Electric Honky-Tonk
tagStarted 1947Peak 1955–1968Last big hit 2016
Electric honky-tonk takes the barroom structures of postwar country and turns up the voltage: amplified lead guitar, steel guitar fills, walking or thumping bass, piano or rhythm guitar, and an insistent snare crack. It is still dance music, but with more edge, more sustain, and a jukebox-ready bite.
History
As country moved from radio barns and rural halls into louder clubs, electrification transformed honky-tonk from a mostly acoustic style into a road-band machine. California and Texas scenes proved especially important, and Bakersfield gave the sound a signature hard treble that later flowed into neo-honky-tonk, hard-country revival, and bar-band country.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Wishful Thinking — Wynn StewartSpotifyYouTube
- Under Your Spell Again — Buck OwensSpotifyYouTube
- The Bottle Let Me Down — Merle HaggardSpotifyYouTube
- Live Fast Love Hard Die Young — Faron YoungSpotifyYouTube
- Walking the Floor Over You — Ernest TubbSpotifyYouTube
- If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time — Lefty FrizzellSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
- PBS Country Music
- Visit Bakersfield
- California Museum