Dwight Yoakam had the look: long and lean with the big cowboy hat and the facial demeanor that suggested lonely and liking it. He had the voice: that extra little twang that suggests an education away from the schoolhouse.
If you have yet to see Wedding Crashers, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson play a pair of irreverent marriage counselors, and the opening scene is a funny mediation session between the lead characters and a couple in the midst of an ugly divorce and their lawyers. You have to pay attention, because the scene is dominated by Vaughn and Wilson, but Dwight Yoakam plays the future ex-husband who is about to lose his frequent flyer miles.
In the mid-1980s, Time magazine called Dwight Yoakam a renaissance man. A renaissance man possesses many talents, and in Dwight’s case that is hard to deny. But I would say that Yoakam is a musician who takes professional risks out of necessity. When he busted on the scene in 1984 with his EP A Town South of Bakersfield, he was already so rooted in the Bakersfield sound that he could have been Buck Owens incarnate. He had the look: long and lean with the big cowboy hat and the facial demeanor that suggested lonely and liking it. He had the voice: that extra little twang that suggests an education away from the schoolhouse. And he had the third element of the triple crown: that guitar player—Pete Anderson—who can turn a tune into a hit.
Yoakam was born in Kentucky in Pikesville Hospital, the same birthplace as Patty Loveless, but three months earlier. He was raised in Columbus, Ohio, and his mother owned a good record collection including the essentials: Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Buck Owens. After a brief stint at Ohio State, Dwight moved to Nashville where the scene was awash in the success of Urban Cowboy and a little too polished for his liking. Yoakam hooked up with guitarist Anderson there, and together they moved out to Los Angeles where Yoakam’s rootsy country music fit in nicely with some of the roots music purveyors of the punk rock scene, musicians like Dave Alvin and The Blasters, Los Lobos and X. The punk scenes in L.A. and New York each tended to be inclusive of other styles of music, as long as they were genuine. The New York scene included the Latino influence in Mink Deville and Garland Jeffries, and some reggae as well. L.A.’s roots rock was based on “American Music.”
Four years later, Yoakam’s debut EP was released. That was the time when MCA Records President Tony Brown had begun signing new, traditional-sounding country acts in Nashville, and Music City seemed a bit more interested in its own family tree. Brown typically gets credit for signing Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Nanci Griffith and others to MCA, ushering in a period of neo-traditionalism in country music.
In 1986, Reprise Records re-released Yoakam’s EP as Guitars, Cadillacs, etc. etc… with extra tracks. Even the title suggests that Yoakam was no slave to country music’s legacy, and it was well received by not only country audiences, but by rock audiences as well. The CD got a lot of play on college radio. Dwight’s first single was a cover of Johnny Horton’s “Honky Tonk Man” that made it to No. 3 on the country music charts. His next LP release in 1987, Hillbilly Deluxe, had four Top 10 hits, and in 1988 Dwight hit No. 1 with Buck Owens’ “Streets of Bakersfield.” In the music business, a No. 1 song is a very big deal, and it solidified Yoakam’s position as a star. Dwight’s sound was not original, but it was very genuine, and his tunes were so good that his appeal was extensive.
Yoakam’s records steadily garnered fans and in 1993, he released his most popular record to date, the fantastic This Time, with its perfect blend of commercial honky tonk tunes, radio-friendly production and extraordinary musicianship.
The fact is, Yoakam was making his living with someone else’s musical style. Twenty years had passed since Owens was writing hits, and Yoakam was so naturally adept at the music that it may have seemed that you were listening to this great new Bakersfield sound for the first time. But to sustain his career, he had to take chances, though not necessarily big chances (Dwight’s ambient record is still in the can). Still, he needed to take some risks to keep the audience’s attention. As an artist you can lead fans down unexplored paths a little at a time and that is what Yoakam has always been savvy enough to do.
