest) so I decided to write a song about living (in the Northwest).”

Crawford’s music got the crowd’s toes tapping and Oregon State’s Country Western Dance Club was in charge of the dance floor.

“Dancing to live music is a fun change,” Senior pre-vet student Jazmin Schneider said. “It’s challenging, but it’s fun. With our playlists, we pretty much play the same songs. After three years we’re used to the songs that we have and we don’t know what Aaron [Crawford] is gonna throw out there.”

Senior agricultural sciences major, Regina Forsi, calls that phenomenon ‘Dance Roulette’, and said it is one of her favorite parts of dancing to live music.

Forsi is an officer in the OSU Country Western Dance Club and says the club is about more than dancing.

“We go on retreats. We have movie nights. Everyone says this cliche, but it’s more of a family than a club,” Forsi said. “We could call anyone up and they’d be down to hang out.”

Anyone and everyone is always invited to the dance floor. Senior double major in English and education, Matthew Schramm, offers comforting words to the less experienced dancers.

“I couldn’t dance when I started and everybody has to start somewhere. Dancing is all about having fun, and not so much about looking good,” Schramm said. “I look good doing it, but that’s only because I’ve had lots of practice.”