ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 31, 1996 TAG: 9609040009
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: CONCERT REVIEW
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
Like him or not, Dwight Yoakam is a presence.
And he's an original - the original cowpunk.
In his low-slung cowboy hat and skin-tight leather pants, Yoakam cut that kind of figure Thursday night in front of a small crowd of 2,891 at the Salem Civic Center.
He was all about brooding cool, sex, and sexy, brooding music.
But how does this make him a cowpunk?
Partly, it was the way he carried himself. Thursday night, Yoakam walked onto the stage with a certain knowing swagger that sets him apart from most of country music's crop of bubble-gum stars these days.
It was a bad-boy swagger, but not in the Travis Tritt or Hank Williams Jr. rebel-yell bad-boy sense. Yoakam's was a more aloof, detached swagger, as if he has figured out the secret and he enjoys keeping the rest of us guessing.
It worked well, too, with all of the hip-swiveling and pelvic-thrusting that is a trademark of Yoakam's stage act. Yoakam carried all of this male go-go dancing probably too far. It was a little silly. But for the most part, it seemed to fit the go-go dancing backbeat created by Yoakam and his superb six-man backing band.
Particularly superb was Yoakam's guitarist and longtime producer, Pete Anderson, whose guitar fills and blistering solos carried the show as much as Yoakam's cowpunk presence.
Together, they rocked through a string of uptempo songs, including ``Never Hold You,'' ``Little Sister,'' ``Guitars, Cadillacs,'' ``Honky Tonk Man,'' ``Please, Please Baby,'' ``Fast As You'' and an encore of ``Long White Cadillac.''
Yoakam also showed his more pensive, brooding side on the slower numbers, ``Miner's Prayer,'' ``A Thousand Miles From Nowhere,'' ``It Only Hurts When I Cry,'' ``One More Night,'' ``Heart of Stone'' and ``Sorry You Asked?''
It was these slower songs that best highlighted Yoakam's wry, weary and lonesome voice.
Still, none of this really explains his cowpunk persona completely. The answer lies in Yoakam's one-of-a-kind eclectic sound that pays homage to country's roots without being derivative, and comes across as thoroughly modern without losing its focus. It's different, and it cuts against the grain of the conventional wisdom in most of today's country music.
Musically, it's a punk philosophy.
Neo-traditionalist David Ball opened Thursday night's show with a 45-minute set that featured a safe mix of country swing and syrupy ballads, none of which distinguished Ball as an original talent like Yoakam.
But he was adequate as a modern throwback to country's tear-in-your-beer past purists. Thus, it follows that most of his songs Thursday - ``Thinking Problem,'' ``I'll Never Make It Through This Fall,'' ``At The Bottom of a Broken Heart'' and ``When The Thought of You Catches Up With Me,'' to name a few - covered the same basic theme: a good man wronged and wrecked by a not-so-good woman.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB