Yoakam was born in Pikeville, Kentucky, the son of Ruth Ann, a key-punch operator, and David Yoakam, a gas-station owner. He was raised in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from Columbus's Northland High School in 1974. During his high school years, he excelled in both music and drama, regularly securing the lead role in school plays, such as "Charlie" in a stage version of Flowers for Algernon, honing his skills under the guidance of teacher-mentors Jerry McAfee (music) and Charles Lewis (drama). Outside of school, Yoakam sang and played guitar with local garage bands, and entertained his friends and classmates with his impersonations, such as Richard Nixon, who, at the time, was heavily embroiled in the Watergate controversy.
Yoakam briefly attended Ohio State University, but dropped out and moved to Nashville in 1977 with the intent of becoming a recording artist. Later on, Ohio Valley University in Parkersburg, West Virginia awarded and presented Dwight with an honorary doctorate degree on May 7, 2005.
When he began his career, Nashville was oriented toward pop "urban cowboy" music, and Yoakam's 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 (as he called it) forward into the 1980s. Writing all his own songs, and continuing to perform mostly outside traditional country music channels, Yoakam did many shows in rock and punk rock clubs around Los Angeles, playing with roots rock or punk rock acts like The Blasters (Yoakam scored a small video hit with his version of their song "Long White Cadillac"), 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.
Yoakam's recording debut was the self-financed EP Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. on independent label Oak Records produced by lead-guitarist Pete Anderson; this was later re-released by Reprise records, with several additional tracks, as his major-label debut LP, 1986's Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.. It launched his career. "Honky Tonk Man", a remake of the Johnny Horton song, and "Guitars, Cadillacs" were hit singles. His stylish video "Honky Tonk Man" was the first country music video ever played on MTV. The follow-up LP, Hillbilly Deluxe, was just as successful. His third LP, Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room, included his first No. 1, a duet with his musical idol, Buck Owens, on "Streets of Bakersfield". 1990's If There Was a Way was another best-seller.
Yoakam's song "Readin', Rightin', Route 23" pays tribute to his childhood move from Kentucky, and is named after a local expression describing the route that rural Kentuckians took to find a job outside of the coal mines. (U.S. Route 23 runs north from Kentucky through Columbus and Toledo, Ohio and through the automotive centers of Michigan.) Rather than the standard line that their elementary schools taught "the three Rs" of "Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rithmetic", Kentuckians used to say that the three Rs they learned were "Readin', 'Ritin, and Route 23 North".
Johnny Cash once cited Yoakam as his favorite country singer. Chris Isaak called him as good a songwriter that ever put a pen to paper. Time Magazine dubbed Yoakam "A Renaissance Man" and Vanity Fair declared that "Yoakam strides the divide between rock's lust and country's lament." Along with his bluegrass and honky-tonk roots, Yoakam has written or covered many Elvis Presley-style rockabilly songs, including his covers of Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in 1999 and Presley's "Suspicious Minds" in 1992. He recorded a cover of The Clash's "Train in Vain" in 1997, a cover of the Grateful Dead song "Truckin'", as well as Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me". Yoakam has never been associated only with Country music; on many early tours, he played with Hardcore Punk bands like Hüsker Dü, and played many shows around Los Angeles with Roots/Punk/Rock & Roll acts. His middle-period-to-later records saw him branching out to different styles, covering Rock & Roll, Punk, 1960's, Blues-based "Boogie" like ZZ Top, and writing more adventurous songs like "A Thousand Miles From Nowhere". In 2003, he provided background vocals on Warren Zevon's last album The Wind.
In the 21st century, Yoakam released dwightyoakamacoustic.net, an album featuring solo acoustic versions of many of his hits; left his major label and started his own label.
2005 saw the release of Yoakam's well-reviewed album Blame the Vain, on New West Records. Yoakam also released an album dedicated to Buck Owens, Dwight Sings Buck, on October 23, 2007. His duet with Michelle Branch, a song titled "Long Goodbye", was released as a free download on Branch's official website in early 2011.
