Here are three reasons why you should brag if you're going to see Bakersfield, Calif.-neo-country crooner Dwight Yoakam at Fox Tucson Theatre next Thursday:
• The show's sold out. If you didn't act fast and get your tickets early, you'll be the one listening to your friends recall all those wonderful songs: "Guitars, Cadillacs," "Thousand Miles From Nowhere," "Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Streets Of Bakersfield."
• That hip-swivel move still thrills. Even at 56, Yoakam can strike a sexy pose - legs locked, head bowed, peering beneath the rim of a perfectly pressed cowboy hat, hands firmly working the guitar - that makes the ladies swoon. Then he does that little hip-twist that was surely inspired by Elvis Presley, to whom Yoakam will tip his hat with a couple covers during his show. That signature Yoakam move never gets old.
• He's packing "3 Pears," his months-old record and his first studio album in seven years. It's a record that, The Los Angeles Times gushed, shows off a softer, even romantic side to the normally stoic singer. Entertainment website Taste of Country said the album was long overdue and "proves that (Yoakam) would really have to try to make a bad album," even though there are a couple cuts that are a bit pretentious and "quite simply put, too cool for the room." "3 Pears" features contributions by Beck, Kid Rock and country singer Ashley Monroe of Miranda Lambert's side project, Pistol Annies.
Yoakam goes on stage at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday at the Fox, 17 W. Congress St.
Cathalena E. Burch
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