Dwight Yoakam
Tomorrow’s Sounds Today (Reprise)
No one would have guessed when Dwight Yoakam hit the music scene in the mid-Eighties that not only would he still being making music at the turn of the century, but that he would be making music as fresh and vital as any made in its day. Yet he is, and with no signs of letting up, as Tomorrow’s Sounds Today abundantly displays. It’s a collection of songs that bursts from the speakers with sounds that are tradition-based yet forward-looking. This has always been Yoakam’s style, the marriage of the old and the new, but the fact that he continues to do it with as much verve and a seemingly unremitting enthusiasm as when he first began is remarkable. Every song on Tomorrow’s Sounds Today possesses something to recommend it, from hard-charging opener “Love Caught Up With Me” to the gospel-tinged closing duet with Buck Owens, “I Was There.” In between, there’s the raucous rockabilly update of “A Place to Cry,” a rousing Tex-Mex duet with Flaco Jimenez (“Alright, I’m Wrong”), a barroom weeper with a lilting reggae beat in “For Love’s Sake,” the lovingly performed honky-tonk of “The Heartaches Are Free,” and even a country update of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me.” A great deal of credit must be given to Yoakam’s band, especially fiddler Scott Joss and steel guitarist Gary Morse, who, along with producer/guitarist Pete Anderson, keep the music bold and refreshing, while also adding a tremendous amount of warmth and still keeping it country. With Tomorrow’s Sounds Today, Yoakam continues at his creative peak. All country music fans need do is hang on for the ride.
This article appears in November 10 • 2000.