Introduction
Dwight Yoakam, born in 1956 in Kentucky and raised in Ohio, began playing guitar at six and grew up influenced by classic country artists like Hank Williams and Buck Owens. After briefly attending Ohio State University, he moved to Nashville in the late 1970s but was rejected by the industry due to his traditional honky-tonk style, which clashed with the then-popular “Urban Cowboy” sound.
He eventually relocated to Los Angeles, where he found a supportive audience in the punk and alternative rock scenes. Alongside guitarist Pete Anderson, he gained traction with a 1984 EP A Town South of Bakersfield, which led to a contract with Reprise Records.
His 1986 debut album, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., was a breakthrough, receiving critical and commercial success. Subsequent albums in the late ’80s and early ’90s, such as Hillbilly Deluxe, Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room, and This Time, produced multiple Top 10 country hits and achieved platinum status.
In the mid to late ’90s, Yoakam’s commercial success began to decline. He explored cover albums and even branched into film, writing and directing South of Heaven, West of Hell (2001), though it was not a success.
He continued to release music throughout the 2000s and 2010s, including Blame the Vain (2005), Dwight Sings Buck (2007), and 3 Pears (2012), which became his highest-charting album on the Billboard 200. Later works included Second Hand Heart (2015) and the bluegrass-inspired Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars… (2016), which featured reworked versions of his earlier songs.