Yoakam finds plenty of L.A. collaboration
Yoakam finds plenty of L.A. collaboration
June 9, 2005
Dwight Yoakam may be a honky-tonk singer, but he flexes a mean SAG card, too.
On Tuesday, New West Records releases "Blame the Vain," the latest album by the country vet. The self-produced collection finds the singer backed by a band that includes a couple of longtime sidemen and a pair of musicians drawn from the burgeoning Los Angeles country-rock club scene.
"This (album) is really me doing my articulation and interpretation of what I'm witnessing," Yoakam explains.
But Yoakam hasn't been neglecting his acting career, a sideline he's pursued since a small role in the thriller "Red Rock West" (1996). He has a featured role in Tommy Lee Jones' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," which took best actor (for Jones) and best screenplay honors at Cannes last month. He'll also take a prominent part in the forthcoming "Bandidas," starring Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz, and he makes a cameo appearance in the imminent Owen Wilson-Vince Vaughn comedy "Wedding Crashers."
"Blame the Vain" is Yoakam's first new studio album since his split with careerlong bandleader-producer-guitarist Pete Anderson after 2003's "Population: Me." In late 2002, Yoakam was drawn to the new L.A. country posse, which he compares to such local roots-punk acts as the Blasters and Lone Justice, with whom he shared stages at the time of his early-'80s rise.
He was impressed by the musicians he saw at the local joints and drafted two players for his road band in late '83: guitarist Keith Gattis, late of the house band for East Bound and Down (a now-defunct monthly King King event run by actress Joey Lauren Adams and Victoria Vaughn, Vince's sister), and drummer Mitch Marine (of the ongoing monthly jam at Molly Malone's, Sweethearts of the Rodeo). Two former Yoakam band members, bassist Taras Prodaniuk and keyboardist Skip Edwards, complete the album lineup.
Yoakam says of acting as his own producer, "With a third-party producer, you're compelled to map out things with a specific, orderly plan. ... With this (album), it was only me being subjected to my whim."
The setup allowed Yoakam to improvise. For the single "Intentional Heartache" -- which is being worked, thanks to New West's and owner Cameron Strang's Sony BMG connections, by Columbia Records' country promotion department -- he tacked a spontaneously recorded rant on to the end of the track. "I just pushed up the role-playing (in the song)," he says. "It was almost like voice looping in a film."
Yoakam's been getting in some looping licks as well. He calls his acting career "a departure. It's such a collaborative process. ... As an actor, you're at the mercy of opportunity."
One opportunity he couldn't turn down was working with actor Jones on his directing debut. Yoakam sounds especially proud of his work on "Melquiades Estrada" and adds, "I'd run anywhere Tommy wanted me to work with him again."
On Saturday, Yoakam celebrates the release of "Blame the Vain" with a sold-out show at the House of Blues in West Hollywood. True to his local roots, he has secured the superb L.A. honky-tonker Mike Stinson (writer of Yoakam's '03 single "The Late Great Golden State") and the Sin City All Stars (house band for Sweethearts of the Rodeo) to open the show.
On Tuesday, New West Records releases "Blame the Vain," the latest album by the country vet. The self-produced collection finds the singer backed by a band that includes a couple of longtime sidemen and a pair of musicians drawn from the burgeoning Los Angeles country-rock club scene.
"This (album) is really me doing my articulation and interpretation of what I'm witnessing," Yoakam explains.
But Yoakam hasn't been neglecting his acting career, a sideline he's pursued since a small role in the thriller "Red Rock West" (1996). He has a featured role in Tommy Lee Jones' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," which took best actor (for Jones) and best screenplay honors at Cannes last month. He'll also take a prominent part in the forthcoming "Bandidas," starring Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz, and he makes a cameo appearance in the imminent Owen Wilson-Vince Vaughn comedy "Wedding Crashers."
"Blame the Vain" is Yoakam's first new studio album since his split with careerlong bandleader-producer-guitarist Pete Anderson after 2003's "Population: Me." In late 2002, Yoakam was drawn to the new L.A. country posse, which he compares to such local roots-punk acts as the Blasters and Lone Justice, with whom he shared stages at the time of his early-'80s rise.
He was impressed by the musicians he saw at the local joints and drafted two players for his road band in late '83: guitarist Keith Gattis, late of the house band for East Bound and Down (a now-defunct monthly King King event run by actress Joey Lauren Adams and Victoria Vaughn, Vince's sister), and drummer Mitch Marine (of the ongoing monthly jam at Molly Malone's, Sweethearts of the Rodeo). Two former Yoakam band members, bassist Taras Prodaniuk and keyboardist Skip Edwards, complete the album lineup.
Yoakam says of acting as his own producer, "With a third-party producer, you're compelled to map out things with a specific, orderly plan. ... With this (album), it was only me being subjected to my whim."
The setup allowed Yoakam to improvise. For the single "Intentional Heartache" -- which is being worked, thanks to New West's and owner Cameron Strang's Sony BMG connections, by Columbia Records' country promotion department -- he tacked a spontaneously recorded rant on to the end of the track. "I just pushed up the role-playing (in the song)," he says. "It was almost like voice looping in a film."
Yoakam's been getting in some looping licks as well. He calls his acting career "a departure. It's such a collaborative process. ... As an actor, you're at the mercy of opportunity."
One opportunity he couldn't turn down was working with actor Jones on his directing debut. Yoakam sounds especially proud of his work on "Melquiades Estrada" and adds, "I'd run anywhere Tommy wanted me to work with him again."
On Saturday, Yoakam celebrates the release of "Blame the Vain" with a sold-out show at the House of Blues in West Hollywood. True to his local roots, he has secured the superb L.A. honky-tonker Mike Stinson (writer of Yoakam's '03 single "The Late Great Golden State") and the Sin City All Stars (house band for Sweethearts of the Rodeo) to open the show.
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