Dwight Yoakam photo by Cambria Harkey, courtesy of New West Records.
A Kentucky native who was raised in Ohio, Dwight Yoakam blazed out of the Los Angeles club scene in 1986 with his debut CD, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., which went on to score double-platinum status. This was followed by numerous multi-million selling albums throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Dwight kicked off the new millennium in noteworthy style: He was named by online retailer Amazon.com the "Country Artist of the Year" in 2000, while two new Yoakam releases, Tomorrow's Sounds Today (at No. 2) and dwightyoakamacoustic.net (at No. 9), appeared on CD Now's "10 Essential Country Records of 2000."
The two-time Grammy winner has garnered 19 nominations in the course of his career, while selling more than 23 million albums worldwide and earning praise from the likes of Time magazine, hailing him as "A Renaissance Man," Rolling Stone, noting "he has no contemporary peer," and Vanity Fair, claiming "Yoakam strides the divide between rock's lust and country's lament."
Dwight's acting career has also garnered much acclaim, particularly for his role as Doyle Hargraves in the 1996 Oscar-winning "Sling Blade," for which he was honored with the Premiere Performance Award recognizing outstanding breakthrough performances in film. Following that, Dwight made his directorial debut (starring in a screenplay he also co-authored) with the 2001 release of "South Of Heaven, West Of Hell," a gothic western with an impressive ensemble cast that included Billy Bob Thornton, Vince Vaughn, Bridget Fonda, Peter Fonda, Paul Reubens, Bud Cort and Michael Jeter.
Other film credits include a scene-stealing 1994 debut in John Dahl's "Red Rock West" (with Nicolas Cage and Dennis Hopper), "The Newton Boys" in 1998 (with Matthew McConaughey, Julianna Marguiles and Vincent D'Onofrio,) "The Minus Man" in 1999 (with Owen Wilson and Janeane Garafolo,) the 2002 blockbuster suspense film "Panic Room" (with Jodie Foster and Forest Whitaker) and the 2003 action-comedy "Hollywood Homicide" (with Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett.)
In November 2002, Rhino Records’ commemorated Dwight's groundbreaking career with the release of the definitive four-disc box set Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros. Years. To further solidify Dwight's musical legacy, he was honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ceremonies held June 5, 2003.
Dwight's studio album titled Population: Me (2003) was followed by a critically-acclaimed compilation of previously released material, Dwight's Used Records (2004,) as well as a remastered retrospective package titled The Very Best of Dwight Yoakam (2004.) Dwight shot two simultaneous film roles in 2004. First, as Sheriff Belmont in Tommy Lee Jones' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," which received awards at the Cannes Film Festival for best actor for Tommy Lee Jones and best screenplay for Guillermo Arriaga.
Then, Dwight starred with Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz as Jackson in the Luc Besson written and produced feature film, "Bandidas." His album for New West Records/Via Records, Blame the Vain, was released in June of 2005, which received critical praise. In the 2006, Dwight played Doc Miles in the film "Crank" which stars Jason Statham. Dwight concluded his Watch Out 06 Tour throughout North America, Europe, and Australia and immediately began recording an album of Buck Owens songs, which was recently released to critical acclaim and overwhelming public and commercial response, titled Dwight Sings Buck.