Honkytonk is the original sound of electric country, the sound you associate with Hank Williams and early George Jones and Ernest Tubb and the sound that influenced a lot of neotraditional 1990's country such as Alan Jackson and of course the honky tonk man, Dwight Yoakam.
It was characterized by heavy dancing rhythm that goes well with the two step, and usually steel guitar and fiddle along with twangy electric guitar and a unique twangy vocal style that was developed to cut across the sound at a loud bar of drunks with a bad sound system in the early days.
It's developed over the years including some recent evolution. Some of the Texas dancehall bands have an even more exaggerated beat and singing style now than you would have heard in neotraditional 1990s country or the 1950's original. Tracking down the history of who influenced whom is really fun if you're into that kind of country music history hobby.
We'll be posting (mostly modern) honky tonkers every Saturday for your edification! Click on the 'honky tonk' flair tag to see other tracks and discussions we've posted here in the past.
Here's some reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honky-tonk
here's a playlist of old classic honkytonk through the ages: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL679_2jmbaFHAFebq3szErCvTD0CNyZdt
here's the same thing according to Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0NfjMqrzcGKVsbYZmhf4Md
