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Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Yoakam during 2006
Dwight Yoakam during 2006
Background information
Birth name Dwight David Yoakam
Born October 23, 1956 (1956-10-23) (age 51)
Pikeville, Kentucky, USA
Origin Columbus, Ohio, USA
Genre(s) Country
Occupation(s) singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) Guitar, vocals
Years active 1984 - Present
Label(s) Reprise, Audium, New West
Associated acts Buck Owens
Website http://www.dwightyoakam.com/

Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. Events 4004 BC - Creation of the world begins according to the calculations of Archbishop James Ussher 42 BC - Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Pikeville is a city in Pike County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 6295 at the 2000 census. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Columbus is the Capital and the largest city of the US state of Ohio. A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. Singer-songwriter is a term that refers to Performers who write, compose and sing their own material including Lyrics A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music Reprise Records is an American Record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra, which is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated Koch Entertainment LP is a North American entertainment company with offices in New York, Nashville, and Toronto. New West Records is a Record label based in Austin Texas and Los Angeles California. Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr, (August 12 1929 – March 25 2006 was an American Singer and Guitarist, with 20 number-one hits on the Events 4004 BC - Creation of the world begins according to the calculations of Archbishop James Ussher 42 BC - Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. A songwriter is someone who writes the Lyrics to songs the Musical composition (chords or Melody to songs or both An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works Active since the early 1980s, he has recorded more than twenty albums and compilations, and has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States

Contents

Biography

Early life

Yoakam was born in Pikeville, Kentucky, the son of Ruth Ann, a key-punch operator, and David Yoakam, a gas-station owner. Pikeville is a city in Pike County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 6295 at the 2000 census. [1] He was raised in Columbus, Ohio, growing up with his mother and stepfather, who had a white-collar job in the automotive industry. Columbus is the Capital and the largest city of the US state of Ohio. White-collar worker refers to a salaried professional or an educated Worker who performs semi-professional office administrative and sales coordination tasks as opposed to He graduated from Columbus' Northland High School on June 9, 1974. Northland High School was established in 1965 NHS is a part of the Columbus City Schools system Events 53 - Roman Emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia 62 - Claudia Octavia commits Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. During his high school years, he excelled in both music and drama, regularly securing the lead role in school plays, such as "Charlie" in the stage version of Flowers for Algernon, honing his skills under the guidance of teacher-mentors Jerry McAfee (music) and Charles Lewis (drama). High school is the name used in some parts of the world (in particular Scotland, North America and Australia) to describe an institution Flowers for Algernon is a Science fiction Short story and subsequent Novel written by Daniel Keyes. Outside of school, Yoakam sang and played guitar with local garage bands, and frequently entertained his friends and classmates as an amateur comedian, impersonating politicians and other celebrities, such as Richard Nixon, who, at that time, was heavily embroiled in the Watergate controversy. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience primarily by making them laugh The Watergate scandals were a series of Political scandals during the presidency of Richard Nixon that resulted in the Indictment of several of Nixon's

Yoakam briefly attended The Ohio State University, but dropped out and moved to Nashville in the late 1970s with the intent of becoming a recording artist. The Ohio State University ( OSU) is a Coeducational public Research university in the state of Ohio. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970.

Career

When he began his career, Nashville was oriented toward pop "Urban Cowboy" music, and Yoakam's brand of Bakersfield Honky Tonk music was not considered marketable. This article is about the 1980 film For the Broadway musical of the same name see Urban Cowboy. The Bakersfield sound was a genre of Country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. A honky tonk (also called a honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is a type of bar with musical entertainment that is common in the Southwestern

