"Country Music Artist of the Month ... Dwight Yoakam"

 “Country Music Artist of the Month … Dwight Yoakam”

Dwight Yoakam’s Official Homepage

Dwight Yoakam was born October 23, 1956.  As a singer who emerged onto the country music scene in the mid-1980’s, he has a hillbilly sound quite unique to himself.  Dwight Yoakam’s pining vocals define the purest of country music.  His first major label recording debut was for his album, Guitars, Cadillac’s, Etc.,Etc. It included the title track as well as two other hit country songs.  The album was very commercially successful as well as critically acclaimed, serving as an introduction to the singer’s distinguished career.

Dwight Yoakam’s music, in the tradition of “The Bakersfield Sound,” has established him a large niche of loyal fans.  The song, The Streets of Bakersfield, became a number 1 hit on country radio in 1988.  It was a duet with Buck Owens, who is one of the originators of the sound.  This song, more than any other, marks the sound of Dwight Yoakam.

Dwight Yoakam’s biggest album, This Time, was released in 1993.  It sold more than 3 million copies and contained the single, Ain’t that lonely yet, which received the Grammy that year for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.  The song’s lasting eminence as brought it popularity to this day.  Other songs on the album, such as A Thousand Miles fromNowhere and Fast as You were also successful on country music radio.  However, the song, Ain’t That Lonely Yet’s critical praise is matched by few other contemporary country songs by any artist.

As well as being a singer, Dwight Yoakam has achieved success as an actor.  Most noticeably were his roles in the movies Sling Blade, and in Bandidas, in which he starred with Selma Hayek and Penelope Cruz.  In addition to these two films in which Dwight Yoakam starred, he also appeared or starred in a total of 33 film and television roles. 

Dwight Yoakam discography contains 24 albums.  From these albums, I have chosen 5 songs that are among my personal favorites and are most definitive of the artist.  Along with the testimonial to each song, the music video is also included.  I hope that you enjoy these five songs and I hope you enjoy the rest of the collection from this artist.

·        LittleSister Video Link

This cover of Elvis Presley’s hit song has a quite different sound than the rockabilly original.  The original version’s epoch longing remains, however, the distinctive style of Dwight Yoakam has changed its connotation.  Dwight Yoakam interprets the song as a lament of an adult rather than an inconsequential crush of a child; bringing a mourning feel to the song.

·        Fast asYou Video Link

This track off his 1993 Album, This Time, supplemented the hit song, Ain’t that lonely yet, as if it were scripted.  The song, with an upbeat, reverberating sound, discusses a lost love in a distinctive and novel way.  This song tends to grow more poignant as the emotion that is conveyed becomes fully understood.

·        Turn itOn, Turn it Up, Turn Me Loose Video Link

Barroom antics fit nicely with this song attributing the protagonist’s drunkenness on a girlfriend who, “Taught him brand newways to be blue”  The song tells the story of a man attempting to get over the recent breakup by hitting the bars.

·        HonkeytonkMan Video Link

This song has the distinction of being the first country song to be played on MTV.  The song, once again, has a traditional, bluegrass sound which matches the singers “Bakersfield Sound” roots.

·        Ain’t thatlonely yet Video Link

This song, arguably one of the best heart-broken country songs in all of country music, imbues the feelings of loneliness upon its listeners.  Instead of preaching a longing to return to a failed relationship, it discusses the man’s belief that what has transpired has reached an end, although a bitter end.  The lyrical interpretations of Dwight Yoakam, as well as the masterful orchestration, etch this song as a song for generations.

I hope you enjoyed this “Country Music Artist of the Month … Dwight Yoakam” post.  Keep an eye open for other country music features.

"On the Cusp of Manhood"

• ·        “Inspired by … The house that built me” by Miranda Lambert

Trepidation filled Alex’s arrival to college.   A recent high school graduate, he felt ill-prepared for the challenge for which he was about to confront.  All his life, as far back as he could remember, he had lived in the same town with his family and friends there beside him.

