Dwight Yoakam

With his stripped-down approach to traditional honky tonk and Bakersfield country, Dwight Yoakam helped return country music to its roots in the late '80s. Like his idols Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Hank Williams, Yoakam never played by Nashville's rules, engaging with the music's honky tonk traditions while adding a swagger, spunk, and sense of musical adventure that set him apart from his peers on his classic 1986 debut Guitars, Cadillacs, Ect., Ect. Yoakam found an audience that included mainstream country listeners as well as roots rock and rock & roll fans; he frequent...