Episode 6 – Dwight Yoakam (Part One)

When Dwight Yoakam began his career, Nashville was oriented toward pop “urban cowboy” music, and his 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 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, 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.

Still interested? Visit the artist’s official website or Wikipedia entry to learn more about this episode’s guest.