The ongoing discussion about piano music in old west saloons has been
very enjoyable.  The local saloon is pretty much a standard fixture in
every western movie.  Besides "A Hot Time in the Old Town," I think
I've heard Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races" and "Oh Susanna!" in the
saloon scenes more times than I can remember.  But, I feel that the old
west saloon piano is more of a nice cinematic touch rather than fact.

Only the most established and prosperous saloons in the more populated
areas could afford a piano, let alone a piano player and attractive
singer.  Saloons in the most remote areas inaccessible by railroad
likely did not have pianos.  Can you imagine transporting a piano by
mule and wagon over unpaved roads -- if you could find a road?  By the
time the piano reached its destination, it would have been bounced
around so much, it would be in pieces and unplayable.  (Instead of a
western about the sheriff rescuing the town, how about a movie about
the piano tuner/tech who rescues the dying pianos?  - "Blazing Tuning
Forks")!

 [ He rides into town on a Yamaha motorcycle -- which already
 [ features the logo of three tuning forks! -- and challenges those
 [ bad piano-pounders, Honda and Harley, to a string changing battle.
 [ Don't miss the finale, "Tune Out at O-K Corral"!   ;-)  -- Robbie

All (or most) kidding aside, the saloon pianists of the old west
probably knew more songs than the meager selection heard in movie
westerns.  "Hot Time" and the Foster tunes are frequently chosen
because of their recognizability to today's audiences.

So what songs were heard in the old saloons?  It is very possible that
the tunes of Stephen Foster (1826-1864) were heard due to the time
frame.  But by the 1870's - 1880's, Foster's tunes were starting to get
stale and customers probably wanted to hear something new.  A quick
search for songs heard in old west saloons revealed the following
information:

  "When evening came on, the strains of fiddles sang through the
  night air as the cowhands paired up the bar girls for a wild, foot-
  stomping night of frontier dancing.  Or, if the town was really up
  to date, a brass band on a saloon balcony might begin blatting out
  a favorite melody such as 'The Lakes of Killarney' or 'The Girl
  I Left Behind Me', while next door a piano player might be tinkling
  the popular tune 'Pop Goes the Weasel.'" ("The Cowboys" Time-Life
  Books, ca. 1973).

"Pop Goes the Weasel" is considered a children's tune today, but in
the 1870's, it was popular with adults.

Pianos existed in the old west, but only during the later period.  The
earliest, [True] grittiest days of frontier settlement were piano-less.
Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun!

Joyce Brite, Kansas
(Home of the real old west cowtowns of Dodge City, Abilene and Wichita)