Yoakam Cash-ing in on his country idols

Kirk Baird

Friday, Aug. 31, 2001 | 9:01 a.m.

Johnny Cash began his recording career with Sam Phillips and Sun Records in 1955, even as rock 'n' roll was still in its diaper stage.

A decade later, as many country artists found themselves losing young record buyers to the new sounds emanating from across the Atlantic, Cash, the patron saint of country cool, remained hip.

Country singer-songwriter Dwight Yoakam was no exception when it came to being a Cash fan.

"I know growing up, even among rock 'n' roll friends, in the late '60s and early '70s Johnny Cash was also OK to listen to," Yoakam said in a recent interview from his home in Los Angeles. "Cash had always, I think, transcended the boundaries of genres and straddled -- no pun intended -- the line."

And now the same comparisons are being made of Yoakam, who performs tonight through Sunday at the Las Vegas Hilton Theater.

Yoakam is in a small group of Nashville outsiders -- such as Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen -- who appeal to both fans and nonfans of country music in much the same manner as Cash.

There are other similarities Cash and Yoakam share as well.

Both artists have crafted nearly trademark images: Cash with his iconoclastic "Man in Black" nickname and persona; Yoakam with his trademark Stetson pulled low, just above his eyes, and nearly painted on blue jeans.

Both artists consistently blur the line between musical genres: Cash has performed with rock 'n' roll's elite throughout his career, including luminaries such as Bob Dylan and U2; Yoakam has covered songs from artists ranging from Elvis Presley, the Clash and, most recently, Cheap Trick during his 16 years in the business.

Both artists have made headlines: Cash for a raging drug and alcohol addiction that dogged his career throughout most of the '60s; Yoakam for his habit of dating well-known actresses and models, such as Sharon Stone, former MTV VJ Karen Duffy and current girlfriend Bridget Fonda.

And both artists have dabbled in Hollywood: Cash in numerous movie westerns and TV shows; Yoakam in an unforgettable turn as a redneck bully in "Sling Blade," and most recently as the writer-director of the indie release "South of Heaven, West of Hell."

The 44-year-old Yoakam is flattered with any positive collation to Cash.

"I'm in awe of (Cash's) musical body of work and his legacy," he said. "It's on the shoulders of people like Johnny Cash that I've stood and looked out toward my own horizon, musically."

It's not just Cash, and other country legends such as Hank Williams, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens that Yoakam credits as inspirations. In addition to the usual staple of rockers, namely the Beatles and Presley, there's the Everly Brothers, Dean Martin and Buddy Holly that influenced him as well.

The Kentucky-born, Ohio-raised Yoakam attributes his wide-ranging and decidedly eclectic musical tastes to the songs he grew up listening to on a small AM radio. It was then that country music was still recognized as a parental legacy to rock 'n' roll, and some stations would cross genres for their playlists.

"By the middle-'60s you could hear an enormous variety of pop-musical styles co-mingling on the same radio station," he said. "Circa 1966 you could hear Buck Owens' 'Tiger by the Tail,' right in front of Them singing 'Here Comes the Night,' right in front of the Supremes with 'Can't Hurry Love.'

"That was the soundtrack in my mind."

Now, of course, the cross-pollination of music -- save the occasional college or public-radio station -- is virtually unheard of. Many of today's country artists, consequently, have abandoned the rootsy mix and plaintive cries of traditional country music for a more commercially viable pop sound for mainstream radio.

Which leaves artists such as Yoakam -- who's already saddled with the tag "alternative country" -- with few contemporaries and even fewer stations that will routinely play him.

For the singer-songwriter, however, there's an acceptance to his "alternative" musical status, and, conversely, what his peers do or do not do to avoid that label is irrelevant.

"I, for many years now, have made a conscious choice and effort to operate with blinders on, and focus on what inspires me and what's in front of me to seek inspiration from musically," Yoakam said. "I think it's incumbent on the individual artist to maintain the integrity of the music they love. I've tried to do that and will continue to try and do that."

He takes the same approach to his movie career. He just finished filming "The Panic Room," a David Fincher-directed thriller starring Yoakam, Jodie Foster and Forest Whitaker, scheduled to be released early next year. And there's his own work, "South of Heaven, West of Hell," just out on video and DVD.

Describing the filming process of "South of Heaven" as "gratifying, horrifying, simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying" because the movie lost its funding a week and half into the shoot, Yoakam transfers the praise onto the cast and crew "that stuck by it and stayed with it" as the reason the film got made."

Despite the financial difficulties he encountered making the film, Yoakam said he's ready to direct again -- and even has his eyes on a script -- "just not in the same manner in terms of the execution of the project" as "South of Heaven."

At the moment, though, the singer-songwriter is happy to be back on the road, playing in support of his latest album, "Tomorrow's Sounds Today" and the soon-to-be-released soundtrack to "South of Heaven," many songs of which he wrote and conceived while writing the screenplay.

Besides, no matter how grueling the touring schedule may get or the challenges he may face when acting or directing, it's not nearly as arduous as some of the jobs he had in the early '80s, when he was still struggling to make a name for himself.

"I drove air-freight trucks and delivered furniture," he said, pausing for a moment for dramatic sake. "This is better."

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