Dwight Yoakam honors Buck Owens with new album

Multiple Grammy® Award winner and entertainer Dwight Yoakam is set to release Dwight Sings Buck, a one-of-a-kind new album honoring the legendary Buck Owens, out on October 23, 2007, as both a CD and a Limited Edition 180 gram vinyl record, from New West Records.
“After his death, it was the clearest way I could express my love for him and acknowledge the depth of our friendship” said Yoakam on why he chose to record an album of Buck Owens songs.
A portion of the proceeds from sales of the album will be donated by Dwight Yoakam and New West Records to the “Buck Owens American Music Foundation” a charity devoted to the preservation of the Bakersfield sound and the Buck Owens legacy. The emotional “Close Up The Honky Tonks,” will be released as the album’s first single.
Dwight and Buck’s profound initial musical connection turned into a life-long friendship. Yoakam demonstrates the enormous amount of love and respect he had for his friend with this special album honoring Owens’ legacy and showcasing his many hits. The Bakersfield sound was developed in Bakersfield and throughout California in the 1950s and 60s by the likes of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and the Buckaroos. Bakersfield country was an alternative to the Nashville country sound of the late 1950s. It was a sound that added electric instruments and other stylistic elements, borrowed from rock and roll.
Buck Owens was one of the first to bring this Bakersfield sound to mainstream audiences and his music also influenced later country stars. Yoakam pays tribute to this amazing artist and his music with Dwight Sings Buck , a fifteen track collection of many of Owens’ most memorable singles including 11 top five hits, eight of which reached #1 on the country charts; “Act Naturally,” “My Heart Skips A Beat,” “I Don’t Care (Just as Long as You Love Me),” “Only You (Can Break My Heart),” “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” “Your Tender Loving Care,” “Think of Me,” and “Together Again.”
Hailed as a “Renaissance Man” by Time Magazine, this Kentucky native, who was raised in Ohio, migrated to Los Angeles and blazed out of the LA club scene in 1986. Yoakam shared stages with LA roots-rock acts such as X, Lone Justice, the Blasters and Los Lobos. Beginning by revitalizing the Buck Owens/Bakersfield sound for a new generation, Yoakam would later push the envelope of the country music genre and transcend its parameters by experimenting with big band, American and British pop elements. Yoakam fashioned memorable hits ranging from “Ain’t That Lonely Yet,” “Fast As You,” “I Sang Dixie,” “Thousand Miles From Nowhere,” “Little Sister” and “Guitars, Cadillacs.”
With the success of the albums Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc, Hillbilly Deluxe and Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room, he was soon considered the hottest young country star in ages. In the ‘90s he reached a commercial apex with the multi-platinum-sellers If There Was A Way and This Time. To date Yoakam has 17 Top 10 country hits and has sold more than 23 million albums worldwide.
Since his 1993 film debut opposite Nicholas Cage in Red Rock West, he has worked steadily in movies and television with exceptional performances in Sling Blade, The Minus Man, Panic Room, and Crank. In 2000 he also directed, wrote and starred in a film of his own South of Heaven, West of Hell.

Dwight Sings Buck Track Listing:
My Heart Skips A Beat
Foolin’ Around
I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)
Only You
Act Naturally
Down On The Corner Of Love
Cryin’ Time
Above And Beyond
Love’s Gonna Live Here
Close Up The Honky Tonks
Under Your Spell Again
Your Tender Loving Care
Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got A Heartache)
Think Of Me
Together Again

For more information on Dwight Yoakam, including message boards, tour dates and more, please visit www.newwestrecords.com and www.dwightyoakam.com.