Alive and Kickin'

The term "honky-tonk" holds a special place in country music. When outlaw country was at its peak in the early and mid-70s, towns such as Luckenbach, Texas became known for the rough and rowdy shacks on the outskirts of town. People went to honky tonks for good music and a wild time-the same reasons people pile into the Snorty Horse Saloon on North Kentwood Avenue. In many ways, Springfield might finally have a little of Luckenbach in it.

As owner Steve Green, 31, gives a guided tour, one can see little Luckenbach-like details everywhere. There's a pyramid of Stag beer cans stacked on the south wall, just above a wall-length row of empty Jägermeister bottles. On the room's north end, there's a female mannequin, dressed in a T-shirt and Peterbilt belt buckle, shrouded in Crown Royal bottle sleeves. Did we mention customers here like an adult beverage now and then?

But the party is only half the story. Green says the Snorty Horse is about music-none of which you'll hear on a country station. The bands that play here are "Red Dirt" artists, a genre of country from Oklahoma and Texas that embodies the "f*** Nashville" spirit of alt-country and outlaw country before it. The music, like the bar, is for music fans, Green says.

Green should know; he's a fan himself. Before he discovered Red Dirt music, Green wanted to use his Doctorate in large animal genetics from the University of Arkansas. When Green went to the Hangover Ball at the Wormy Dog Saloon in Oklahoma City three years ago, however, he realized a Red Dirt venue could make money. The first Snorty Horse-located in Mount Vernon, just down I-44-went from run-down and rowdy to successful, but Green wanted space for small and large concerts alike. The Lucky 7 inside the Hotel 7, with its separate bar and concert hall, were a perfect fit, Green says. Although there was a shooting at the Hotel 7 (now called the Budget Lodge) last January, Green says he wasn't concerned about the location's past. "We'd already proven we could get people to come out to wherever we opened," Green says.

As he shows a table placed in front of the stage ostensibly for women to dance on during shows, Green explains the most important lesson he has learned: Better bands mean less trouble in the bar. With that in mind, he books some of the most prominent names in Red Dirt, including Cross Canadian Ragweed, who play at the Snorty Horse on January 24. (See our Agenda spotlight on p. 25 for more). The bar will even welcome Ray Wylie Hubbard on February 16; Hubbard wrote the song "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother," made famous by outlaw country singer Jerry Jeff Walker on the album Viva Terlingua! The album was recorded live in a honky tonk in Luckenbach, Texas. Imagine that.


Randy Rogers Band w/ The South 40 Band
Thursday, January 18
$10, 8 p.m.
3050 N. Kentwood Ave.
417-833-6700
snortyhorse.com