Honky tonk

A Honky tonk was originally a type of bar common throughout the southern United States, also called honkatonks, honkey-tonks, tonks or tunks. The term has also been attached to various styles of 20th-century American music.

Honky tonk bars

Honky tonks were rough establishments that served alcoholic beverages to working class clientele. Honky tonks sometimes also offered dancing to piano players or small bands, and sometimes were also centers of prostitution. In some rougher tonks the prostitutes and their customers would have sex standing up clothed on the dance floor while the music played. Such establishments flourished in less reputable neighborhoods, often outside of the law. As Chris Smith and Charles McCarron noted in their 1916 hit song "Down in Honky Tonk Town", "It's Underneath the Ground, Where All the Fun Is Found."

Related Topics:
Alcoholic beverage - Prostitution - Chris Smith - Charles McCarron - 1916

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One American manufacturer of a large upright pianos was the firm of William Tonk who made a piano with the decal "Ernest A. Tonk". These upright grand pianos were made in Chicago and New york and were called Tonk pianos, many found their way to tin pan alley and may have given rise to the expression of Honky Tonk Bars.

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