Adding to the great shows that have been put on at Vetter Stone Amphitheater in Mankato, MN this summer, Dwight Yoakam will be making a stop on his latest tour in support of his new album, “Second Hand Heart“. It should prove to make Labor Day weekend’s Sunday Funday a memorable one for those attending!
Most famous for his pioneering country music and popular since the early 1980s, Dwight Yoakam has recorded more than twenty one albums and compilations, charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and sold more than 25 million records. He has recorded five Billboard #1 albums, twelve gold albums, and nine platinum albums, including the triple platinum This Time. In addition to his many achievements in the performing arts, he is also the most frequent musical guest in the history of The Tonight Show.
Second Hand Heart does not sound labored over; it has a loose, spontaneous feel. Yoakam and his band (Brian Whelan on keyboards and guitar, Eugene Edwards on lead guitar, Jonathan Clark on bass, and Mitch Marine on drums) cut the basic tracks live in the studio, often on nights off between gigs as they toured the country with Eric “The Chief” Church. The hook-filled title track was road-tested, winning over audiences, while other songs came together in the studio. “I would teach the band something on the spot,” Dwight says. “We’d rehearse it a couple or three takes, then do it.” One of those – which bursts with what Yoakam calls “the spirit of teenage recklessness” – is the raucous “Liar,” sounding like a lost nugget from a ‘60s garage-band compilation (he likens it to sounds from the Kinks or Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels). Another rave-up, a dynamited “Man of Constant Sorrow,” kicks off with a blistering guitar solo before Yoakam employs his emotive twang (and hoots ‘n hollers), while the band rocks out – like “Bill Monroe meets the Ramones,” says Dwight, who remembers his early days playing Hollywood dives with cowpunkers Rank & File, Lone Justice, and The Knitters. Meanwhile, his “psychobilly” number “Off Your Mind” finds “Johnny Cash colliding with Roger Miller,” he says, referring to the track’s loping rhythm (Tennessee Three style) and conversational vocals and wry lyrics (a la Miller).
“All of us have that need to remind ourselves that life is always worth trying, every day – surviving to hope,” Dwight says. And with Second Hand Heart, he intends to do just that.
Dwight Yoakam
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Vetter Stone Amphitheater
310 West Rock Street
Mankato, MN 56001
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Sunday, September 4th, 2016
Doors at 6:00 pm | Show at 7:00 pm
Ticket available HERE
