3 Pears cover

3 Pears

Released

Dwight Yoakam’s 18th studio album was his first in five years, and his most adventurous and stylistically wide-ranging since 1995’s Gone. He worked with Kid Rock on the literally sha-la-la-ing opening track, “Take Hold of My Hand,” and two other songs, “A Heart Like Mine” and “Missing Heart,” were produced by Beck. The album includes a raucous cowpunk version of the 1950s honky-tonk anthem “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke” that’s propelled by jackhammer piano and a thundering backbeat; the weird and psychedelic “Waterfall”; the Tom Petty-ish “Long Way to Go”; and the title track, which attains an almost Bruce Springsteen-esque grandeur. This is the album to listen to if you think Dwight Yoakam is “just” a country singer — he’s absolutely that, and the Bakersfield sound still pops up here and there, but there’s an astonishing diversity here, and not a single false note.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Tornado cover

Tornado

Little Big Town
5th Gear cover

5th Gear

Brad Paisley
Rise cover

Rise

Louie & the Lovers
Harvest cover

Harvest

Neil Young
Texas Gold cover

Texas Gold

Asleep at the Wheel
Kentucky Blue cover

Kentucky Blue

Brit Taylor
Comin’ Right at Ya cover

Comin’ Right at Ya

Asleep at the Wheel
Basic cover

Basic

Glen Campbell