If you were to name the 40 classic honky-tonk country songs what would they be?

At the top of my list are:

Heartaches by the number

Crazy Arms

Swingin' doors

Trying not to cross the fine line between country/western swing/honky tonk...here are some more goodin's off the top of my head...

Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor - Johnny Horton
Honky Tonk Man - Jonny Horton
I'm a One Woman Man - Jonny Horton
Dog-Gone It Baby, I;m in Love - Carl Smith
Live Fast,Love Hard,Die Young -Faron Young
I Heard About You - Charline Arthur
Honky Tonkin' Maddox Bros. & Rose also
did a good job on this one
(Now & Then, There's) A Fool Such As I -Hank Snow
I Dont Hurt Anymore -Hank Snow
Invitation to the Blues -Ray Price

Anything from Hank Williams

So many others....:hyper:


So many more.......

Buck Owens-"Act Naturally", "Tiger by the Tail", "Together Again"
Merle Haggard - "The Bottle Let Me Down," "Swingin Doors," "Sing Me Back Home," and so many more of his tunes.
Emmylou Harris - "Luxury Liner"
Waylon - "Good Hearted Woman"
Wille - "Whiskey River," "Red Headed Stranger"
George Strait - "All My Exes Live in Texas"
Lacy J. Dalton - "Beer Drinkin Song," "Mama I've Always Loved Cowboys"
Tanya Tucker - "Texas When I Die," "Delta Dawn"
Highway 101 -"The Bed You Made For Me"
Johnny Cash - "Big River," "Folsome Prison Blues," "Hey, Porter"
I could go on and on...

Buck Owens/ Rose Maddox- Mental Cruelty
Johnny Paycheck- Motel Time Again
Hank Williams- Never Get Out of The World Alive
Wynn Stewart- Playboy
Lefty Frizzell- Travelin Blues
Bobby Bare- Detroit City
The Wilburn Brothers- Barred From Every Honkytonk
George Jones- Tarnished Angel
Hawkshaw Hawkins- Rattlesnakin' Daddy
Zeb Turner- Huckleberry Boogie
Webb Pierce- There Stands the Glass
Onie Wheeler- Jump Right Out of This Jukebox
Merle Haggard- Misery and Gin.

just a few...

Webb Pierce -- Honky Tonk Song
Hank Williams -- Honky Tonk Blues
Hank Williams -- Honky Tonkin'
Rolling Stones -- Honky Tonk Women

Even though it takes me off my riff, I'm gonna say anything at all by Buck Owens.

They may not be classic, but I like all the songs on Mark Chesnut's CD "Savin' the Honky Tonk". I like "Somebody Save the Honky Tonk" and "The Lord Loves the Drinkin' Man".
(I hope my wife never reads this post!)


A real classic (but there's no bass line) is Hank William's version of "Honky Tonk Heroes". But also check out the bass line that Waylon Jennings added to his version of the same song.

Walkin' to New Orleans - Fats Domino
Hank Williams - Cold Cold Heart, Lovesick Blues (I like Jerry Lee's version too)
Ernest Tubb - Walkin' the Floor Over You

Can't call it a "Classic", but if it were written 50-60 years ago "Gone, Gone Gone" by Wayne the Train Hancock. I love that tune.

I particularly like shuffles in F because the steel guitar and fiddle sound so good there. Wynn Stewart's honky tonk era songs are some of my very favorites, including "Playboy" and "Wishful Thinking". His duets with Jan Howard are fun to recreate. Ralph Mooney's signature steel licks and rhythmic "bounce" on this stuff really gives it a nice lift.

Thanks.

I'd never heard of Wynn Stewart before.

Wynn was yet another tragic success-phobic, charismatic, self-destructive, alcoholic singer-songwriter blessed with an amazing soaring, clear, and emotive voice. He had a tough, bright-sounding honky tonk band style in the late '50s and the great Ralph Mooney was in his band or recorded with him much of that time. Though a less gifted singer, Buck Owens took a lot of cues from Wynn to develope his commercially successful style and had the drive and discipline to tour relentlessy, which Wynn refused to do. Merle Haggard bascially learned how a good band works by playing bass and singing with Wynn for a while in Las Vegas during a long residency at Wynn Stewart's ill-fated casino and dance club. Wynn had in turn learned a lot from the historically neglected Skeets MacDonald in coming up with that tough southern California "Capitol Records" honky tonk sound.

The 10-CD box set available on Bear Family is largely a waste of time for anyone but fanatics like me. The loads of mawkish stuff from the mid-'60s on are largely forgettable, though Clarence White was initially developing his Telecaster style on many of these records. There are single CD greatest hits compilations that feature most of Wynn's great honky tonk shuffle stuff from the late '50s and early '60s.

Thank you Steve!