Not making much headway in Nashville, Yoakam moved to Los Angeles. Yoakam's vision of bringing traditional, Honky Tonk or "Hillbilly" music (as he himself called it) forward into the 1980s wasn't fully realized until he teamed up with lead guitarist and Producer Pete Anderson. While Yoakam wrote most of his songs himself, Anderson had a hand in arranging the songs and shaping their direction, as well as determining their ultimate sound as producer. Pete grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where his family had moved North to find work in the Michigan auto factories, a similar move to Yoakam's family's migration North from Kentucky. In Detroit, Pete picked up Blues guitar, being influenced by local Blues guitarists like John Lee Hooker. You can hear Pete playing some Hooker-inspired licks on Yoakam's cover of "Honky Tonk Man", on his debut album. When Pete moved to Los Angeles, he had to pick up other styles of guitar playing in order to work, and he forged his Country style playing in local Country bands. Some of these bands lacked a Steel guitarist, and so he worked out one of his most distinctive techniques: imitating a Pedal Steel guitar on standard electric guitar. The pedal steel guitar is a type of Electric guitar that uses a metal slide to stop the strings rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar Pete has tremendous skill and technique, but rarely over-plays, and has added quite a bit to the unique, hard-hitting Country/Honky-Tonk sound Yoakam featured on most of his albums. Pete has always produced records for other artists, and recently left Yoakam's band to focus full-time on producing.

Continuing to perform mostly outside traditional country music channels, Yoakam did many shows in Rock and Punk clubs around Los Angeles, playing with roots rock or punk rock acts like The Blasters (Yoakam scored a small hit with his version of their song "Long White Cadillac"), Los Lobos, and X. Roots rock is a term recently used to describe "a style of rock music that draws material from various American musical traditions including country, Blues, and For others with this name see Blasters. The Blasters are a Rock and roll music group formed in 1979 in Downey California Los Lobos ("The Wolves" are an American Rock band. They are 3-time Grammy Award winners This helped him diversify his audience well beyond the typical Country music fans; at many of his shows you would see mohawked and leather-clad Punks alongside Rock & Rollers, as well as the typical cowboy-shirt wearing Country crowd.

Yoakam's recording debut was on the independent album A Town South of Bakersfield, which was a collection of "New Country" artists who were based in Los Angeles, California, and was planned and produced by Pete Anderson in 1984. See also 1983 in country music, 1984 in music, other events of 1984, 1985 in country music and the List of years in Country Music He released an E. P. on independent label Oak Records; this was later re-released, with several additional tracks, as his major-label debut LP, 1986's Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.. Long play (LP record albums are 33⅓  Rpm vinyl Gramophone records (phonograph records generally either 10- or 12- Inches in diameter See also 1985 in country music, 1986 in music, other events of 1986, 1987 in country music and the List of years in Country Music Guitars Cadillacs Etc Etc is Country music artist Dwight Yoakam 's début album It instantly launched his career. "Honky Tonk Man," a remake of the Johnny Horton song, and "Guitars, Cadillacs" were hit singles. Honky Tonk Man redirects here For the song by Johnny Horton later covered by Dwight Yoakam see Honky Tonk Man (song. Johnny Horton ( April 30, 1925  &ndash November 5, 1960) was an American Country music singer who was most famous The follow-up LP, Hillbilly Deluxe, was just as successful. Hillbilly Deluxe is the second album by Country music singer/songwriter Dwight Yoakam. His third LP, Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room, included his first #1, a duet with his musical idol, Buck Owens, on "Streets of Bakersfield". Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room is the third consecutive #1 Billboard Country Album by Dwight Yoakam. Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr, (August 12 1929 – March 25 2006 was an American Singer and Guitarist, with 20 number-one hits on the 1990's If There Was a Way was another best-seller. See also 1989 in country music, 1990 in music, Other events of 1990, 1991 in country music, 1990s in music and the List of years in Country If There Was a Way is the fourth album by Dwight Yoakam. Five of its tracks would rise into the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot Country Singles

Yoakam's song "Readin', Rightin', Route 23" pays tribute to his childhood move from Kentucky, and is titled after a local expression describing the route that rural Kentuckians took to take to find a job outside of the coal mines. The Commonwealth of Kentucky ( is a state located in the East Central United States of America. Coal mining is the extraction or removal of Coal from the Earth by Mining. (U.S. Highway 23 runs north from Kentucky through Columbus, Ohio and Toledo, Ohio and through the automotive centers of Michigan. US Route 23 is a long north-south US highway between Jacksonville Florida, and Mackinaw City Michigan. Columbus is the Capital and the largest city of the US state of Ohio. This article is about the city in Ohio, USA. For Toledo Spain, see that article Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads Michigan ( is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. ) Rather than the standard line that their Elementary schools taught the "Three Rs" of "Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rithmetic", Kentuckians used to say that the 3 Rs they learned were "Readin', 'Ritin, and Route 23 North"!

