Original Country Yoakam Blems Rock And Country With Flair

Tickets for Dwight Yoakam’s Arena show tonight began selling two-for-one last week, evidence that Yoakam’s standing in the country mainstream has slipped.

Too bad, because in a world of anonymous sound-alikes, Yoakam is one of the last true originals. Country music is retreating to a place where forgettable pop-rockers like Tim McGraw regularly outsell innovators like Yoakam.

The same thing happened to rock music in the ‘70s - the thing got so big that the boundaries got narrower. We got Journey instead of Hendrix, Croce for Dylan.

Of course, Yoakam has been an outsider from the beginning. His six-track debut, “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.,” was a brash, left-field entry when it arrived in 1984.

Like his peer, Steve Earle, Yoakam has the ability to mesh country and rock organically, as if the strain of music that linked Hank Williams, the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison and the Beatles had come down unbroken through the years.

Yoakam came up through the roots-rock ranks of Southern California, more likely to share a stage with Los Lobos or the Blasters than with George Jones or Tanya Tucker, but he validated his credentials in 1988 when he shared a song, “The Streets of Bakersfield,” with his old idol, Buck Owens.

That relationship explains a lot: Owens is the godfather of the West Coast sound, a stripped-down honky-tonk take on country that rejects the excesses of Nashville for a more direct - and more emotional - attack.

Backed by one of the best bands in country music, the Babylonian Cowboys, Yoakam is a splendid live musician. He eschews the athletics of today’s Garth Brooks-influenced entertainers for a traditional two-feet-planted approach, although that doesn’t preclude cool hip shakes, spinning 360s and guitar-hero poses.

Like all the best musicians, Yoakam is restless, ever-willing to expand his horizons. Check out his newest CD, “Gone,” for its gleeful trampling of boundaries. From the mariachi trumpets of “Sorry You Asked” to the electric sitar of “One More Night” and the unbridled Tex-Mex polka of “Baby Why Not,” “Gone” is in constant motion, dropping into one musical corner after the other.

Yoakam’s producer/guitarist Pete Anderson has given the record a shiny surface, but it barely disguises the broken-hearted song cycle that lies beneath.

Yoakam is one of country’s best writers and most complex practitioners. He lies well outside the country mainstream, which is both good for him and bad: It allows him to make records as satisfying as “Gone” but it also sometimes means promoters are forced to give away tickets.

If that’s the price to be paid for integrity and self-satisfaction, then it’s probably a price Yoakam’s willing to pay.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Dwight Yoakam and David Ball perform tonight at 8 at the Spokane Arena. Tickets are two for $25, available at all G&B Select-a-Seat outlets or call 325-SEAT.