Chip Deffaa: Down in Honky Tonk Town

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Chip Deffaa

Down in Honky Tonk Town

(Garrett Mountain Records)

March 27, 2026

Reviewed by Jacqueline Parker

After you hear the opening notes of this CD, your toes will be tapping and your shoulders shaking mostly to the songs of the bygone era that bookended the Great Depression.  Chip Deffaa is our guide to Down in Honky Tonk Town, and there’s no better person to take us on this journey. He has produced almost 50 albums and has written plays and books, several of which pay homage to two titans of that time—George M. Cohan and Irving Berlin; these are loving tributes to the music of those early years.

Deffaa is on each track, and peppers them with either personal reminiscences or anecdotal tidbits. The singers who join him share his enthusiasm for this material. He performs solo on the opening number “Cake Walking Babies from Home” (Chris Smith/Henry Troy) and the title tune (Chas McCarron and Chris Smith). And if you’re wondering what made Mamie Flamin’—“Flamin’ Mamie” (Fred Rose/Paul Whiteman)—or Katie worth waiting for—“Waitin’ for Katie (Gus Kahn/Ted Shapiro)—this CD is a must for you. When you hear Deffaa describe “Last Night on the Back Porch” (Lew Brown/Carl Schraubstader), everything will fall into place.

There are a few numbers from nearer the end of the past century: “Glen Rock Blues” (Jimmy Vivino) does not seem out of place in this lineup nor does and “High Hopes” (Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen), on which Deffaa’s partner is the charming Jesse Gellert.

There’s a familial feeling throughout this album, perhaps because Deffaa refers to his participants as his musical family. An unabashed sentimentality pervades this album, but it is never cloying, mawkish, or disconcerting. Rather, it is like being in the warm embrace of a favorite relative. Deffaa is not a trained singer, but still he’s a superb interpreter of this music, much like Rex Harrison, who won a Tony Award for his performance in My Fair Lady.

Listeners are skillfully brought back to the not-so-joyous aspects of the time of World War I. After an introduction that makes the poignancy of “Till We Meet Again” (Raymond B. Egan/ Richard Whiting) crystal clear, Deffaa shares the spotlight with Santa Claire Hirsch in a touching duet that captures the heartache of sending a loved one to war.

There are more than two dozen songs on this treasure, most of which offer a peek into a time few of us know firsthand. We are brought back home, so to speak, with a rousing rendition of a Jerry Herman favorite “The Best of Times,” performed by Deffaa and Lee Roy Reams.

There are too many superb performers to list here, both musicians and singers. Richard Danley is music director/pianist, and singer Jon Peterson, star of Deffaa’s George M. Cohan show, is a joy. This CD, like aIl of Defffaa’s efforts, is crammed full of musical and historical delights. It was nominated for a highly coveted MAC Award as one of the year’s outstanding major recordings. He always delivers more than is expected. If you don’t know Deffaa’s work, now’s really “The Best of Times” to discover it!

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Jacqueline Parker

Like Ethel Merman, lifelong New Yorker Jacqueline Parker began her career as a stenographer. She spent more than two decades at the city's premier public agency, progressing through positions of increased responsibility after earning her BA in English from New York University (3.5 GPA/Dean’s List). She won national awards for her work in public relations and communication and had the privilege of working in the House of Commons for Stephen Ross, later Lord Ross of Newport. In the second half of her career, Jacqueline brought her innate organizational skills and creative talents to a variety of positions. While distinguishing herself in executive search, she also gave her talents to publishing, politics, writing, radio broadcasting and Delmonico's Restaurant. Most recently, she hosted Anything Goes! a radio show that paid homage to Cole Porter and by extension the world of Broadway musicals and the Great American Songbook. Other features of the show were New York living, classical music, books, restaurants, architecture and politics. This show highlighted the current Broadway scene, both in New York and around the country through performances and interviews with luminaries including Len Cariou, Charles Strouse, Laura Osnes, Steve Ross and Joan Copeland. Her pandemic project was immersion into the life, times and work of Alfred Hitchcock, about whom she has written a soon-to-be-published article. Jacqueline has been involved in a myriad of charitable causes, most notably the Walt Frazier Youth Foundation, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Sisters of Life, York Theatre, and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. She is a proud Founder of Hidden Water. Her greatest accomplishment is the parenting of her son, a lawyer specializing in mediation. She has many pretend grandchildren, nieces and nephews, on whom she dotes shamelessly, as well as a large circle of friends to whom she is devoted. Her interests in addition to theater and cabaret are cooking, entertaining, reading, and spending time on Queen Mary 2.