Yoakam has also taken some acting roles, most notably as the abusive alcoholic Doyle in Sling Blade, (1996) and as a sociopathic killer in 2002's Panic Room. Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions Sling Blade is a 1996 drama film set in rural Arkansas. It tells the fictional story of a simple man named Karl Childers who Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Sociopathy is a loosely-defined term that may be used to refer to Psychopathy Antisocial personality disorder Dissocial See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. He has also appeared in Southern California live theater, combining his acting talents with the talents of director Peter Fonda. Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one Peter Henry Fonda (born February 23[[ 940]] is an American actor More recently, he appeared in a cameo role as the doctor for Chev Chelios in Crank. Crank is a 2006 action / thriller Film, written and directed by both Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.

Having diverged from pop-icon status in country-western fare, Yoakam is today more likely to be identified as having an older, more traditional style. Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. At one point, Johnny Cash cited Yoakam as his favorite country singer. Johnny Cash (born J R Cash; February 26 1932 - September 12 2003 was a Grammy Award -winning American country Singer-songwriter. [2] But along with his bluegrass and honky-tonk roots, Yoakam has written or covered many Elvis Presley-style rockabilly songs, including his popular covers of Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in 1999 and Presley's "Suspicious Minds" in 1992. Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and is a sub-genre of Country music. Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist " Crazy Little Thing Called Love " is a song performed by the English rock band Queen, written by singer Freddie Mercury. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) " Suspicious Minds " is a song originating in the United States in 1956 that thematizes emotional entrapment within a dysfunctional relationship Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) He recorded a cover of the Clash's "Train in Vain" in 1997, as well as Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me". For the debut album by The Clash see The Clash (album The Clash were " Train in Vain (Stand by Me " is a song from the album London Calling (1979 by the British Punk rock band The Clash. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford Illinois, that gained popularity in the late 1970s " I Want You to Want Me " is a song by Cheap Trick, originally recorded in 1977 for their album In Color, though the version from the band's 1978 Yoakam has never been associated only with Country music; on many early tours, he played with Hardcore Punk bands like Hüsker Dü, and, as noted above, played many shows around L. For other uses see Husker Du. Hüsker Dü was an American Alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis-St A. with Roots/Punk/Rock & Roll acts. His middle-period-to-later records saw him branching out to different styles, covering Rock & Roll, Punk, 60's, Blues-based "Boogie" like Z.Z. Top, and writing more adventurous songs like the almost cinematic "A Thousand Miles From Nowhere". ZZ Top (ˌziːziːˈtɒp is an American rock band formed in late 1969 in Houston Texas.

In the last few years, along with acting, Yoakam has continued as a musician; released dwightyoakamacoustic. net, a record featuring solo acoustic versions of many of his hits; left his major label; and started his own label. His latest album of all-new tracks is 2005's Blame the Vain, on New West Records. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Yoakam will be inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2008. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common [3] Yoakam also released an album dedicated to Buck Owens, Dwight Sings Buck, on October 23, 2007. Dwight Sings Buck is Country music artist Dwight Yoakam 's tribute album to Buck Owens. Events 4004 BC - Creation of the world begins according to the calculations of Archbishop James Ussher 42 BC - Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. On November 7, 2007, the CMA presented Yoakam the International Artist Achievement Award. Events 1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite the oldest Meteorite with a known date of impact strikes the Earth around noon in a Wheat The Country Music Association (CMA was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. [4]

Yoakam currently resides in Southern California, but still maintains close ties with his family in the Columbus area. Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U

Discography

Main article: Dwight Yoakam discography

Filmography

See also

References

  1. ^ Dwight Yoakam Biography (1956-)
  2. ^ CNN.com - Transcripts
  3. ^ http://www.kymusichalloffame.com/2008-Inductee-Press-Release.pdf
  4. ^ Dwight Yoakam Receives CMA International Honor

External links

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