Dwight Yoakam – Brighter Days (2024) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Dwight Yoakam – Brighter Days (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:48 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Via records

“Brighter days are up ahead,” declares Dwight Yoakam on the title track of his new album Brighter Days (Via Records/Thirty Tigers), his first release of new original material in nine years. Written and recorded over the last three years, Brighter Days features 12 brand-new songs written/co-written by Yoakam, as well as two seemingly disparate covers of “Keep On The Sunny Side” by the Carter Family and “Bound Away” by Cake, artfully woven into the same body of work in the unmistakable style that could only be Dwight Yoakam. The infectious lead single “I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom),” was written by Yoakam specifically for a collaboration with self-proclaimed Dwight Yoakam superfan, Post Malone.

At once timeless and timely, in fact downright cowpunk-tual, Yoakam self-produced Brighter Days, blending a modern reverence for the history of country music with the pioneering rock and roll spirit of California. The result creates a sense of craftsmanship and immediacy that captures the quintessential Dwight Yoakam “cool” that has separated the two-time Grammy winner from his country contemporaries since the start of his legendary career. As usual, Yoakam’s lyrics throughout the album are both deceivingly effortless and poignant. Brighter Days was mixed by world-class engineer Chris Lord-Alge and is slated for release Nov 15, 2024.When the Technicolor guitar and pulsing drums—plus that recognizable “ha!”—kick in the song “Wide Open Heart,” it’s like no time has passed since Dwight Yoakam’s killer 1986 debut Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. This is still bright-as-the-blazing-sun cowpunk, shot through, as always, with the Bakersfield sound. Yoakam’s eighteenth studio album taps into that Nudie-suit alchemy he does so well: deeply respecting the past with a viewpoint that is right-now. He nods to The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers on songs like “California Sky”—with soft-edge Hammond, sugar-spun harmonies and a great bob-and-weave chorus—and “Time Between,” which uses steel guitar in a bright, happy context rather than as the instrument of sadness so many country artists rely on it for. “A Dream That Never Ends” is terrific, dusty California canyon country—not a trace of the Nashville skyline—that would do David Crosby proud. Yoakam sounds particularly youthful on the vocal scoops of the chorus, which is especially interesting because, elsewhere, like the twangy mid-tempo ballad “I’ll Pay The Price,” his rebel yelp seems burnished by time. There’s a sun-bleached, Nitty Gritty feel to a cover of Cake’s “Bound Away,” featuring eye-watering guitar, and an almost cartoonish Gene Autry cowboy classicism to the loping title track. Everyone’s favorite duet partner du jour, Post Malone, drops by for two-stepping “I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom),” and his rasp offers a fun contrast to Yoakam’s signature nasal tenor on the call-and-response. Yoakam plays 1950s rock-and-roll crooner on “Every Night” and “Can’t Be Wrong,” a bit of spit-shined greaser rockabilly that is exactly what people think of when they think of his earliest records. The Carter Family’s “Keep On The Sunny Side” seems to be the guiding light for this optimistic album, which is all about embracing happiness rather than shedding tears in your beer. Yoakam covers the country music urtext by retaining its tent-revival harmonies, but beefs the song up with searing honky-tonk guitar. Hell yeah, it feels good. – Shelly Ridenour

Tracklist:

1-01. Dwight Yoakam – Wide Open Heart (03:45)
1-02. Dwight Yoakam – I’ll Pay The Price (04:20)
1-03. Dwight Yoakam – Bound Away (03:35)
1-04. Dwight Yoakam – California Sky (05:02)
1-05. Dwight Yoakam – Can’t Be Wrong (03:25)
1-06. Dwight Yoakam – I Spell Love (03:15)
1-07. Dwight Yoakam – A Dream That Never Ends (03:56)
1-08. Dwight Yoakam – Brighter Days (04:06)
1-09. Dwight Yoakam – I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom) (03:26)
1-10. Dwight Yoakam – If Only (04:32)
1-11. Dwight Yoakam – Hand Me Down Heart (04:24)
1-12. Dwight Yoakam – Time Between (02:39)
1-13. Dwight Yoakam – Keep On The Sunny Side (04:43)
1-14. Dwight Yoakam – Every Night (03:34)

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