Dwight Yoakam – Brighter Days
Dwight Yoakam has some damn range. The roles he’s played in the 40 years since his debut album – country music heartthrob, keeper of the Bakersfield Sound, and honest-to-God movie star, just to name a few – have made him an indelible part of music history. And if proof were needed of that, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award this past September from the Americana Music Association. But it’s his latest role – becoming a father for the first time in 2020 at age 63 – that seems to have shifted his perspective. The singer-songwriter, in fact, has embraced several firsts – team songwriting, working with pop-rap luminaries and even recording little Dalton Yoakam. His fresh, reinvigorated new self shines through on his first new album in nine years. Brighter Days has all the Yoakam we’ve come to expect while showing off the sunnier side of his songwriting.
All of the Cali (via Kentucky and Ohio) twang we’re used to from Yoakam announces itself in the first notes of Brighter Days. “Wide Open Heart” is a big, riffy road song with Beach Boy-like high harmonies – Yoakam, after a couple of decades of not recording his own harmonies, flipped back to doing so on this record, and it’s a reminder of how good of a singer he’s always been. The song itself is full of car references – “Spinnin’ your wheels doesn’t mean you’re/Gonna get to drive” – making it pure, loud fun. Cars also played a role in the album’s first single. “I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom)” was penned late in the recording process to include Post Malone, and Yoakam was able to write and voice-memo the new tune during a drive with his wife, Emily Joyce, and their son. The song is a boisterous tune, paced by fiddle and pedal steel, with an upbeat musical nature that belies the country weepy-ness of the verses traded by Yoakam and Post Malone – “Bang bang boom boom/Is how a broken heart beats on.”
The personal songs on Brighter Days are what make this album a somewhat different affair from previous Yoakam records. “Hand Me Down Heart” is an organ/acoustic guitar ballad that places Yoakam where many men of a certain age find themselves – beaten up, but still seeking happiness: “This hand me down heart/Could be yours to steal/If you can look past/Its history.” The album’s title track is a pleasant country ambler inspired by interactions with his young son – “Brighter days that’s what you said/The first time you ever spoke to me” – that broke through a pandemic haze and reminded Yoakam of the full life surrounding him (Dalton also gets a vocal cameo at the end of the track). And the record also includes a full-on rockabilly take on “Keep on the Sunny Side.” After a gospel-ish vocal intro, Yoakam and his long-time band joyfully tear into the Carter Family staple. Whoops and guitar solos abound, reminding us all that, even during the worst of times, there’s a sunny side somewhere to be found.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Bound Away” – Covers of “Keep on the Sunny Side” and Chris Hillman’s “Time Between” make sense on a Dwight Yoakam record. Much less expected is this song from 90s alterna-pop band Cake. Turns out, this acoustic, lightly twangy song is ripe for a Bakersfield backdating, and Yoakam re-tells (and sells) this wistful road song with 40 years of touring experience under his belt.
Brighter Days was produced by Dwight Yoakam, mixed by Chris Lord-Alge and Marc DeSisto, engineered by Desisto and mastered by Stephen Marcussen. All original songs written by Yoakam, with co-writes going to Jeffrey Steele, Bob DiPiero, Shane Minor, Bryan Joyce and Dalton Yoakam. Musicians on the album include Yoakam (lead and harmony vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Mitch Marine (drums), Jonathan Clark (bass guitar, upright bass, background vocals, Eugene Edwards (electric guitar, baritone guitar), Brian Whelan (electric guitar, acoustic piano, Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, acoustic piano, beat box guitar, keyboard motifs, acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, background vocals), Drew Taubenfeld (pedal steel guitar, Hammon organ, mandolin), Eric Baines (bass guitar), Dalton Yoakam (additional vocals), Post Malone (lead vocals), Jamison Hollister (pedal steel guitar, fiddle), Skip Edwards (acoustic piano, Hammond organ) and Ken Stacey (background vocals).
Go here to order Brighter Days (out November 15): https://store.dwightyoakam.com/
Check out tour dates here: https://www.dwightyoakam.com/events
Enjoy our previous coverage here: A Driveway Conversation Changed Things For Dwight Yoakam
