SOMEWHERE BENEATH THE METROPOLITAN trappings of glass and concrete, far away from the urbane side effects of progress, lies the primal spirit of Dallas. A century ago, Dallas was smack-dab in the center of the myth that made Texas. Back then, driving on the range didn’t mean whacking balls with Taylor Made clubs. And cowboys rarely held out for contracts that would cover more than food and shelter. Now, time and progress have arrested the myth, but when the sun goes down it can be recaptured in a few select spots all across town. You just have to know where to look. ☆ Take the honky-tonk, for instance. It is a genuine cultural treasure of the Lone Star State-and one of the few places left in this city where outsiders can visit and still feel like they’re west of the Mississippi. Spend the day at the Dallas Museum of Art, you could be anywhere. Spend the night in a honky-tonk, and there’s no mistaking it-you’re in Texas. ☆ The simple purpose of a honky-tonk is its greatest asset: to provide cold beer and country music so people can have a good time. Making life fun is what it’s all about.
Honky-tonkin’ nearly died out in the early ’80s. The Urban Cowboys retreated to suburbia. Bud and Sissy bought a Volvo. The death knell tolled when Kenny Rogers became the artistic vanguard of country music. As country music degenerated into a lounge act, the honky-tonk suffered a crippling loss of public interest and support. Gilley’s, of Urban Cowboy fame, burned to the ground, Even the legendary Armadillo in Austin closed its doors. These were truly the Dark Ages for the Texas honky-tonk.
You can thank George Strait for setting things right. The sappy, easy-listening sounds of elevator country gave way to tradition. Bob Wills and Hank Williams would have been proud. By the end of the ’80s country and western music experienced a Redneck Renaissance. Record sales increased, and the honky-tonk business boomed again. Still, country music was a musical stepchild to most Dallasites.
Then along came Garth Brooks.
Kids and parents, doctors and cowboys, college students and high-school dropouts have all tuned in to Brooks-and country is cool again.
The Redneck Renaissance in the music industry has translated into the rebirth of honky-tonkin’. Honky-tonks have shed the stereotypes that once attracted the toothless and the smelly. Today, the most attractive specimens of human creation are scattered all over the dance floors of Dallas. Now, everybody wants to two-step.
If you’re not a native son or daughter, don’t worry. Ninety-five percent of the people dancing and drinking under the neon moon are just like you, playing cowboy for the evening. Come Monday morning they’ll be back at the office, far away from the ranch they appeared to have come from Friday night.
To feel at home in any honky-tonk, it’s a good idea to look like family. Find some boots (sans shiny tips), starch your Wranglers and don’t forget the hat. Boom! You’re an instant honky-tonk homeboy ready to Cotton-Eyed Joe across the first dance floor you come to.
For the Ultimate Honky Tonk-Tour, we’ve experienced honky-tonkin’ from all angles. The clubs run die gamut from the off-the-beaten-path roadhouse to Big D boot-scootin’ palaces. Escape Central Expressway and the urban complexities that make you forget where you are. Remember, nowhere else but Texas.
It’s no secret that the Top Rail is the quintessential Dallas honky-tonk. Dance halls come and go, but for 58 years the Top Rail has been a fixture in country night life. The bulk of the crowd consists of your average working-class Joes. While the club caters to a hard-core set of honky-tonk regulars, any good ol’ boy or girl will feel at ease here. What sets the Top Rail apart from the pack is basic: Some clubs try to be a honky-tonk, the Top Rail is a honky-tonk. On Wednesday nights the Top Rail hosts a pool tournament. On any other night an anonymous band plays live country music for dancing, and the folks, in the words of Clint Black, “laugh, drink beer, shoot pool and have a ball.” 2110 W. Northwest Hwy. 556-9099.
If you’re looking for a honky tonk with zero culture shock then Borrowed. Money is the place. From the parking lot you can tell a whole lot about a honky-tonk. Here there are very few pickup trucks (the vehicle of choice of the honky-tonk faithful) and a lot of foreign sports cars. Borrowed Money attracts the attractive, who are not necessarily concerned with preserving the rednecked integrity of a traditional honky-tonk. This honky-tonk has a style all its own and on weekends it’s packed with fashion ranchers and poster cowgirls. 9100 N. Central, at Park. 949-CASH.
Any place that brings in Gary Stewart to play can’t be half bad, and Cow boys has him a few times a year. Located in a former strip mall, Cowboys has the size and style of a worldclass honky-tonk. On weekend nights you can catch some of country music’s hottest rising stars. Even without top-name entertainment, Cowboys would be one of Dallas’ best honky-tonks. There is plenty of room, and the music is worth dancing to. If you start feeling naked without a standard issue Resistol or forget to wear any essential element of honky-tonk apparel, not to worry, Cowboys has a western wear .store out front. This is full-service honky-tonkin’. 7331 Gaston. 321-0115.
