Honky Tonkin

Newly expanded to include work from recent years, Honky Tonk is as evocative and irresistible as the music itself.

Meet Hap and Leonard, the unlikely detective duo now on screen in the highly praised series starring James Purefoy, Michael K. Williams and Christina Hendricks. Hap and Leonard are not your typical private eyes. But what they lack in experience they make up with perseverance. Hap, a former 60s activist and self-proclaimed white trash rebel, and Leonard, a tough black, gay Vietnam vet, have finally decided to make their detective work official. Their first client: a mean old woman looking for her missing granddaughter. The girl used to work for a car dealership in town... but it seems like cars weren't the only things on offer. The mystery thickens to include blackmail, revenge, and an inbred family of hillbilly assassins who eliminate any threats to the operation. Only Hap and Leonard could turn a simple missing person case into a life-threatening showdown, and only Joe Lansdale could tell this story. Filled with hilarious dialogue, relentless pacing, and unorthodox characters, Honky Tonk Samurai is a rambunctious thrill ride by one hell of a writer.

One of the most beloved country music stars of all time gives us the first collection of her lyrics and, in her own words, tells the stories that inspired her most popular songs, such as "Coal Miner's Daughter," "Don't Come Home A' Drinkin'," and, of course, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl." Loretta Lynn's rags-to-riches story--from her hardscrabble childhood in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, through her marriage to Oliver "Doolittle" Lynn when she was thirteen, to her dramatic rise to the top of the charts--has resonated with countless fans throughout her more than fifty-year career. Now, the anecdotes she shares here give us deeper insight into her life, her collaborations, her influences, and how she pushed the boundaries of country music by discussing issues important to working-class women, even when they were considered taboo. Readers will also get a rare look at the singer's handwritten lyrics and at personal photographs from her childhood, of her family, and of her performing life. Honky Tonk Girl: A Life in Lyrics is one more way for Lynn's fans--those who already love her and those who soon will--to know the heart and mind of this remarkable woman.

One cowboy, one bar, one hell of a holiday! Praise for Carolyn Brown's country music romances: "You won't want to miss this boot scootin' contemporary full of sexy cowboys and sassy women."—The Romance Studio (My Give a Damn's Busted) She means business... Sharlene Waverly is determined to have the "new and improved" Honky Tonk up and running before the holiday. For that, she'll need Holt Jackson, the best darn carpenter in the state. But his warm, whisky-colored eyes make her insides melt, and before she knows it, she's sharing her darkest secrets and talking about the nightmares... He's determined to keep things professional... Holt Jackson needs the job at the Honky Tonk, but is completely unprepared to handle the beautiful new bar owner he's working for. Sharlene and Holt try like crazy to deny the sparks flying between them, but their love may just be the best Christmas present either one of them ever got. Praise for I Love This Bar: "Heart...sass...a lot of sparks and romance...country music. What more can I say? I really had fun with this book."—Red-Headed Book Child "Guaranteed to leave you countrified and satisfied!"—Love Romance Passion

Earthy, sexy, and vivacious, the life of beloved country singer, Patsy Cline, who soared from obscurity to international fame to tragic death in just thirty short years, is explored in colorful and poignant detail. An innovator--and even a hell-raiser--Cline broke all the boys' club barriers of Nashville's music business in the 1950s and brought a new Nashville sound to the nation with her pop hits and torch ballads like "Walking After Midnight," "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy." She is the subject of a major Hollywood movie and countless articles, and her albums are still selling 45 years after her death. Ellis Nassour was the very first to write about Cline and did so with the cooperation of the stars who knew and loved her--including Jimmy Dean, Jan Howard, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller, Dottie West, and Faron Young. He was the only writer to interview Cline's mother and husbands. This updated edition features not only a complete discography and a host of never-before-published photographs, but includes an afterword that details controversial claims about her birth, the battle between Cline's siblings for her possessions, the amazing influence Cline had on a new generation of singers and, in Cline's own words from letters to a devoted friend, her excitement as her career soared to new heights and her marriage descended to new depths.

From its beginnings as a railroad siding in 1887, Havre, Montana was a tough, wide-open town with plenty of saloons, gambling halls, opium dens, brothels, and cheap cribs. With the passage of Prohibition, it was a natural hub for smuggling illegal alcohol across the nearby Canadian border. Honky-Tonk Town tells the story of this wild and woolly frontier town.