Dwight Yoakam - "Brighter Days"

He's seen brighter days

This album, by Country rocker Dwight Yoakam, is another nostalgia pick-up, much like last week’s Willie Nelson review. Funny thing is, I didn’t really love Yoakam as a kid. I thought his songs were okay, but his voice and style were just…weird. And he does have a very unique voice — a tenor with a lot of timbre and just a bit nasally. His Rockabilly delivery is twangy and he always seems to be right on the edge of yodeling.

As an adult, though, I’m more capable of recognizing just how good Yoakam is. He’s a banner-carrier for the Bakersfield Sound, and his hits from the 80s and 90s are touchstone songs for the Country music of that era.

That said, Brighter Days, his 16th studio album, feels flat. There’s no spark. It still sounds like Yoakam and still exemplifies Bakersfield Hoky-tonk, but it’s joyless.

A few songs, such as opener “Wide Open Heart” and “Can’t Be Wrong”, are passable. But that’s as good as it gets. And at a length of 54 minutes, the album just drags.

“I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye” is decent, and features Post Malone (and does nothing to convince me that I missed anything by passing up his Country album).

Yoakam fans or Bakersfield devotees might disagree, but I’ve not been able to get into this one. It isn’t awful, but it’s not good, either.

Rating: Orange