Honky-Tonk
Hard-edged barroom country built for the jukebox and the dance floor: amplified electric and steel guitar, fiddle, walking bass, and a heavy 2/4 shuffle beat behind a strong, twangy, emotive lead vocal. Lyrics center on drinking, cheating, heartbreak, loneliness, and honky-tonk nightlife, delivered with grit and immediacy. The mood swings between rowdy dance-hall energy and raw, crying heartbreak, with the pedal steel and fiddle weeping over a driving rhythm.
History
Honky-tonk arose in the late 1930s and 1940s in the rough Texas and Oklahoma roadhouses ("honky-tonks") where music had to be loud enough to cut through a noisy crowd, prompting the adoption of amplified instruments and a stronger backbeat. Ernest Tubb's electric-guitar hit "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941) was a breakthrough, and Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Webb Pierce, and Hank Thompson made the style the dominant commercial country sound of the postwar era on Decca, Capitol, and other labels.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Honky Tonk Blues — Hank WilliamsSpotifyYouTube
- Walking the Floor Over You — Ernest TubbSpotifyYouTube
- If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time — Lefty FrizzellSpotifyYouTube
- Crazy Arms — Ray PriceSpotifyYouTube
- There Stands the Glass — Webb PierceSpotifyYouTube
- The Wild Side of Life — Hank ThompsonSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
- Encyclopaedia Britannica
- AllMusic
- Ken Burns' Country Music (PBS)