"I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" is the debut single by American country music artist Loretta Lynn, released in March 1960. The song was among the first to not only be recorded by Lynn, but also to be penned by her. She composed the song while living in Washington State, maintaining her role as a housewife and occasional member of a local country music band. The composition was later recorded in California after Lynn was given money by a local businessman, who was impressed by her singing. "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" was then issued as a single under the newly founded and independent Zero Records label in March 1960. "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" was self-promoted by Lynn and her husband, driving from one radio station to another. The effort paid off by that summer when it peaked at #14 on the Billboard country songs chart. The story behind the song's promotion became one of the trademarks of Lynn's career. Its story was profiled in the 1980 film about her life Coal Miner's Daughter and has been covered by other artists. "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" has since received positive praise from music critics and writers alike, who have credited the song as being one of her signature tunes. Background and composition Lynn was inspired to compose "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" from a woman she met while performing in a club in Washington state. As the woman became more intoxicated, she would tell Lynn more details of her story and would cry uncontrollably. The woman told Lynn of how her husband had left her for another woman. The pair developed a friendship that would last for several years. Lynn then wrote the song while leaning up against her home's bathroom toilet seat in twenty minutes, using a seventeen dollar guitar that her husband bought her as an anniversary present. She recounted the song's composition in 2010, "I just sat down with my guitar...I was outside and leaning up against the toilet in Washington State. And I sat there and wrote 'Honky Tonk Girl' and 'Whispering Sea.'" "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" was recorded in the style of the Bakersfield Sound and had a "west coast shuffle". Named after the California town of the same name, the Bakersfield Sound was a unique style of country music that was characterized by electric guitars that created a "clear" and "ringing" quality. The