The Red Onion is a hole-in-the-wall type of honky-tonk. If Mike Hammer were a redneck, this might be one of his favorite dives. Enjoying a place like the Red Onion is easy if you bring a few friends along. You won’t know anyone here, you won’t meet anyone here, but the club has character. To get in the door you climb a rickety stairwell reminiscent of Prohibition-era moonshine halls. The band is usually a country garage mix of pickers with day jobs. The crowd is small, friendly and unobtrusive. The Red Onion shouldn’t be the first stop on your personal honky-tonk tour of Dallas, but don’t overlook it. It’s way up there on the grand scale of authentic honky-tonk subculture. 3211 Forest Lane in Garland. 487-9948.
The Broken Spoke, a brand-spanking-new dance hall outside The Colony, captures the feel of a genuine Texas honky-tonk. A neon glow highlights the primary decor of formerly living members of the animal kingdom. Nestled between two pastures, The Broken Spoke has all the amenities of a big Dallas dance hall in a rural setting. The people here don’t have to pretend to be good ol’ boys, they are. No pretense. No bull. Club owner Jim Butler says the bands at his club play “just about 100 percent country music.” That alone makes the trip worth your while. Located at the intersection of FM720 and FM423 (the main streets of Frisco and The Colony). 335-3444.
Borrowed Money’s Crystal Chandelier is far enough from Dallas to be a classic honky-tonk. The only similarity to its North Dallas cousin is the name. Pickup trucks fill the parking lot. The walls are lined with paintings of legendary country musicians. Hank Williams, the man who made honky-tonkin’ a household word, has a wall to himself. The Crystal Chandelier is a special place for folks who revere tradition and eschew “progress.” The atmosphere here is always lively thanks to good live bands and an excellent DJ. The dance hall doctor, “Doc” Gonzales, uses a keen party instinct to keep the crowd dancing all night long. The Crystal Chandelier is what honky-tonkin’ is all about. 1-35 at Bear Creek, Lancaster. 223-5898.
Unlike hipster dance clubs that strive to swim against the stream, a good honky-tonk rarely strays from tradition. Stampede provides the necessary staples of pool tables, bars, neon and country music and tops it off as a good place to eat. Stampede maintains a honky-tonk atmosphere in a North Dallas setting. This is one of those rare places where you can go and forget 1-635 is right outside the door. On Friday and Saturday nights the club is open until 3 a.m. so you can get a few more dances in after everyone else has gone home. Stampede should be the first and last stop Ion your tour. 5818 LBJ at Preston Road. 701-8081.
Lee’s Silver Fox in Terrell is just close enough to Dallas to make the cut. As a honky-tonk, it’s near-perfect right where it’s at. The dance floor is the first thing that strikes you as you swagger through the door. Unlike most Dallas dance floors, this one’s as big as Texas. The live band on stage at the far end of the floor looks tiny until you waltz nearer the stage. It would take some folks two songs to get back where they started from. Another appealing feature of Lee’s Silver Fox is the crowd. The folks here are 90 percent more likely to have ridden a horse than anyone in any of Dallas’ prime honky-tonks. The Silver Fox merits the drive if you want to see what a down-home honky-tonk is really like. 1708 Hwy. 34 S., Terrell. 1-214-563-7643.
The best time to boot scoot at The Good Luck Rodeo is right now. During the summer The Good Luck is swamped with kids. Kids from the suburbs and kids from the trailer parks. Starting about midautumn The Good Luck becomes a training ground for neophyte honky-tonk queens and dandies. The music is mixed in a formal that pleases both the country faithful and those who have not yet been weaned from urban boom-boom music. What makes the Good Luck unique is that it truly appeals to good ol’ boys from both sides of the tracks. It’s a common ground where alien cultures interact. Worth a look. 542 E. Hwy. 121. Lewisville. 436-0631.
If the dance floor at Chances could accommodate the number of two-steppers waiting to whirl around the floor, it might well be the best of the big-city dance halls, Still, it’s is a prime spot to spend the night cutting the rug. Chances is relatively new, but its formula for fun has been tried and tested true. Like its sister, The Good Luck Rodeo, it appeals to an entire spectrum of people, ranging from honky-tonk regulars to those who wish they were. 9840 N. Central Expwy. at Walnut Hill. Suite 340. 696-0110.
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