Dwight Yoakam

When honky-tonk singer Dwight Yoakam was planning to release the title song of his debut
album, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., as a single, some folks at the Nashville office of Warner
Bros. made a suggestion: Omit the word hillbilly from the lyrics. (They thought the term was
derogatory.) Yoakam kept the original lyrics, and after the phenomenal crossover success
of the album, the wisest thing Yoakam could do for a follow-up was to stay as far... More >

Buck Owens may be his hero, but if George Jones earns a ten for contained intensity and Ricky Skaggs a one, Owens gets an eight and Yoakam maybe a four--he never breaks out of the jams, fixes, and world-historical dilemmas that are country music's reason for being. Reminding us once again that in a genre that's always fetishized tradition, neotraditionalism means immersing yourself in limitation until you convince yourself it's the air you breathe. (Grade: B-)