Nobody sings or sounds like Dwight Yoakam. His unique songmanship is a combination of neotraditional country, alternative country, honky-tonk, rock and roll, bluegrass, and the Bakersfield Sound.
Yoakam is bringing his unique style to Alabama on Thursday, May 29. He will perform at 7:30 p.m. at Orange Beach’s Wharf Amphitheater.
Details and tickets can be found here.
It will be Dwight Yoakam and the Mavericks with Drayton Fraley. They are now touring on their “Country Roundup and Rodeo Tour.”
Yoakam’s life has had as many influences as his singing style. He was born in Pikeville, Ky., but that didn’t last long. His father was serving in the U.S. Army. They moved to Columbus, Ohio. When he was in fourth grade, his father gave him an old, used guitar, which young Dwight broke. One more guitar from his father did the trick, and Dwight was playing and singing.
Early musical influences were mostly from hearing records on the Columbus, Ohio AM radio stations and included Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Merle Haggard and Elvis Presley.
At Columbus’ Northland High School, Dwight played drums in the high school band. Percussion did not hit for him, but drama did. He played and starred in the school play as Charlie in "Flowers for Algernon."
Dwight and classmates formed a garage band, The Greasers. Quite a name for garagers.
From there, it was to Nashville and difficulty breaking in. Then to Los Angeles with more difficulty.
Yoakam was a prolific songwriter before he was a successful performer. By 1984, he recorded an extended play with songs he had written. It became "Guitar, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc." That was the breakthrough. His discography since then is lengthy and still growing.
Yoakam has two number-one singles—"Streets of Bakersfield" (with Buck Owens) and "I Sang Dixie." He has had an even dozen top-10 singles. He has won two Grammy awards and one Academy of Country Music award.
Yoakam is one of only a handful of country singers/songwriters who successfully entered the field of drama both as an actor and a producer. His acting breakthrough was the Billy Bob Thornton movie "Sling Blade."
Whaddyabet Dwight performs some songs from his movies at The Wharf?
Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler’s beat is the colorful and positive about Alabama -- her people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected].
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