The Inventor of “Honky-Tonk” Who Changed Country Music (May 13, 2026)
by Scott Sosebee
I enjoy all genres of music, even a little early hip-hop, which is—I think—rare for someone of my advanced age, but I suppose if you put me on the spot and asked me to name my favorite kind of music it would be country music (but not what passes for country today, primarily because I can’t figure out where it falls). Country, of course, comes in all kinds of shapes and formats from, the hard 4/4 rhythm of the “Bakersfield Sound,” the pop influenced “Countrypolitan” of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the rock-tinged beats of the “Outlaw Movement” that defined the genre in the 1970s and early 1980s. One sub-field of the music that has persisted and still finds a home in the Americana category today is what is usually called the “honky-tonk” sound, a definite sound that was born in Texas “beer joints” in the 1930s and 1940s. You know you are hearing a “honky-tonk” song when it’s a driving, upbeat rhythm combined with lyrics that almost cry about how life has become a struggle. It is a sound that leans heavily on a pedal steel guitar, the fiddle (and more distinctly a “Texas fiddle”), and a strong lead electric guitar. When anyone begins to discuss “honky-tonk” tunes, there are always a few names that rise to the beginning of the discussion, giants such as Lefty Frizzel, Webb Pierce, George Jones, and—to me, at least—the greatest of them all Ernest Tubb. One name that you do not hear but should is Al Dexter. In fact, I’m willing to bet that most people have never heard of this influential East Texan. That’s a shame because we can rightfully point to Dexter as the inventor of the honky-tonk sound, the most pervasive country sub-genre there has ever been.
Clarence Albert Poindexter was born in Jacksonville, Texas on May 4, 1902. Poindexter’s father worked in a number of laboring jobs, mostly as a carpenter/handyman, and his son followed him into that life, working at various times as a house-painter and day-laborer on construction jobs. It was a living, for sure, but not one that would be characterized as comfortable, so to make ends meet, Poindexter turned to something else that he had showed a talent for—music. As a young boy, Poindexter had begun to teach himself various instruments such as the guitar, the banjo, and the harmonica. Using those talents, Poindexter—who decided to then adopt the “stage name” of Al Dexter—began to play around his East Texas home at square-dances, reunions, and in churches.
Dexter’s part-time job became more important when the country was plunged into the Great Depression in 1929, and generally by the end of 1930 Texas had certainly begun to feel its effects. East Texas was one of the hardest hit, and Dexter’s gigs at local venues began to become his primary source of income. The onset of the Depression in East Texas also coincided with something else that would change the young musician’s life. When Columbus “Dad” Joiner brought in the giant East Texas oilfield with his Daisy Bradford #3 gusher just outside of Henderson in Rusk County, almost overnight the entire region was inundated with speculators hoping to cash in on the growing oil boom. While most of those who came to East Texas in the 1930s arrived to try their luck in the oil fields, others capitalized on servicing those workers. Dexter was one of the latter. He had begun to save a little money, and he also recognized the need. When those roughnecks and tool-pushers finished their day’s toil in the oil patch they often looked for a place to quench their thirst and do a little unwinding. Dexter understood those men as he was essentially one of them, so he took his savings and bought a small building in Turnertown, the community that was established at the intersection of State Highways 42 and 64 in response to the growing oilfield activity.
Dexter’s little beer joint and dancehall was successful, partly because of the needs of the men it served, but also because of the man and his band that played in his joint. He crafted a sound the men wanted to hear. Like so many musicians of his day and region, Dexter was keenly aware of the African American sound that would be called the “blues.” He combined those blues with the traditional instruments and arrangement of country music and that sound became his primary songs. Dexter grew to be one of the most popular performers in the region, and that led him to a small recording studio in Longview, where he recorded a song he wrote titled “Honky-Tonk Blues” in 1936, which led to a contract with Columbia Records. According to most music historians, it was “Honky-Tonk Blues” that was the first utterance of that term and defined the genre.
With his contract in hand, as well as a hit record, Dexter looked to have his career take off. Unfortunately, that did not happen until seven years later when he had another hit with “Pistol Packin’ Mama.” The record would end up selling over three million copies—quite the achievement in 1943—and would go to #1 on both the Pop and country charts. It even led Dexter to Broadway, the first country star to appear on the Great White Way, and it also became the basis for a 1943 movie. Dexter became a wealthy man, earning almost $300,000 in royalties.
While he would never have another hit of the magnitude of “Piston Packin’ Mama,” Dexter would have a number of country hits throughout the remainder of the 1940s. But, by the 1950s he had stopped performing and concentrated on other business interests he had, mostly in real estate in Dallas. Al Dexter died in 1971, largely forgotten by the country music establishment, but the genre he pioneered had continued to live on today.
The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee the Executive Director of the Association and can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu or via www.easttexashistorical.org.