He arrived at the college for freshmen orientation.  His father and his mother came with him on the seven hour trip up the coast.  There to celebrate this new beginning, they supplied to him parental assurances that all would be well.

Alex had many friends in high school, but all of them had chosen other colleges to attend.  He had yearned to go far away to college, away from everybody that he ever knew, and to make friends while building a life. 

During the drive up from his hometown, he was silent.  He listened to music on the radio while looking out the window as his father surveyed the road on the long journey.

It was now time.  It was now time for his parents to leave and for him to begin his new life.  He was alone in a venue to which he was unfamiliar, but was meeting the challenge with bravery.  He noticed the multitude of college freshmen sharing the same adventure.  However, he felt very alone.  He was completely unaware that many of other in-coming college students were feeling the same nervousness.  The foreboding faces surrounding him numbed his senses.

Family by family got into their cars, leaving the new college freshmen alone in the college dorms to somehow make friends with people they had just met.  They were confronted with the task of living with strangers who, in years to come, would be considered some of their best friends.

With carefree gusto, the roommates gathered in their apartments.  It was nearly sundown and all the parents were in their cars on the drive back to wherever they had come.  The freshmen, three by three and five by five, sat down together.  Newly introduced strangers, they ate dinner with each other.

The time had approached for the ageless ritual of high school graduates freshly attending college.  The introductions were made and the strangers spent the rest of the night familiarizing with each other with cheap beer that they had purchased at the liquor store down the street.   The festivities included the five roommates as well as other college co-eds in the nearby apartments.

Alex had spent his first night at the college dorms.   It was not nearly as threatening as he feared.  He had talked with friends and neighbors and he felt the ominous haze lift from them all.  Young college girls had attended the party along with his roommates and other college freshmen at the dorms.  He woke up early in the morning energetic.  The Sun shined upon the dorms and he went to the dining commons to have breakfast.  A neighbor girl met up with him and they shared breakfast with one another.  College life did not seem nearly as daunting as he thought it would.

Alex spent the rest of his freshmen year at the dorms with his roommates and neighbors.  The strangers became acquaintances and then became friends.  The girls that he met he began to know better and he found a girlfriend. 

The parties became less frequent as the college students found their own routines.  Many of the college freshmen found part-time work and most of them began to bury themselves in their school-work. 

The relationship that Alex had formed with his the neighbor girl stayed trivial, without much meaning.  Although she was beautiful and he enjoyed the time spent with her, he knew it was transitory. 

As a college freshman, newly out of high school, Alex’s arrival to college had been intimidating.  However, he had been quick to make friends.  The scholastic burden of college, which he had thought would be a far more difficult mission, had been less chilling than he thought it would.  His acclimation to the new environment, far away from home, had been easily facilitated with worries that quickly vanished.

As an adult, 20 years later, Alex often looked back to his time in college.  His time in college had been a growth experience and, more so, were his times in the freshmen dorms. 

In addition to the college degree that he earned which virtually assured him a prosperous life, he also grew to manhood.  The college scenario facilitated the journey as he was able to choose his own terms by which to live.   As an 18 year old man fresh out of high school, Alex had been nervous and unsure of himself; fraught with all of the trifles that face young people.  However, upon graduation he had become free from these insecurities and now had direction in his life as well as in confidence in everything that he did.

After his freshmen year he lived with a few of his friends that he had made in the dorms.  With high school behind him, these were now his best friends.  He lived with his dorm friends for two years and finally was able to get a small-studio apartment to live alone. 

All of college was a time for fun, a time for camaraderie, and a time for growing up.  However, upon reflecting on his time in college, Alex would think most of his time at the dorms.  He would recollect his arrival and meeting up with strangers he had never before seen.  He would also recollect the time that these people became his friends.  Most of all he would remember the maturity he gained and the confidence that was found that later would bring him success in every aspect of his life.

"A Closer Look at a Life"

·        

•        Inspired by … “Only here for a little while” by Billy Dean

The tragic event left no room for anything but remorse.  Not a close friend or family member, the death still crept close to home. 

