As our sister blog Eating...Our Words does, from time to time Rocks Off will be giving your our picks for the top taverns in various Houston-area neighborhoods. Of course, the lines can be porous, but here anything with a TABC license that cannot reasonably be considered either a restaurant, coffeehouse or live-music venue is fair game.
10. ALICE'S TALL TEXAN The Tall Texan is an interesting place: a true honky-tonk saloon smack dab in the middle of the city. It's everything we love about Texas, from the jukebox full of killer Texas tunes to the abundance of Lone Star and Shiner served in big glass goblets about the size of our state. Tall Texan, we salute you for doing Texas right all these years.
4904 N. Main
9. REDNECK COUNTRY CLUB It would be a little bit silly for us to leave off a place that claims its workin'-man-honky-tonk roots right in its name, but luckily Redneck Country Club gave us a little more to work with than that. Between Sammy Kershaw bookings and the gun-themed membership levels, this "country club" is every bit a Texas honky-tonk -- a relatively new honky-tonk, mind you, but a honky-tonk nonetheless. If there's one thing that Michael Berry knows well, it's Texas, and since he's behind the RCC, it was bound to be country as a turnip green.
11110 W. Airport, theredneckcountryclub.com
8. BIG TEXAS DANCEHALL & SALOON (SPRING/CLEAR LAKE) Big Texas is a double-yer-fun honky-tonk, with two massive locations out in Spring and down by Clear Lake, this place has your Texas-country needs covered. We mean that, too -- whether it's Wade Bowen or Scooter Brown Band, Big Texas is bound to have someone up on that stage, singing his or her heart out for your two-steppin' pleasure. Be sure to tip your hat to them next time you go, whether north or south. they're keeping the inner-loop snuggled up on both sides with plenty of good ol' country music, which is ultimately kind of awesome.
19959 Holzwarth, 281-353-8898 (Spring)/803 E. NASA Rd. 1, Ste. 140 (Clear Lake), 281-461-4400, bigtexassaloon.com
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