#Dwight yoakam discography 320 how to#

In comparison to the polished music coming out of Nashville, Yoakam's stripped-down, direct revivalism seemed radical. What Yoakam had in common with rock bands like X and the Blasters was similar musical influences they all drew from '50s rock & roll and country. In L.A., Yoakam and Anderson didn't just play country clubs, they played the same nightclubs that punk and post-punk rock bands like X, the Dead Kennedys, Los Lobos, the Blasters, and the Butthole Surfers did. The pair moved out to Los Angeles, where they found a more appreciative audience than they did in Nashville.

While in Nashville, he met guitarist Pete Anderson, who shared a similar taste in music. After completing high school, Yoakam briefly attended Ohio State University, but he dropped out and moved to Nashville in the late '70s with the intent of becoming a recording artist.Īt the time he moved to Nashville, the town was in the throes of the pop-oriented urban cowboy movement and had no interest in his updated honky tonk. When he was in high school, Yoakam played with a variety of bands, playing everything from country to rock & roll. As a child, he listened to his mother's record collection, honing in on the traditional country of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, as well as the Bakersfield honky tonk of Buck Owens.

#Dwight yoakam discography 320 how to#

Nevertheless, he was frequently able to chart in the country Top Ten, and he remained one of the most respected and adventurous recording country artists well into the '90s.īorn in Kentucky but raised in Ohio, Yoakam learned how to play guitar at the age of six. Appropriately, his core audience was composed mainly of roots rock and rock & roll fans, not the mainstream country audience.

On each of his records, he twists around the form enough to make it seem like he doesn't respect all of country's traditions. Then again, Travis never played around with the sound and style of country music like Yoakam. Like his idols Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Hank Williams, Yoakam never played by Nashville's rules consequently, he never dominated the charts like his contemporary Randy Travis. With his stripped-down approach to traditional honky tonk and Bakersfield country, Dwight Yoakam helped return country music to its roots in the late '80s.