Honky-tonks started in the wild west and across the American south in the 1800s, cheap, rough-and-tumble saloons and dance halls, serving oil workers, loggers, labourers and cowboys. They were places for drinkers and gamblers, all set to the sounds of banjos and hollering singers. This changed, through the 1930s and 40s, as country music found its shape, with the help of lap steel guitars, pianos and fiddles. Times changed, but the bars persisted.
