1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 619. Dwight Yoakam – Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room (1988)

 

Time to check in on the state of country music. Yoakam provides the musical genetic link between the traditional likes of Buck Owens, and the Bakersfield sound, with the more modern forms like Billy Ray Cyrus. And, indeed, he duets with Owens on this album on a track called The Streets Of Bakersfield, so the album wears its influence proudly like the Stars and Stripes on the back of a big truck. 

He’s got a distinctive yodelling singing style that’s endearing, and the although the music features some hard twangy Bakersfield guitars also has a softer modern sound to it. 

The songs are a thematic blend of those old country favourites – an unfaithful lover (such as tracks like One More Name, What I Don’t Know, and the title track Buenos Noches From A Lonely Room), or nostalgia and patriotism blended for an America that may no longer exist (I Sang Dixie or The Streets Of Bakersfield). Laced throughout are themes of love and loss; I Sang Dixie for example is as much about comforting a dying stranger as it is the mythical South - a variant on The Streets Of Laredo.

Despite the grim subject matter, the honky-tonk style elevates the mood, giving that usual country music dichotomy of light music and dark lyrics – it's only when country becomes a waltz or a slow ballad that everything becomes overwhelmingly maudlin. There’s a similar dichotomy between traditionalist and modernity as well in Yoakam’s music. It’s interesting to note, however, that country as a genre wears its roots with pride and never swerves too far from its authentic ingredients. As it's a form of roots music, this is unsurprising, but compare this with Buck Owens’ album back in the Sixties in the "country" genre versus, say, Metallica and Rolling Stones for a similar time span in the "rock" genre, and you can see how some genres are much more conserved in style than others.