by Stephen Thomas ErlewineWith his stripped-down approach to traditional honky tonk and Bakersfield country, Dwight Yoakam helped return country music to its roots in the late 80s. Like his idols Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Hank Williams, Yoakam never played by Nashvilles rules; consequently, he never dominated the charts like his contemporary Randy Travis. Then again, Travis never played around with the sound and style of country music like Yoakam. On each of his records, he twists around the form enough to make it seem like he doesnt respect all of countrys traditions. Appropriately, his core audience was composed mainly of roots rock and rock & roll fans, not the mainstream country audience. 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.Born in Kentucky but raised in Ohio, Yoakam learned how to play guitar at the age of six. As a child, he listened to his mothers record collection, honing in on the traditional country of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, as well as the Bakersfield honky tonk of Buck Owens. When he was in high school, Yoakam played with a variety of bands, playing everything from country to rock & roll. 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.At 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. While in Nashville, he met guitarist Pete Anderson, who shared a similar taste in music. The pair moved out to Los Angeles, where they found a more appreciative audience than they did in Nashville. In L.A., Yoakam and Anderson didnt 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. What Yoakam had in common with rock bands like X, the Blasters, and Los Angeles was similar musical influences; they all drew from 50s rock & roll and country. In comparison to the polished music coming out of Nashville, Yoakams stripped-down, direct revivalism seemed radical. The cowpunks, as they were called, that attended Yoakams shows provided an invaluable support for his fledgling career. Yoakam released an independent EP, A Town South of Bakersfield, in 1984, which received substantial airplay on Los Angeles college and alternative radio stations. The EP also helped him land a record contract with Reprise Records. Dwights full-length debut album, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., was released in 1986 and was an instant sensation. Rock and country critics praised it and it earned airplay on college stations across America. More importantly, it was a hit on the country charts, as its first single, a cover of Johnny Hortons Honky Tonk Man, climbed to number three in the spring, followed by the number four Guitars, Cadillacs in the summer. The album would eventually go platinum.Hillbilly Deluxe, Dwights 1987 follow-up, was equally successful, spawning four Top Ten hits: Little Sister, Little Ways, Please, Please Baby, and Always Late with Your Kisses. In 1988, Yoakam had his first number one hit with Streets of Bakersfield, a cover of a Buck Owens song recorded with Owens himself. It was the first single off his third album, Buenos Noches from a Lonely Room, which continued his streak of Top Ten hits. I Sang Dixie, the albums second single, went to number one, and I Got You reached number five. In 1989, Yoakam released a compilation album, Just Lookin for a Hit, which went gold. Long White Cadillac, taken from the collection, stalled at number 35 in the fall of 1989.Although his 1990 album If There Was a Way didnt have as many Top Ten hits, it was a major success; it was his first album since his debut to go platinum. This Time, released in the spring of 1993, was an even bigger hit, spawning three number two singles — Aint That Lonely Yet, A Thousand Miles from Nowhere, and Fast as You — and going platinum. After its release, Yoakam was silent for two years, returning in the summer of 1995 with Dwight Live, which didnt set the charts on fire. In the fall of that year, he released his sixth album, Gone, which went gold by the spring of 1996, although it didnt produce any major country hits. After 1997s Under the Covers, a collection of cover songs, Yoakam returned with the all-new A Long Way Home in 1998. Another compilation, Last Chance for a Thousand Years: Greatest Hits from the 90s, was released in 1999; its newly recorded version of Queens Crazy Little Thing Called Love became Yoakams biggest hit in six years, even hitting the lower reaches of the pop charts thanks to its exposure in a khakis commercial. Two albums followed in 2000: dwightyoakamacoustic.net, a bare-bones, all-acoustic revisitation of Yoakams back catalog; and the more standard studio project Tomorrows Sounds Today, which featured further collaborations with Buck Owens and a cover of Cheap Tricks I Want You to Want Me.In 2001, Yoakam debuted as a writer and director, also issuing the soundtrack South of Heaven, West of Hell to accompany it. Two years later, he debuted on a new label (Audium) with Population Me, while Reprise issued the compilation In Others Words to compete with it. In 2004 he released Dwights Used Records, a 14-track anthology of duets that appeared on other artists albums, unreleased covers, and cuts Yoakam contributed to various tribute compilations. An album of all new material, the self-produced Blame the Vain, followed in 2005 along with the live album, Live from Austin, TX. An album of Buck Owens covers, Dwight Sings Buck, appeared in 2007.