Tight set at Boulder pleases Yoakam’s faithful

Leah Robinson

Monday, March 3, 2003 | 8:22 a.m.

Throughout Dwight Yoakam's rockin' riffs, beautiful strumming and yodeling vocals Friday, the burning question remained: "How did he squeeze into those jeans?"

Yoakam's appearance at the Railhead inside Boulder Station was a rare opportunity to see this country legend in the making up close and personal -- painted-on blue jeans and all.

The sold-out performance titled, "Almost Alone: A Special Accoustic Show," featured Yoakam and Keith Gattis, a Los Angeles musician skilled on guitar, mandolin, dobro (a metal acoustic guitar) and banjo. Gattis also lent his voice for some backup vocals.

"There's a lot of hard-rock country going around in L.A. clubs right now and that's where I met Keith," Yoakam said. "We performed together for a benefit, just us and our guitars, and we kinda liked it. So, here we are."

The pair sat on the edges of two high-backed wooden chairs, leaning into microphones as they balanced on their heels. Yoakam flipped through a song sheet after each number, directed by what seemed like only his whim.

"We're gonna play a little bit of this and a little bit of that," he said. And they sure did.

Yoakam's signature sound -- a peculiar mix of '60s-tinged pop and driving hard-core country -- was on full display, especially on cover material such as Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me," and the Elvis Presley classic, "Little Sister."

The upbeat tunes prompted Yoakam to shimmy around in those can't-fit-even-a-guitar-pick-inside-a-pocket jeans. He also sported, in typical fashion, an item he is rarely seen without: his well-worn cowboy hat, sides turned upward and inward.

Yoakam, 46, also confidently pulled off such slow, mournful ballads as "Thousand Miles From Nowhere," while switching easily between honky-tonk, bluegrass and folk tunes.

Occasionally he talked to the 650-plus capacity crowd about his influences, among them other California country boys Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. Yoakam's childhood in Kentucky and Ohio shaped his musical identity, growing up listening to his mother's vintage country album collection.

"I taught myself to play the guitar when I was 9," he said. "I went around singing a lot of strange songs for a 9-year-old."

A performer some have described as an "alternative" country artist, Yoakam certainly does not fit the Nashville cookie-cutter mold. That's probably why he washed out of Nashville in the '70s, instead finding success in the Los Angeles "cowpunk" scene.

Yoakam's retro-rockin' hillbilly sound was greeted more enthusiastically on the West Coast, where he perfected his style and began his movie career.

Best known for his portrayals of villains in such hits as "Sling Blade" and "Panic Room," Yoakam has 14 film credits already under his belt, including a thriller with Harrison Ford due this summer.

Although Yoakam has become a Hollywood player, no one would ever suggest he should quit his day job.

His Railhead performance was solid, but his popular rendition of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," was not played, or perhaps Yoakam did not believe the song lent itself to an acoustic setting.

His other hits, "Fast as You," "It Only Hurts When I Cry," and "Guitars, Cadillacs," received glowing audience response.

Clearly, seeing Yoakam in this small setting was as much fun for the audience as it was for the performer.