From his formative years playing pure, hardcore
honky-tonk for mid-'80s Los Angeles punk rockers through
his subsequent surge to the top of the country charts,
Dwight Yoakam has enjoyed a singular career. An
electrifying live performer, superb writer, and
virtuosic vocalist, he has successfully bridged two
musical worlds that usually have little use for each
other--commercial country and its
alternative/Americana/roots-rocking counterpart. Defying
the label ''too country for rock, too rock for
country,'' Yoakam has triumphed while many of his peers
have had to settle for cult acceptance. Four decades
into his career, he has sold more than 25 million
records and continues to tour regularly, with an
extremely loyal fan base. In Dwight Yoakam,
award-winning music journalist Don McLeese offers the
first musical biography of this acclaimed artist.
Tracing the seemingly disparate influences in Yoakam's
music, McLeese shows how he has combined rock and roll,
rockabilly, country, blues, and gospel into a seamless
whole. In particular, McLeese explores the essential
issue of ''authenticity'' and how it applies to Yoakam,
as well as to country music and popular culture in
general.Drawing on wide-ranging interviews with Yoakam
and his management, while also benefitting from the
perspectives of others closely associated with his
musical success (including producer-guitarist Pete
Anderson, Yoakam's partner throughout his most popular
and creative decades), Dwight Yoakam pays tribute to the
musician who has established himself as a visionary
beyond time, an artist who could title an album
Tomorrow's Sounds Today and deliver it. |
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