Jukes and Tonks

Whether their cover bands play Willie Dixon or Willie Nelson, juke joints and honky-tonks appeal to hardworking men and women looking for a good time. Offering hot music, cheap food, and generous amounts of liquor, jukes and tonks are often a community’s unofficial gathering spot, where Saturday nights are spent committing the sins church leaders rail against the following morning.

The stories in Jukes & Tonks introduce readers to many sinners and few saints, to love newly found and love gone wrong, and to all manner of unsavory criminal endeavors. What these stories share is their ability to plunge readers into worlds where the music pulsing from the compact stage — if there’s a stage at all — provides the backbeat for tales that are unsparing, heartbreaking, twisty, and sometimes as dark as the night itself. The blinking sign advertising live music becomes an invitation to the unexpected.

Contributors include Trey R. Barker, Michael Bracken, Jonathan Brown, S.A. Cosby, John M. Floyd, Debra H. Goldstein, Gar Anthony Haywood, Penny Mickelbury, Gary Phillips, William Dylan Powell, Kimberly B. Richardson, and Stacy Woodson.