God bless Dwight Yoakam for being one of the few country artists around with more than a vague awareness of country music’s traditions. Most of the “country” acts out of Nashville these days seem to owe more to Billy Joel and Britney Spears than to Webb Pierce and Hank Williams.
In particular, I want to thank Dwight Yoakam for his (quixotic?) quest to maintain the tradition of the waltz in country music. I’m thinking of such Yoakam numbers as (beware of pop-ups) “You’re the One,” “One More Name,” and “Traveler’s Lantern.”
Are there any country artists in the newest generation who are doing their part to keep old traditions alive? Anyone else sprinkling an occasional waltz into their music?
I can’t help you with your question since I haven’t listened to country on the radio since ~2002 but I have to ask: are you implying that Yoakam is part of the current/newest generation of Country? There’ve been at least two distinct style shifts in the genre most typically given air-time since he debuted (rock/country as epitomized by Garth Brooks and pop/country in the vein of Shania Twain, Faith Hill, etc) and quite possibly another one since I’ve stopped listening.
Nope. Quite the opposite. I’m asking if anyone in the newest generation (the generation after Yoakam) is doing what Dwight Yoakam has done to keep country music traditions alive.
Have you heard Blame the Vain? It’s a great album, in parts very traditional country. But She’ll Remember (rapidly becoming one of my favorite tracks) is very strange. It begins almost techno, and Dwight does this bizarro speaking introduction in a really, really bad English accent, and then it swings into great country. Like I said, quite strange, but it’s growing on me.
As for the new generation, I’d nominate Brad Paisley.
Ah. My mistake and apologies, then. Since you agree with me, I hope you can understand my initial puzzlement. I can’t imagine Dwight Yoakam being played on any country station I’ve ever listened to.
Hijack aside, if you like bluegrass, I would suggest Nickel Creek. They’re a trio of twentysomethings but with a very traditional sound including, if I remember correctly, a number of waltzes. I quite like them and have a number of their tracks on my Winamp playlist.
I don’t have that one (yet), but in listening to some of the track samples at amazon.com I find yet another nice Yoakam waltz: “Lucky That Way.”
That opening section of “She’ll Remember” sounds like British psychedelia from Their Satanic Majesties Request-era Rolling Stones (or maybe Sgt. Pepper’s-era Beatles). Um. I might have gone a different way with that, particularly since Dwight is clearly struggling with the fake accent. (OK, so not all of his stuff is traditional country.)
More’s the pity. I fear America won’t appreciate what a musical treasure this guy is until he’s old and decrepit, or maybe just plain dead (the Johnny Cash phenomenon).
Indeed. I know I hated his music growing up (I’m only 23 so that was the late eighties to the early aughts) but have recently done a 180 on him and just last night downloaded about a dozen tracks to go with the half dozen or so I already had.
I don’t know why he’s never been accepted into the mainstream of country when people like Toby Keith are and I say that as someone who grew up listening to and mostly enjoying the music of he and his peers.
He’s definitely got the “look” to be more popular with fans. Tight jeans, big hat, some sexy moves. He was on Letterman a couple of weeks ago and it looks like he’s finally gaining some weight.
I don’t think he’s ever tried to be mainstream. He writes most of his own stuff, and when even he records a standard, he tweaks it, makes it his own.
My favorite Yoakam album is If There Was A Way, and my favorite Yoakam song is probably Long White Cadillac.
Like everyone else, I can’t think of another singer who has Dwight’s flavor and style. More’s the pity.
BR-549 is another band with a deep respect for the old style. Before they became bigshots, they had a longtime gig as the house band at (I think) a western wear shop. There’s a story (I may have some details wrong) that a famous country singer came in and told them he’d give them $50 for every Hank Williams, Sr. song they could play. After $600, his wallet was empty, and he surrendered.
I’m not enough of a fan to name particular waltzes by them, but for a mainstream country act the Dixie Chicks seem to have some sense of musical history and can really play their instruments to boot.
As the OP doesn’t limit us to commercial acts, I’d toss in Robbie Fulks, Laura Cantrell, Freakwater, Iris Dement, the Gourds, the Be Good Tanyas, and Gillian Welch.
While we’re lamenting the death of the waltz on commercial country radio, how 'bout the disappearance of the fiddle and pedal steel?
