Pull up your cowboy boots and join the Talking Hearts and the Ben Wetherbee Honky-Tonk Band for Honky Tonk Holiday in the Arts at the Armory Ballroom on Thursday, December 3. With a 30-minute Blackout Country Dancing lesson before the show, you’ll be sure to two step the night away. Y’all come!

Doors 7:00 / Dance Lesson 7:30 / Showtime 8:00

The Talking Hearts are a cutting-edge honky tonk band from Boston. Channeling the spirit of country music icons Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, and George Jones, the Talking Hearts play witty and relatable ‘psychoanalytic country’ songs written by fiddler Rachel Rosenberg about folks who’ve done her wrong. Their new album, Memory Lane, showcases what No Depression calls “smart, catchy songs” featuring the “spine-tingling, high lonesome” three-part harmony singing of Rachel, Zach Meyer (mandolin) and Sophie Wellington (guitar) while bassist Dan Bui and drummer Mike Harmon lay down an infectious rhythmic groove and Alex Formento adds that sweet lonesome texture on pedal steel or telecaster. The Talking Hearts have brought two-step tradition home, becoming locally known for their popular Honky Tonk Tuesday residency in Somerville’s Burren Backroom. At their lively shows, the Hearts will get you on your feet in no time with their catchy originals and favorite classic country gems.

The Ben Wetherbee Honky-Tonk Band is five-piece band based right here in Somerville! They play classic country and originals sung by bandleader Ben Wetherbee (fiddle, guitar, vocals) alongside Alex Formento (pedal steel), Troy Caruana (lead guitar), Joe Everett (bass), and Matt Garvin (drums). Their country grooves soaked in funk, surf, swing, Cajun and Zydeco get their audiences dancing every time as blazing telecaster, pedal steel, and fiddle solos rock the crowd.