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It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday, and your regular crowd is ready to hit the town for a drink. Maybe it’s a girls’ night out or you’re just heading out on the town with that friend of yours who likes to sing to the car radio. Whatever the case, it never hurts to pay a visit to the piano man. Piano bars are the perfect place to lock arms, put some bread in the pianist’s jar, and ask, “Man, what are you doing here?”

In the historic part of downtown Waco, just off of Austin Avenue, hides a rather inconspicuous piano bar called Treff’s Bar and Grill.

From the outside it looks like any other hole-in-the-wall sports bar. However, head up the stairs and through the main hub of the bar, and then enter a long room that slopes gently downward toward a stage. The tables and booths that line the walls create a comfortable seating area, perfect for watching the piano action every Thursday night and some Saturdays. Attentive, friendly cocktail waitresses allow you to keep your eye on the piano while making love to your tonic and gin.

If you live north of downtown Austin and don’t feel like fighting with big rigs on I-35, your prayers have been answered.

Merkaba Lounge and Grill calls itself “a little bit of the Warehouse District up north” and manages to deliver on its promise: clean concrete floors and leather-accented seating give an urban-chic feel, making it easy to think you’ve somehow ended up on Fourth Street in downtown Austin. The bar itself is huge, with a smaller front stage spotlighting a baby grand digital piano and a stage in the back where local talent performs on the weekends. On Tuesdays, Merkaba has a full piano bar show that kicks off at 10 p.m. With $7 domestic pitchers and $3 you-call-its, you’ll certainly be in the mood for a melody.

The cornerstone of piano bars, Howl at the Moon on the River Walk is not your grandmother’s piano bar—it’s a raucous live experience.

Every night, several musicians rotate between two dueling pianos and other assorted instruments, playing everything from Journey to the Beastie Boys. The atmosphere is energetic, especially on weekends, when bachelorette and bachelor parties alike flock to the venue to request their favorite songs. For a few bucks, you can have whatever phrase you want written on a mirror behind the musicians (albeit rather sloppily) for the entire bar to see—things like “I love Jenny” or “Dude, where’s my car?” Others can outbid your request by paying a higher sum, and then suddenly “I love Jenny” is replaced with “Jenny doesn’t love you.” This back-and-forth can go on all night, with the bidding getting up into the hundreds of dollars. Meanwhile the musicians continue to play, taking turns at the piano and showcasing their different vocal stylings. Just like the original piano man, by the end of the night Howl at the Moon will have you feeling all right.