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Dwight Yoakam

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Dwight Yoakam
Yoakam in 2008
Yoakam in 2008
Background information
Birth nameDwight David Yoakam
Born (1956-10-23) October 23, 1956 (age 68)
Pikeville, Kentucky, United States
OriginColumbus, Ohio, United States
GenresCountry, Honky Tonk, country rock
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, actor, director
Instrument(s)Guitar, vocals
Years active1984–present
LabelsReprise
Audium
New West
Warner Bros. Nashville
Websitewww.dwightyoakam.com

Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music. Popular since the early 1980s, he has recorded more than twenty one albums and compilations, charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and sold more than 25 million records. He has recorded five Billboard #1 albums, twelve gold albums, and nine platinum albums, including the triple platinum This Time. In addition to his many achievements in the performing arts, he is also the most frequent musical guest in the history of The Tonight Show.[1]

Early life

Yoakam was born in Pikeville, Kentucky, the son of Ruth Ann (née Tibbs), a key-punch operator, and David Yoakam, a gas-station owner.[2][3] He was raised in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from Northland High School in 1974. During his high school years, he excelled in both music and drama, regularly securing the lead role in school plays, such as "Charlie" in a stage version of Flowers for Algernon, honing his skills under the guidance of teacher-mentors Jerry McAfee (music) and Charles Lewis (drama). Outside of school, he sang and played guitar with local garage bands, and entertained his friends and classmates with his impersonations, such as Richard Nixon, who, at the time, was heavily embroiled in the Watergate controversy.

Yoakam briefly attended Ohio State University, but dropped out and moved to Los Angeles in 1977[4] with the intent of becoming a recording artist. On May 7, 2005, Ohio Valley University in Parkersburg, West Virginia awarded and presented him with an honorary doctorate degree.

Music career

Dwight Yoakam

When he began his career, Nashville was oriented toward pop "urban cowboy" music, and Yoakam's brand of hip honky tonk music was not considered marketable.

Not making much headway in Nashville, Yoakam moved to Los Angeles and worked towards bringing his particular brand of new Honky Tonk or "Hillbilly" music (as he called it) forward into the 1980s. Writing all his own songs, and continuing to perform mostly outside traditional country music channels, he did many shows in rock and punk rock clubs around Los Angeles, playing with roots rock or punk rock acts like The Blasters (Yoakam scored a small video hit with his version of their song "Long White Cadillac"), Los Lobos, and X. This helped him diversify his audience beyond the typical country music fans, and his authentic, groundbreaking music is often credited with rock audiences accepting country music.

Yoakam's recording debut was the self-financed EP Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. on independent label Oak Records produced by lead-guitarist Pete Anderson; this was later re-released by Reprise Records, with several additional tracks, as his major-label debut LP, 1986's Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.. It launched his career. "Honky Tonk Man", a remake of the Johnny Horton song, and "Guitars, Cadillacs" were hit singles. His stylish video "Honky Tonk Man" was the first country music video ever played on MTV. The follow-up LP, Hillbilly Deluxe, was just as successful. His third LP, Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room, included his first No. 1, a duet with his musical idol, Buck Owens, on "Streets of Bakersfield". 1990's If There Was a Way was another best-seller.

Yoakam's song "Readin', Rightin', Route 23" pays tribute to his childhood move from Kentucky, and is named after a local expression describing the route that rural Kentuckians took to find a job outside of the coal mines. (U.S. Route 23 runs north from Kentucky through Columbus and Toledo, Ohio and through the automotive centers of Michigan.) Rather than the standard line that their elementary schools taught "the three Rs" of "Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rithmetic", Kentuckians used to say that the three Rs they learned were "Readin', 'Ritin', and Route 23 North".

Johnny Cash once cited Yoakam as his favorite country singer. Chris Isaak called him as good a songwriter that ever put a pen to paper. Time dubbed him "A Renaissance Man" and Vanity Fair declared that "Yoakam strides the divide between rock's lust and country's lament." Along with his bluegrass and honky-tonk roots, he has written or covered many Elvis Presley-style rockabilly songs, including his covers of Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in 1999 and Presley's "Suspicious Minds" in 1992. He recorded a cover of The Clash's "Train in Vain" in 1997, a cover of the Grateful Dead song "Truckin'", as well as Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me". He has never been associated only with country music; on many early tours, he played with hardcore punk bands like Hüsker Dü, and played many shows around Los Angeles with roots/punk/rock & roll acts. His middle-period-to-later records saw him branching out to different styles, covering rock & roll, punk, 1960's, blues-based "boogie" like ZZ Top, and writing more adventurous songs like "A Thousand Miles From Nowhere". In 2003, he provided background vocals on Warren Zevon's last album The Wind.

In the 21st century, Yoakam released dwightyoakamacoustic.net, an album featuring solo acoustic versions of many of his hits; left his major label and started his own label.[citation needed]

2005 saw the release of Yoakam's well-reviewed album Blame the Vain, on New West Records. He also released an album dedicated to Buck Owens, Dwight Sings Buck, on October 23, 2007. His duet with Michelle Branch, a song titled "Long Goodbye", was released as a free download on her official website in early 2011.

