"American Honky-Tonk Bar Association" is the title of a song written by Bryan Kennedy and Jim Rushing, and recorded by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 country music singer Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

. It was released in September 1993 as the second single from his album, In Pieces

In Pieces

In Pieces is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was released on August 31, 1993. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart. It was also a huge hit outside the United States. In Great Britain it was Brooks' highest placed album on...

. The song reached the top of the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

 Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

) chart.

Background

The song was originally titled "American Redneck Bar Association.". Garth provided the following background information on the song in the CD booklet liner notes from The Hits:

"AHBA' is definitely one of the livelier moments in our live show. The two writers of this song are not only great artists but have been extremely good friends to me since I moved to Nashville. Jim Rushing's style of music like 'Sometimes Silence Says It All," I think, is what country music is all about. Bryan Kennedy is one of the first guys I met at The Bluebird Cafe and he introduced me to his dad, Jerry Kennedy, who has been very, very good to me. Here's to Jim Rushing at his great country music. Here's to Bryan Kennedy... for his great friendship. And here's to great horses, firm handshakes and great cods."

Content

This song is a mid-tempo honky-tonk anthem that compares bars to fraternal organisations or support groups for blue collar

Blue collar

Blue collar can refer to:*Blue-collar worker, a traditional designation of the working class*Blue-collar crime, the types of crimes typically associated with the working class*A census designation...

 people. The name is a play on the American Bar Association

American Bar Association

The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

.

Critical reception

Mike Greenblatt of Modern Screen's Country Music referred to the song as a "modern day redneck

Redneck

Redneck is a historically derogatory slang term used in reference to poor, uneducated white farmers, especially from the southern United States...

classic sung with a snarl and a smile— except that ill-advised line about welfare recipients."

Chart positions

Chart (1993)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	2