He tried his hand at acting, getting small parts in very fine movies like Red Rock West and putting in a memorable performance in the sleeper hit Sling Blade. He had unquestionable success in the movie business and in 2000, Yoakam wrote, directed and acted in South of Heaven, West of Hell. The movie had a wildly eccentric cast, including Bridget Fonda, Billy Bob Thornton and Paul Reubens, and both critics and audiences were cool toward it. Nevertheless, Yoakam had his writing and directorial debut under his belt. O.K., John Mellencamp has directed a movie and James Carville has written a children’s book. But one thing that you cannot say about Yoakam is that he lacks ambition. Dwight has said about movies, “Films are miracles in no minor way when they come to fruition at all.”
South of Heaven, West of Hell was not the only thing that Dwight had under his belt, because he ended up in a relationship with co-star Fonda. That relationship ended in 2002, very close to the release of Population Me, a record that Dwight says is about “taking care of yourself first.”
Dwight’s professional life took a turn as well when he finished out his contract with Reprise Records with a record of covers, Used Cuts, and suddenly had some decisions to make about how his music was going to get out to the people. Audium Records in Nashville approached Yoakam with the opportunity of starting his own label, and the deal was sealed when Dwight set up Electrodisc-Audium to release his own records and those of anyone else he might care to endorse. Population Me, Yoakam’s 17th record, was the first release on the newly established label. Dwight’s newest release, Blame The Vain, is on the good New West label that also offers discs of Delbert McClinton, John Hiatt and Buddy Miller.
Population Me was followed very closely by his split with Anderson who, besides being his longtime guitarist, also produced his records. The two had been together since their days in Nashville before either had a record; in some ways they could be considered the country music version of Mick and Keith, although Anderson’s public profile was always extremely low. Anderson produced most of Dwight’s records and he gave that music a sound that was always spare, yet incredibly interesting to listen to. He was the Fender-bending icing on Dwight’s honky tonk cupcakes. The duo claim in public that the split was about creative differences, but they ended up in court to have their creative differences sorted out, so you, the listener, can make that call.
Yoakam takes production credit for his most recent CD, Blame The Vain, which came out in June. The studio band is the same band that will appear at the Pavilion on August 20 and they are very good. New guitarist Keith Gattis sure sounds like a student of Anderson, especially when it comes to finding those low notes. Drummer Mitch Marine is strong and can likely play with anybody, and reports say that bassist Taras Prodaniuk plays the upright live, which should be great.
When I first picked up Blame The Vain, I had to look twice to make sure I had not gotten a Roxy Music record. The artwork throughout is highly stylized, featuring a gamalicious brunette model who is posed to resemble a mannequin. (Is that Dwight’s Jerry Hall?) And then there is Dwight. Designer duds and pouty poses refer to the CD title, but I might have preferred that Dwight not make a personal appearance on the cover.
Blame The Vain kicks off with the rockin’ title track that sounds like an amped-up Byrds meets Richard Thompson tune with beautiful droning guitar. And my hat goes off to Dwight’s songwriting: He can still sneak a nice bridge into a tune, which seems to have gone missing on the radio these days. A pure country music waltz, “Lucky That Way,” a la Merle follows. “Intentional Heartache” seems like a real stab at a hit single. It is a tune about a wife who is pissed off about the breakup of her marriage, and she drives to North Carolina to toss her ex’s stuff, including his boots and a signed Dale Jr. poster, into his mother’s yard. Dwight nods to Buck Owens on “Does It Show,” right down to the lyrics about “love’s biggest clown.” “Three Good Reasons” is the shuffle that Dwight can write in his sleep, and “Just Passing Time” and “I’ll Pretend” can each separate a drunk at the bar from all of his spare quarters.
Yoakam claims that he had The Beatles on his mind when he was writing this record, and “She’ll Remember” is the first piece of evidence, with its weird John Cale spoken-word lyric over the rhythm of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” and then the sudden shift into an interestingly arranged Yoakam original. But even the drum fill could have come from Ringo. And “When I First Came Here” has a conspicuously Beatles feel.