Jonathan read in the paper yesterday morning, “Local 35 year old man dies of a heart attack.” 

The article, which was the top story in this small town, portrayed a life that many would envy that drew to an abrupt end.

The man, Steven, had been living a full life.  He had a wife and three small children.  He was the principle at the local high school; which enabled him to influence many young lives in a positive and powerful way.  The newspaper article included declarations of just how warm a man he was. 

His wife, in a state of grief from this sudden tragedy, spoke words of deepest adoration for a man she knew and loved.  The man’s friends also spoke glowing testimonials to this man to whom they were all endeared.

Steven had led a very meaningful life.   Although Jonathan only knew the man in passing, the story in the newspaper this morning brought a tear to his eyes.  Thoughts were triggered into Jonathan’s consciousness about his life and how much more he could be living his.

Jonathan was nearly as old as the departed.  Although, he had a wife and daughter, his life seemed insignificant.  His work, which was encompassed by a forty-hour a week union job at the factory in the nearby town, seemed without merit.  The drudgery which he confronted from a vocation which was repetitious and monotonous did not permit room for pride or any creative impulse by which to bring meaning.  The pay he received from a union job was ample; however, the doldrums of his work defined his life.

His married life also was pleasant, but lacked excitement.  He loved his wife and child, yet the routine of life had turned tiresome.

As Jonathan read the story of the death of a young man barely older than he, it caused reflection concerning his own life.

“’Take time to smell the roses, was the saying I guess,'” Jonathan muttered under his breath.  But, what did the trite saying mean?  “I guess it means to enjoy life’s simple pleasures.”

Such thought would point him in the right direction, but where would these transient thoughts lead him?   “I guess it’s a mindset,” Jonathan thought to himself.

He finished reading the newspaper article and poured himself another cup of coffee.  His wife and daughter were still sleeping; he had to awake from bed early every morning to make it in time for the early shift at the factory.  He looked outside his kitchen window and noticed the Sun slowly rising and permeating the shrubbery and the green of the leaves of the trees.  A crooked smile appeared on his face as he folded the newspaper and put it on the table.  He took another sip of coffee and realized it was time to make his way to the work.

The drudgery of his life, briefly contemplated this morning, could not immediately be eradicated; however, as he drove his car to work he felt a tinge of hope in his heart.  It was not hope for a better life or wealth and riches; it was simply hope for the simple splendors that might transpire today.

As he drove to work he put on his favorite radio station.  He listened intently as the music of the background inundated his senses.

Upon his arrival to work he noticed all the familiar faces.  He had friends, but not close friends.  He had fellow craft workers that worked beside him at the factory.   The conversation never got beyond casual cordiality, but there was a certain amount of camaraderie incorporated into the ceremony.

“What was it about? Was it about the perspective by which we lead our lives?”  He didn’t know and the thought escaped his consciousness as quickly as it had entered.

He loved his wife and daughter, but the feelings had become stale.  His love had not faded, but lacked enthusiasm.

He had to bring something new into his life, but he didn’t know what it could be.  “A person’s perspective on life, that’s what it is,” Jonathan thought to himself.  “The only thing that turns a mostly mundane existence to a meaningful existence is perspective.”

As he drove back to work early this evening, these thoughts captured his senses once more.  He

listened to the music.  The newspaper article, still fresh in his mind, caused more thoughts to arise in his mind. 

The man who recently had died had lived a full life.  His life had been similar to Jonathan’s own.  What made the life of the deceased seem more precious than Jonathan’s?  It was the love.  It was the love that he felt in his heart, it was the love he felt for his family, it was the love that he felt for his friends.  It was the love in his heart that had endeared him to so many people and had brought meaning to his life. 

Jonathan arrived home from work.  He turned on the television before eating dinner for his family.  He hugged his daughter and kissed his wife.  They had their dinner together while they enjoyed a trivial sit-com on TV.

It was the love that had endeared so many to Steven.  It was love that Jonathan hoped he could give to his family and love by which to live his life.