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On rare occasions, a sense of the past is mated with a
fierce, intransigent vision of the future, and something new is born.
Something new like the music of Dwight Yoakam.
In
all his recorded work and stage performances, Dwight Yoakam's
music has been marked by an abiding affection for the purity of
traditional country's precedent, but never has it been straitjacketed by
a mindless fidelity that creates a vacuum in which a song withers and
dies. Dwight's understanding of country's past is one of the great
virtues of his music; his will to go the past one better – to up the
ante emotionally, to jump the energy level up several notches – is an
equally important virtue in the Yoakam canon. And his vision as a
songwriter continues to set him apart.
  Initially,
the Kentucky native burst onto the scene in the early '80s by driving an
alternate route of his own invention. Hailed as a "Renaissance
Man" by Time magazine, Dwight creates music that, according
to the Los Angeles Times, is "rooted in the rawest of country
traditions (Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, et al), but it's aggressively
contemporary without pandering to fleeting pop trends." Vanity
Fair has also noted: Yoakam strides the divide between rock's lust
and country's lament."
Dwight realized in the early days of his career that
he might need to find an alternate highway for his music. So he brought
his music to an unlikely audience – he roots rock fans of Los Angeles,
who were becoming conversant with a new breed of traditionalist through
the work of such local bands as Los Lobos, the Blasters and Lone
Justice, all of whom shared stages with Dwight. It was strange
chemistry, certainly, but Dwight stuck by his guns and achieved a new
audience for his heady combination of gutsy country emotion and rock 'n'
roll electricity.
That combination was also on view in his six-song 1984
debut EP "Guitars,
Cadillacs, Etc." – a record that attracted the
attention of devotees of rock's most progressive sounds. "Guitars,
Cadillacs," issued independently by a small Hollywood label, was
re-released in 1986, augmented by four new songs, on Reprise Records.
That album, and the six studio sets that followed it, encapsulate
Dwight's uncompromising approach to modern country. They are: "Hillbilly
Deluxe" (1987), "Buenos
Noches From A Lonely Room" (1988), "Just
Lookin' For A Hit" (1989), "If
There Was A Way" (1990) – all of which have sold more than 1
million units – plus "This
Time" (1993), Dwight's double-platinum bestseller, "Gone"
(1995).
Writing about the milestone "This
Time" in a four-star Rolling Stone lead review, Don
McLeese noted that the album "suggests that he has no contemporary
peer, that his emotional precision and command of nuance have attained a
kind of perfection."
Listeners within the music industry concurred:
"Ain't That Lonely Yet," the #1 top-selling single drawn from
that album, won a 1993 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male,
while the album's "Pocket Of A Clown" received a Grammy
nomination in the same category a year later. Dwight summed up his
career to date with 1995's "Dwight
Live," a smoking document of the last dates on his 1994
"This Time Tour" recorded at San Francisco's Warfield Theater.
Like all its precursors, this energetic concert recording captured his
dramatic melding of country roots and contemporary fervor.
Awards include --
- GRAMMY - Best Country Collaboration With Vocals 1998
- GRAMMY - Best Male Country Vocal Performance 1993
- Music City News Country - Vocal Collaboration of the Year 1989
- Academy of Country Music - Top New Male Vocalist 1986
Hit songs include --
- I Sang Dixie
- Streets of Bakersfield
- Ain't That Lonely Yet
- Fast As You
- A Thousand Miles From Nowhere
- Honky Tonk Man
- Guitars, Cadillacs
- I Got You
- You're the One
- Please, Please Baby
- It Only Hurts When I Cry
- Little Sister
- Little Ways
- Always Late (With Your Kisses)
- Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- Try Not to Look So Pretty
- Nothing's Changed Here
Dwight Yoakam may be available for your next special event!
For booking information, click
HERE!
Genre: Country
Styles:
.Alternative Country.
.Bakersfield Sound.
.Country-Rock.
.New Traditionalist.
.Country-Pop.
.Neo-Traditionalist.Years active:
..80s, ..90s, ..00s
Born: ..in Kentucky
..in Pikeville
Oct 23, 1956
Based: ..in California
..in Los Angeles
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