Lyrically, the record is as focused on the breakup of relationships and the pain that follows as it can be. Except for the title tune, which is a rumination on blame, every tune is a sore lament about a lover not turning out as expected. Does Dwight expect us to think that his personal life is not in these songs?
The final three songs begin: “When I first came here I was empty, lost and weak;” “Watch how she tore me apart;” and “Take her away, but don’t let her see me.” Though one can make the assumption that the end of a relationship found its way into these songs, Yoakam says, “I don’t journal my life. I don’t find it that interesting.”
For all of Blame’s alleged restlessness, the tunes that make the record are still the ones that conjure up Buck Owens in his heyday. Few artists change music from the inside out, and do it in a way that takes millions of fans with them. Bach, The Beatles, James Brown, Bob Marley—they were all making music from the influence of others, and yet they managed to internalize the music to such a degree that they transformed it into something completely new.
Like his L.A. peers Los Lobos, Dwight has tried spinning his musical career in different directions, but he always comes back to Point A, that is, guitars and Cadillacs. Los Lobos, on the other hand, have radically shifted direction numerous times from the traditional La Pistola, to the rock-meets-Tejano of The Neighborhood, to the very Waitsy Colossal Head. While the Lobos may have sacrificed part of their audience to pursue new directions, Dwight has always been on point commercially. And although there may not be tunes as picture perfect as “Little Ways” and “Johnson’s Love” from the early albums, Dwight is still writing good, strong tunes after 20 years.
Dwight has sold 23 million records altogether—go ahead and count them. If that is not a sign of vitality, then what is? Fans have stayed with him for all those years and records. And I have never talked to one person who said that they went to see Dwight and had a so-so time. So get that Keith Urban CD out of the player, and come see a performer with a genuine connection to country music’s tradition. Dwight can be considered The Mailman of country music because he always delivers. It’s going to be a very good time. Dwight Yoakam and his band will be at tshe Charlottesville Pavilion on Saturday, August 20.
WHO: Dwight Yoakam
WHAT: A country superstar who has consistantly delivered since the early 1980s
WHEN: Saturday, August 20, 7:30pm
WHERE: Charlottesville Pavilion, east end of the Downtown Mall
HOW MUCH: $27-41.50
MORE INFO: 800-594-TIXX;
www.charlottesvillepavilion.com
Mr. Yoakam goes to Hollywood
Dwight’s filmography
Red Rock West (1992)
Played a truck driver in this thriller about a hitman hired to kill an unfaithful wife. Directed by John Dahl.
The Little Death (1995)
Played Bobby Lomax in this mildly entertaining, but predictable, thriller. Directed by Jan Verheyen.
Sling Blade (1996)
Played Doyle Hargraves in this drama about a traumatized man starting over in a small town. Directed by Billy Bob Thornton.
Painted Hero (1997)
Played Virgil Kidder in this drama about rodeo riders. Directed by Terry Benedict.
The Newton Boys (1998)
Played Brentwood Glasscock in the 1920s action film about bank robbers. Directed by Richard Linklater.
The Minus Man (1999)
Played Detective Blair in this serial killer drama starring Owen Wilson. Directed by Hampton Fancher.
South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000)
Directed and starred as Valentine Casey in this critically panned Western, which he also wrote.
Panic Room (2002)
Played Raoul in the summer blockbuster thriller starring Jodie Foster. Directed by David Fincher.
Hollywood Homicide (2003)
Played Leroy Wasley in this LAPD crime film about a rap murder starring Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett. Directed by Ron Shelton.
3-Way (2004)
Played Herbert in the sexy noir-thriller remake of Gil Brewer’s pulp novel Wild to Possess.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
Played Sheriff Belmont in the south-of-the-border drama
that scored big at the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by
Tommy Lee Jones.
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Played Mr. Kroeger in the bachelors-behaving-badly comedy starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. Directed by David Dobkin.—Anne Metz