In July 2011, Yoakam re-signed with Warner Bros. Nashville and announced plans to release a new album. 3 Pears was released on September 18, 2012 with twelve new tracks. The album, produced by Yoakam, includes collaborations with Kid Rock, Beck, and Ashley Monroe. 3 Pears was released to resounding critical acclaim and earned Yoakam the highest-charting debut of his career on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Country Albums charts. 3 Pears reached #1 on the Americana Radio chart on October 29, 2012 and went on to break the 2012 record for most weeks at #1 on Americana Radio.[4] By the end of 2012, the album was named on annual best of lists by NPR, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, AOL's The Boot, Entertainment Weekly, The Village Voice, and Rhapsody, and has been included in more critic's "best of 2012" lists than any other artist in the country genre.
Yoakam won the Grammy Award for "Best Male Country Vocal Performance" in 1993 for the song "Ain't That Lonely Yet". He was also named "Artist of the Year" by CMT Europe in 1993 and given the International Touring Artist Award by CMA in 2007.
In 2011, Yoakam received the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award for his trailblazing achievements in the country music genre.
If There Was A Way
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Alone in this room
Surrounded by memories
We stopped making too soon
I was just standing
I was just standing
Alone in this room
Alone in this room
I was just thinking
All to myself
How I still want you
And nobody else
I was just thinking
I was just thinking
All to myself
All to myself
In this darkness I move slowly
Always struggling to be free
But I still hear your voice
And everywhere I see the choice
That's made such a fool of me
I was just wondering
If there was a way
To bring you back to me
Maybe things I could say
I was just wondering
I was just wondering
If there was a way
The lyrics to Dwight Yoakam's song "If There Was a Way" are about longing, regret, and the desire to bring back a lost love. The song begins with the singer standing alone in a room surrounded by memories of a past relationship that ended too soon. He reflects on how he still wants his former partner, and nobody else. The lines "In this darkness I move slowly, always struggling to be free" suggest that he is trying to move on but finding it difficult to do so. The singer hears his lost love's voice and sees reminders of her everywhere he goes. He wonders if there is a way to bring her back and hopes that perhaps there are things he could say to win her heart once more.
This song represents a common theme in many country songs, that of reflecting on past relationships and the regret that comes with letting someone go. The lyrics are simple but powerful, and Yoakam's emotive delivery brings an added layer of authenticity to the words. The melody is a slow, melancholy tune that sets the mood for the reflective lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
I was just standing
I found myself standing
Alone in this room
In this empty room without you
Surrounded by memories
Reminded of all the beautiful moments we shared
We stopped making too soon
We gave up on our love too easily
I was just thinking
I was lost in thought
All to myself
Without anyone else interrupting
How I still want you
I still desire you
And nobody else
No one else can take your place
In this darkness I move slowly
Wandering through the shadows
Always struggling to be free
Trying to break free from the pain of losing you
But I still hear your voice
I can still hear your words of love
And everywhere I see the choice
Everywhere I look, I am reminded of the choice I made to let you go
That's made such a fool of me
Which has caused me to be foolish and regretful
I was just wondering
I was pondering
If there was a way
If there was a possibility
To bring you back to me
To have you by my side again
Maybe things I could say
Possibly finding the right words to express my feelings for you
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: DWIGHT YOAKAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jim Bailey
Dwight, been doing it for 30 years. Said bye to Nashville and did it his way. Writes most of his records and make the one he covers his own. The BEST in the last 30 years of pure raw talent.
Fernando Rocha
Yes, Dwight Yoakam is best singer
Sandy Jacobs
Jim Bailey. very true. he's the real deal ☺
staxmantim
His voice is so unique & add the production & arrangement with Pete Anderson's guitar & Skip Edwards B-3 organ work: there is nothing in modern Country music that measures up to this.
J Breezy
LOLBram71 I thought maybe I was the only one who heard a distinct similarity between "All Around You" and this song - love 'em both
LOLBram71
hey bud, check out Sturgill Simpson's "all around you". Simpson, Stapleton, & Johnson have changed the game in country bringing back the old roots.
Daniel Langdon
One of the best country artists of the century. Thank you Dwight Yoakam.
brian adams
very under rated singer he is. I love this song.
Bonnie Friend
Dwight Yoakam is one of the all time greats! Love his voice and style! Can't get much better!!!
Nancy Mahoney
Pure Ecstasy! This man does it for me!! I can't get enough of him! Total sexiness!!