Born 70 Years Ago Today In Kentucky, He Was Too Country For Nashville But Found Fans In Punk Clubs

You may not expect the realms of country and punk rock to intersect very often, but this crossroad is exactly where country icon Dwight Yoakam got his start.

Born on October 23, 1956 in Pikeville, Kentucky, his family ended up moving to Ohio — but would often go back to their home state to visit the grandparents. Yoakam was interested in music at an early age, even recalling photos of himself at a year old holding a massive guitar. His childhood was spent listening to his mother's record collection, discovering the likes of Hank Williams, Buck Owens, and a country legend that anyone would love to perform with — Johnny Cash. It's no surprise that by the time he was in high school, he was starting his own rockabilly band and dreaming of a music career.

His first attempt to break out came from a short-lived move to Nashville, Tennessee, where he didn't quite fit into the established country pop scene. It was believed amongst artists at the time that the country music in Nashville was heavily influenced by church culture, but the country music of the West was born in the bars. Yoakam pivoted, moving to Los Angeles in 1978. The first nine years in the city were spent truck driving, loading docks, and doing odd jobs by day — but all the while, he was performing and genre-bending at the city's punk clubs by night. His development as an artist — and pioneering of what was called "cowpunk" — was a crucial innovation that gave us a new wave of the country rock subgenre.

Punk as a genre naturally incorporates harder rock sounds, but the main philosophy behind it was something that Dwight Yoakam was all too ready to jump on — an emotional rawness. Even when performing at notorious countercultural venues like Madame Wong's and Al's bar, he managed to blend his country sound with the veracity and passion of the mid '80s punk scene. Tracks such as his 1986 single "Guitars, Cadillacs" foreground the nostalgic '50s rock 'n' roll electric guitar solos with his country twang, immediately getting the attention of country fans nationwide. 

Although plenty of rock musicians experimented with country sounds in the '70s, Yoakam's contemporary take gave country the same edge as punk bands like Los Lobos, the Blasters, and X — all while dominating the commercial country charts. He's had two No. 1 hits on Billboard's Country charts, "I Sang Dixie" and "Streets Of Bakersfield," and three No. 1 albums. He would revisit his more cowpunk-adjacent sounds in his later work, such as 2012's "Three Pears," but his rampant electric guitar does not negate his skillful intent. In a 2012 interview with Vice, he shared that his advantage towards success was, "Timing and luck. And ultimately, you have to have a tenacious, dogged determination. You have to possess violent perseverance. Or you have to engage in violent persevering." 

Yoakam may be turning 70 today, but he's showing no signs of slowing down. With plans to tour through 2026, we tip our hats to a truly extraordinary talent.