About The Song
“Honky Tonk Blues” is a country and western song written and recorded by Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys. The released hit version was cut at Castle Studio in Nashville on December 11, 1951, with Fred Rose producing, and issued by MGM Records in February 1952 as single MGM 11160. The record paired “Honky Tonk Blues” on the A-side with “I’m Sorry for You, My Friend” on the B-side. It went on to reach No. 2 on Billboard’s country best-seller chart, becoming one of Williams’s major early-1950s hits and later a staple of his compilation albums.
The composition has a longer history than the 1952 release suggests. Williams first tried to record “Honky Tonk Blues” as early as August 1947 during one of his early MGM sessions, and according to biographer Colin Escott, he and Rose returned to it unsuccessfully in March 1949 and again in June 1950. These attempts experimented with different tempos and a lighter, jazz-tinged accompaniment but were ultimately shelved. The December 1951 session finally produced the version that Rose felt was strong enough for release. The band is generally believed to include Don Helms on steel guitar, Jerry Rivers on fiddle, Sam Pruett on electric guitar, Jack Shook on acoustic guitar, and either Ernie Newton or Howard Watts on bass, providing a tight honky-tonk backing.
Lyrically, “Honky Tonk Blues” tells the story of a young farm boy who leaves his rural home for the temptations of the city honky-tonks. The opening lines describe him leaving the “rural route” and promising his father he is going “steppin’ out” to get the honky-tonk blues. As the song progresses, he wears out his shoes dancing, becomes exhausted by city life and finally decides to tuck his worries under his arm and head back to his “pappy’s farm.” The text uses plain, conversational language but sketches a full narrative arc—from restless escape to disillusionment and return—within a few short verses.
Musically, the track is built on a blues-influenced framework adapted to Williams’s honky-tonk style. The tempo is moderate and danceable, with a shuffle feel and a strong backbeat supporting his vocal. The arrangement leaves space for Rivers’s fiddle and Helms’s steel guitar to answer the vocal phrases, while the rhythm guitars keep a steady, chugging pulse. Commentators have pointed out that the song’s blend of country, blues and a hint of proto-rockabilly places it alongside other Williams recordings such as “Move It On Over” and “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It” as early examples of the harder-edged honky-tonk sound that would influence later rock-and-roll.
On release, “Honky Tonk Blues” was an immediate success on the country charts. Billboard’s country listings show the single climbing to No. 2 in 1952, adding to a sequence of high-charting records that included “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Hey, Good Lookin’” and “Jambalaya (On the Bayou).” Although it did not reach No. 1, it became one of Williams’s most frequently reissued sides and appears on key anthologies such as 40 Greatest Hits and Turn Back the Years: The Essential Hank Williams Collection. The B-side, “I’m Sorry for You, My Friend,” also attracted attention in its own right, reinforcing the single’s overall impact.
The song’s influence has extended well beyond Williams’s own recording. In 1980, Charley Pride took his cover of “Honky Tonk Blues” to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, introducing the composition to a new generation of listeners. The piece has also been recorded by artists as diverse as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Waylon Jennings, Huey Lewis and the News, Pirates of the Mississippi and Don Williams, among others, demonstrating its adaptability across country, rock and roots-music contexts.
Within Hank Williams’s catalogue, “Honky Tonk Blues” is often cited as one of the clearest expressions of the honky-tonk lifestyle he both lived and documented. The storyline of leaving the farm for the allure of bars and dance halls, only to become weary and long for home, echoes the experience of many rural Southerners in the postwar years. Together with songs like “Honky Tonkin’,” “Mind Your Own Business” and “Move It On Over,” it helps define the sound and subject matter that made Williams a central figure in the development of modern country music.
Video
Lyric
Well I left my home down on the rural route
I told my paw I’m going steppin out and get the
Honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got ’em,
I got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.
Well I went to a dance and I wore out my shoes
Woke up this mornin wishin I could lose
Them jumpin honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got ’em,
I got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.
Well I stopped into every place in town
This city life has really got me down
I got the honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got em,
got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.
I’m gonna tuck my worries underneath my arm
And scat right back to my pappy’s farm
And leave these honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got ’em,
I got the ho-on-ky tonk blues