In July 2011, Yoakam resigned with Warner Bros. Nashville and announced plans to release a new album. 3 Pears was released on September 18, 2012 with twelve new tracks. Produced by him, it includes a collaboration with Beck. 3 Pears was released to resounding critical acclaim and earned him the highest-charting debut of his career on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Country Albums charts. 3 Pears reached #1 on the Americana Radio chart on October 29, 2012 and went on to break the 2012 record for most weeks at #1 on Americana Radio.[5] By the end of 2012, it was named on annual best of lists by NPR, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, AOL's The Boot, Entertainment Weekly, The Village Voice, and Rhapsody, and has been included in more critics' "best of 2012" lists than any other artist in the country genre.[1]

In June 2014, Rolling Stone ranked the song "Guitars, Cadillacs" #94 in their list of the 100 greatest country songs.[6]

In February 2015, Yoakam announced a new studio album, titled Second Hand Heart and released on April 14.[7] In 2016, he supported the album by performing at the C2C: Country to Country festival in Europe.

Film and television career

Yoakam has also starred in many films, most notably in critically acclaimed performances as an ill-tempered, abusive live-in boyfriend in Sling Blade (1996), as a psychopathic killer in Panic Room (2002), as a police detective in Hollywood Homicide (2003) and as the sheriff in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005). He appeared in a supporting role as Doc Miles, the doctor for Chev Chelios, in Crank and its sequel, Crank 2: High Voltage. In addition, he also guest starred in the King of the Hill episode "Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men" as Lane Pratley. He also had a cameo appearance in the 2005 comedy movie Wedding Crashers. In 2006, he starred alongside Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek in Bandidas; in 2008, he played Pastor Phil in Four Christmases, starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon; and he appears in Dirty Girl. He also appeared in The Last Rites of Ransom Pride, an independent 2010 Western that also stars fellow country singer Kris Kristofferson. In 1993, he played a truck driver in the Wyoming crime thriller, Red Rock West. He also played Brentwood Glasscock in The Newton Boys.

In 2000, Yoakam co-wrote, starred in, produced and wrote the soundtrack for South of Heaven, West of Hell, also starring Vince Vaughn and Bridget Fonda.

Some of his songs are included in the film Big Eden (2000).

Yoakam was featured in a recurring role as Bruce on the FX series Wilfred but was replaced by William Baldwin in the show's fourth and final season. He also appears in the second season of Under the Dome as Lyle Chumley, who runs the Chester's Mill's barbershop.

Food ventures

Yoakam's food brand, Bakersfield Biscuits,[8] sells frozen foods at retailers such as Wal-Mart Superstores, Walgreens, Sam's Club, and Kroger.

Awards and recognition

Wins
Nominations

Discography

Main articles: Dwight Yoakam albums discography and Dwight Yoakam singles discography

Studio albums

Christmas albums

Cover albums

Compilation albums

International releases

  • This Is... (1990)
  • La Croix D'Amour (1992)

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1992 Red Rock West Truck Driver
1993 Rhythm & Jam Himself Television movie
1994 Roswell Mac Brazel Television movie
1995 The Little Death Bobby Lomax
1996 Don't Look Back Skipper Television movie
1996 Sling Blade Doyle Hargraves Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997 Painted Hero Virgil Kidder
1998 The Newton Boys Brentwood Glasscock
1998 When Trumpets Fade George Rickman Television movie
1999 The Minus Man Blair
2001 South of Heaven, West of Hell Valentine Casey Also director and writer
2002 Panic Room Raoul
2003 Hollywood Homicide Leroy Wasley
2004 Three Way Herbert Claremont/Clarkson
2005 Wedding Crashers Mr. Kroeger
2005 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Sheriff Belmont
2006 Bandidas Tyler Jackson
2006 Crank Doc Miles
2008 Two:Thirteen Sandy
2008 Four Christmases Pastor Phil
2009 Crank: High Voltage Doc Miles
2010 Dirty Girl Joseph
2010 The Last Rites of Ransom Pride Reverend Early Pride
2010 Bloodworth Boyd Bloodworth
2015 90 Minutes in Heaven Jon

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1986 Hee Haw Himself Episode: "18.7"
1991 P.S. I Luv U Harlan Justice Episode: "I'd Kill to Direct"
1997 Ellen The Bag Boy Episode: "The Puppy Episode - Part 2"
1998 King of the Hill Lane Pratley Episode: "Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men"
2002 Dinner for Five Himself Episode: "1.8"
2011-2013 Wilfred Bruce 3 episodes
2013 To Appomattox George Meade 7 episodes
2014 Under the Dome Lyle Chumley 7 episodes

References

Specific references
  1. ^ a b "Dwight Yoakam". Musicmarketingtools.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Country Music Magazine, May/June 1986
  3. ^ "Country Music's Yoakam Comes 'Home' For Concert". Nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
  4. ^ The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Oxford Press Univ. Press, New York
  5. ^ "Dwight Yoakam's 3 Pears Is No.1 Americana Album For Fifth Week In A Row". Warner Music Nashville. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  6. ^ Menconi, David (2014-06-01). "94. Dwight Yoakam, 'Guitars, Cadillacs' (1986) Photo - 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
  7. ^ "Dwight Yoakam Announces New Album". American Songwriter. February 4, 2015. Archived from the original on April 23, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  8. ^ "Dwight Yoakam's Bakersfield Biscuits". Bakersfieldbiscuits.com. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
  9. ^ "New Album, 'Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars…" Available September 23". DwightYoakam.com. 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
  10. ^ "Dwight Yoakam to Release Bluegrass Album "Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars" Including Amazon Pre-Order". SavingCountryMusic.com. 2016-08-02. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
General references
  • Himes, Geoffery. (1998). "Dwight Yoakam". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbuey, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 605–6.
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