Dwight Yoakam

by McLeese, Don

• ISBN13: 9780292723818
• ISBN10: 0292723814
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-15
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

From his formative years playing pure, hardcore honky-tonk for mid-'80s Los Angeles punk rockers through his subsequent surge to the top of the country charts, Dwight Yoakam has enjoyed a singular career. An electrifying live performer, superb writer, and virtuosic vocalist, he has successfully bridged two musical worlds that usually have little use for each other--commercial country and its alternative/Americana/roots-rocking counterpart. Defying the label "too country for rock, too rock for country," Yoakam has triumphed while many of his peers have had to settle for cult acceptance. Four decades into his career, he has sold more than 25 million records and continues to tour regularly, with an extremely loyal fan base. In Dwight Yoakam, award-winning music journalist Don McLeese offers the first musical biography of this acclaimed artist. Tracing the seemingly disparate influences in Yoakam's music, McLeese shows how he has combined rock and roll, rockabilly, country, blues, and gospel into a seamless whole. In particular, McLeese explores the essential issue of "authenticity" and how it applies to Yoakam, as well as to country music and popular culture in general. Drawing on wide-ranging interviews with Yoakam and his management, while also benefitting from the perspectives of others closely associated with his musical success (including producer-guitarist Pete Anderson, Yoakam's partner throughout his most popular and creative decades), Dwight Yoakampays tribute to the musician who has established himself as a visionary beyond time, an artist who could title an album Tomorrow's Sounds Todayand deliver it.

Author Biography

Don McLeese was formerly the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Austin American-Statesman, as well as country music columnist and frequent contributor to Rolling Stone and a senior editor for No Depression. He has chronicled Dwight Yoakam in reviews, features, and interviews since the beginning of the artist's recording career. He lives in West Des Moines, Iowa, and currently teaches journalism at the University of Iowa.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Thousand Miles from Nowhere	p. 1
How Far Is Heaven?	p. 11
Readin', Rightin', Rt. 23	p. 21
South of Cincinnati, West of Columbus	p. 31
Corvette Cowboy	p. 41
From Kentucky Bourbon to Babylonian Cowboys	p. 49
Who You Callin' Cowpunk?	p. 59
Honky-Tonk Man	p. 67
"It's Jes' Ol' Hillbilly Stuff"	p. 79
Hillbilly Deluxe	p. 91
Streets of Bakersfield	p. 101
Bonus Cut	p. 111
"Well, I'm Back Again…"	p. 115
Wild Ride	p. 125
Gone, Real Gone	p. 139
Act Naturally	p. 151
The Same Fool	p. 157
Playing Out the String	p. 165
South of Heaven, West of Hell (and Off the Charts)	p. 171
Splitsville	p. 181
Produced	p. 189
The Buck Stops Here	p. 197
"I Wanna Love Again, Feel Young Again"	p. 205
Appendix. The Dwight Dozen: A Selected Discography	p. 215
Acknowledgments	p. 217
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