In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, it wasn’t hard for country music fans to find great honky tonk songs. Certain artists recorded them often and honky tonk songs were (and still are) the perfect soundtrack for a night out at the bar. They are still out there, but they are a little harder to find these days.
Luckily, Eli Locke is one of those who does them very well. He was born in Northern California and lived in LA for a while. He’s taken a similar path as Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, two artists who were played in lot in his house when he was growing up because his dad was a big fan. He added that a lot of the music he likes from the 80s and 90s drew from the music from the 60s and 70s.
Like some great country singers, he was first an athlete. He wanted to be in football, but he blew out both knees playing in high school. “I picked up a guitar because I needed something to do,” he said. The rest, as they say, is history.
Locke said he tried his hand at songwriting, but it was more of a poem at that time. He didn’t feel like he was truly songwriting until he started learning to play the guitar.
Now thriving in Nashville, Locke has already been recognized as a semi-finalist in American Songwriter’s Road Ready Contest. Even though he’s in Nashville now and modern country music can lean toward pop, the influence of the Bakersfield sound is evident in his songs.
His most recent single is called “In A Honky Tonk” and it is a fun uptempo song that explains why bars are so much fun. Locke said he’s always loved the honky tonk scene. “ I was talking to some buddies about my love for those kind of bars and it turned into us writing that song,” he said.
That’s a subject Locke knows quite a bit about since he’s spent a lot of time playing music in bars. He said he showed a friend around on his first day in Nashville and he wound up sitting in playing music and getting a gig. He said he played the bars on Broadway for a while. “Broadway can be hit or miss,” he said.
Locke said he started writing more songs after moving to Nashville. He added that the co-writing scene in Nashville is a lot of fun because it gives you a lot of different perspectives.
Locke plans to tour in the spring. Until then. He is working on getting his EP together. There will be five songs on it. Three of those songs have been released as singles and the other two have not.
People can find more information about Locke, his music and his tour at www.elilocke.com. He can also be found on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.