Highlights Of Dwight

The Very Best Of Dwight Yoakam Salutes Country-Rock Maverick on July 27

Years before Jack White would produce Lorretta Lynn's comeback album, Dwight Yoakam was reinventing classic honky-tonk sounds for the modern era. On July 27, Rhino/Reprise will present a compilation of some of Dwight's finest, fittingly titled The Very Best Of Dwight Yoakam.

The career-spanning, 20-song collection corrals some of the prolific vocalist's own chart-topping compositions as well as his pet forays into pop-country-rock material. The package will be available for a suggested price of $18.98 at retail outlets and at www.rhino.com [ http://www.rhino.com/ ], and includes a photo-filled booklet with liner notes by respected music critic Holly George-Warren.

The singer-songwriter has sold more than 23 million albums worldwide-not bad for a hillbilly in a long white Cadillac. Among the many Top 10 Country hits on The Very Best Of are such Yoakam originals as "Little Ways" and "Please, Please Baby" (both from 1987's Hillbilly Deluxe), "I Sang Dixie" (from 1988's Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room), and "Fast As You" (from 1993's multi-platinum This Time). Equally popular have been Dwight's takes on country standards like Johnny Horton's "Honky Tonk Man" and the #1 smash "Streets Of Bakersfield," which Dwight recorded with the song's originator, Buck Owens.

The man's playful, pop-loving side makes an appearance on The Very Best Of Dwight Yoakam as well, with covers of Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me." Other favorites include "Things Change" from 1998's A Long Way Home, plus more recent material from 2003's independent-label (Audium) release, Population: Me, including "The Back Of Your Hand" and "The Late Great Golden State"-the latter of which features Eagles member Timothy B. Schmit on background vocals.

Born in Pikeville, Kentucky, in 1956, Dwight Yoakam has played rockabilly, traditional country, and rock 'n' roll since high school. In the mid-'70s Dwight moved to Nashville to pursue a music career, but ultimately, in 1977, found the big-city pastures of Los Angeles (home to such influential modern country artists as Emmylou Harris and, later, "cowpunk" revivalists Rank And File, The Blasters, and Rosie Flores) more welcoming. There he recorded his six-song debut, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., for an indie label in 1984, and Warner Bros. Nashville quickly signed him, releasing an expanded version of Guitars, Cadillacs... When two of its tracks reached the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, Yoakam's musical ambitions were realized. In recent years, Dwight has also branched out into acting, making indelible appearances in such hit films as Sling Blade and Panic Room.

Source: Rhino/Reprise Records