A cheap, informal bar or nightclub, especially one associated with jazz or blues music, or a building where barrels are stored.
From barrel plus house. The entertainment meaning originated in late 1800s America from speakeasies or informal saloons that stored their liquor in barrels, often located in rough warehouse districts.
Barrelhouse blues is a rawer, wilder style of piano blues that emerged in rough saloons around New Orleans and Memphis—the name perfectly captures the gritty, no-frills energy of these places where working people went to escape.
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