Dwight Yoakam has His Day In L.A.

Dwight Yoakam performs at the Nightly Concert on the Vault Concert Stage LP Field Sunday, June 8 in Downtown Nashville during the 2008 CMA Music Festival. Photographer: John Russell / CMA

July 31, 2008 — When Dwight Yoakam performed at the historic Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, he got a two-fold surprise.

Just before he started his set at the Griffith Park amphitheater, Councilman Dennis Zine gave the singer-songwriter an official proclamation recognizing the date as Dwight Yoakam Day in the city.

In addition, actors Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau were on hand to present a gold album to Dwight for the 2004 compilation The Very Best Of Dwight Yoakam, which only received its official certification from the Recording Industry Association of America a mere four days prior.

Vince and Jon were appropriate choices to make the presentation: They worked with Dwight several months ago on the movie Four Christmases, which is set for release in November. Also in the all-star cast are Reese Witherspoon, Mary Steenburgen, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Tim McGraw — though Tim and Dwight were never actually on the set at the same time during filming.

Dwight also makes another appearance in the forthcoming sequel, Crank 2: High Voltage.

As for his albums, Dwight’s most recent project was his tribute to late friend Buck Owens, Dwight Sings Buck, which was released last October. The next album remains a bit of a mystery.

"I’m thinking all the time, and I’m writing at different moments in my head, and I jot things down and work on something," Dwight says. "But it’s not a formal focus on something. I want the Buck album to live with myself and, hopefully, his fans and my fans throughout the rest of this year. I wanna stand still and let that live for a bit."

Look for Dwight Sept. 8 on the ABC special CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock. Featuring his performance at the CMA Fest in June, the two-hour telecast will also highlight Miranda Lambert, Alan Jackson, Trace Adkins and Lady Antebellum, among others, with hosts Taylor Swift, Kellie Pickler and Julianne Hough.