Honky tonk
Overview
A honky-tonk is a type of bar
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...

 that provides musical entertainment (usually country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

) to its patrons. Bars of this kind are common in the Southern
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

 and Southwestern
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

 United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The term "honky-tonk" has also been applied to various styles of 20th-century American music.
The origin of the term honky tonk is unknown. The earliest source explaining the derivation of the term (spelled "honkatonk") was an article published in 1900 by the New York Sun and widely reprinted in other newspapers.
Quotations

The honk-a-tonk last night was well attended by ball heads, bachelors and leading citizens.

The Daily Ardmorite (Oklahoma), February 27, 1894

It was moaned by resonant moaners in honky tonks of the southwest.

Speaking of a song

"This place ain't no damn honkatonk, stranger," reproved the bar-tender... "Folks get throwed outa here sometimes."

C. E. Mulford, Deputy Sheriff, 1930

Its master whose anonymous dust lay with that of his blood and of the progenitors of saxophone players in Harlem honky-tonks.

Speaking of a dog

Honky-tonks, restaurants and whore-houses.

John Steinbeck, Cannery Row, 1945

These honkey-tonks ran wide open twenty-four hours a day... Their attendance was some of the lowest caliber women in the world and their intake was the revenue from the little, pitiful gambling games they operated.

Jelly Roll Morton|Jelly Roll Morton; quoted in

I didn't know God made honky tonk angels I might have known you'd never make a wife You gave up the only one that ever loved you and went back to the wild side of life

Hank Thompson, "The Wild Side of Life"

It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels As you said in the words of your song Too many times married men think they're still single That has caused many a good girl to go wrong

Answer song|Answer song to Hank Thompson's "The Wild Side of Life"

I met a gin soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis, She tried to take me upstairs for a ride. She had to heave me right across her shoulder 'Cause I just can't seem to drink you off my mind. It's the honky tonk women Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.

The Rolling Stones, "Honky Tonk Woman"

I walked into a honky tonk just the other day. I put a nickel in the jukebox just to hear it play.

"Juke Box Blues|Juke Box Blues", written by Maybelle Carter and Helen Carter, famously sung by June Carter Cash

 
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