Barmaid's Blues

Album: On The Ropes (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this song from the alt-country band's fourth album, an Old West barmaid shares tales of love and loss with her last patron of the night, recalling the oil man she could have married and the time when the outlaw Jesse James shot up the bar during a poker game.

    When Honeycutters frontwoman Amanda Anne Platt wrote the tune, she wasn't watching old Westerns or drowning her sorrows in a dusty bar. "I actually wrote that song in Florida of all places, around Destin," she told Songfacts. "I forget what town I was in, but there's this little festival that happens on the panhandle called 30A, which is the road that runs out there. A lot of the year it's kind of a resort. Everyone has condos and it's on the beach. It's very beautiful. But then in January they do this little songwriters festival because a lot of people aren't down there. So they put you up in these nice condos that nobody's living in and it's really fun. But I was down there by myself one year and I was just enjoying my huge fancy beach condo to myself. I think I had that line, 'All of the gunslingers have rings on their fingers.' I was playing that for a while. It was one of those things where the moment was right and I was like, I have this song now. Now I understand what this song is about and how it needs to come together, and I was able to sit down and write it."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Hawksley Workman

Hawksley WorkmanSongwriter Interviews

One of Canada's most popular and eclectic performers, Hawksley tells stories about his oldest songs, his plentiful side projects, and the ways that he keeps his songwriting fresh.

Penny Ford of Snap!

Penny Ford of Snap!Songwriter Interviews

The original voice of Snap! this story is filled with angry drag queens, video impersonators and Chaka Khan.

Queen

QueenFact or Fiction

Scaramouch, a hoople and a superhero soundtrack - see if you can spot the real Queen stories.

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up Musicians

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up MusiciansSong Writing

Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.

Jimmy Webb

Jimmy WebbSongwriter Interviews

Webb talks about his classic songs "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park."

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?