Honky Tonk: Portraits of Country Music 1972-1981

by Henry Horenstein, Eddie Stubbs (Foreword), Charles McGovern (Afterword)

In the 1970s, Henry Horenstein was a young photographer who shot album covers for Rounder Records. In his off-hours, he immersed himself in country music at the show venues, music parks, and the rural saloons that coursed with the music and its rough-and-tumble lifestyle, otherwise known as honky tonks. With over 100 incomparable duotone photographs, Honky Tonk captures the heart of the country music experience during a period of transition, as the friendly familiarity of the scene -- from the huge hall of the Grand Ole Opry to the family vacation camps -- took on a more commercial polish. Disarming portraits of legends such as Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton, and Waylon Jennings brush up against shots of the workaday fans who kept the scene alive. Offering an intimate glimpse into country music as it was performed and enjoyed, these photographs capture a true slice of American life where artists and fans converged to enjoy music and strut their stuff.

Genres: Music, Photography, Art

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Henry Horenstein (b. 1947, Boston) is an American artist photographer. Henry Horenstein has worked as a photographer, teacher and author since the early 1970s. He is the author of over 30 books, including a series of photographic textbooks that have been used by hundreds of thousands of students over the past 30 years. In 2003, Chronicle Books published Honky Tonk, Horenstein's documentary survey of country music during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Honk Tonk was also presented as an exhibition by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2006. His work has been collected by many institutions including the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.; the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Library of Congress; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Henry Horenstein current lives in Boston and teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Reviews

[Simeon Readingape]

SIMEON SAYS: I still can't believe we found this beautiful item in a second hand bookstore in Noosa; one minute were wading through romance, out of date atlases and westerns, then suddenly we're in Tootsies Orchid Lounge, Nashville Tennessee 1974, drunk out of our minds.

"With a visual directness that affectionately captures period details, Honky Tonk is a time capsule of an important era in country music: the graying of the first great generation country artists, but before the outlaws, urban cowboys, and a multibillion-dollar entertainment industry".

This book does what it says on the box, less than ten bucks I think we paid! Would've gone five times that so nice score for the Captain's Library.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorites: Tom Taylor, brother of Earl Taylor
at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, 1974... a great shot of Roscoe Holcomb... and this guy.