Grab a beer and lace up your two-steppin’ shows, thieves, we’ve got a track from honky-tonk darlin’ ‘s debut album for you to steal.
For many, the term “honky-tonk” conjures a special kind of nostalgia, a certain sentimentality for an experience we’ve never actually had. There was a time down South in the early 20th Century when low-class bars that poured cheap drinks for patrons two-steppin’ on the dance floor to live country bands or a 45-packed jukebox dotted most towns. These were not places for respectable people, rather holes in the wall where folks could let it all out and get hammered. Before honky-tonks, they called them “juke joints,” where blues and jazz, not country, were played.
Today, honky-tonk is far less associated with a type of bar and instead with a style of music. This breed of Americana, not surprisingly, follows the aesthetic of the bars it gets its name from. The music is simple and not elitist, has a bouncing beat perfect for dancing, and covers topics like getting rowdy drunk, tearing up roots and hitting the road, and heartbreak best drowned in whiskey.
On her debut album, Kristina Murray nails honky-tonk music. While the album is more diverse than a tribute to honky-tonk — her sound spans Americana — one can imagine her playing in the corner of a smoky bar while dancers kick up dust and drinkers slam down shot glasses. She writes about travelin’, about men doing her wrong, and about filling lonesome holes with whiskey. For the record, she hired on a band of stellar country musicians to accompany her gorgeous-without-being-too-pretty voice with fiddle and slide guitar. It’s a great album for long car rides and drinkin’ nights.
On December 9, she will transform the hipster haven Hi-Dive into a honky-tonk. Below, download “I Can’t Recall,” a drinking song about a no-good man. Then check out her whole album on her site. And if you’re ever in Laporte, stop by , perhaps Colorado’s best example of a real honky-tonk. Surely, Murray will play there at some point.
Please note that downloads offered via Steal This Track are intended to whet your appetite, and are NOT CD-quality recordings. If you want those, please support the artists by buying their music and/or seeing them live.
If you’re a band or musician ready to expose your fresh sounds to the readers of Reverb, email your tracks — along with any interesting facts about them, as well as a photo or album art — to Steal This Track for consideration.
Josh Johnson is a Denver freelance writer and Reverb contributor. He is also a co-host/co-producer of the Denver podcast . He’s also a journeyman butcher. Seriously.
