One Cadillac short of heaven

Looky here: Somebody who doesn't have 70 or 80 birthday candles to blow out! Dwight Yoakam's working on it, though: He turns 56 today!

We mentioned the Bakersfield sound in a recent blog. Nobody has taken it and run with it like Yoakam, a Kentucky native who grew up in Ohio and made his way to California after an early stint in Nashville didn't pan out.

Although Yoakam is almost always seen with an acoustic guitar in hand, his sound is distinctly Telecaster driven. Credit is due Pete Anderson, a longtime producer and gitarzan who provided the Tele twang on many of Yoakam's records.

This seems the perfect time to mention that "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.'' is one of the greatest country albums of the past 25 years, but barely: it came out in 1986. Let's just say that few artists have come along and topped it.

You might not know it, but underneath that cowboy hat is a bit of punkish allure. Early in his West Coast career Yoakam mixed it up with the Blasters and X, and he toured with the Twin Cities punk progenitors Husker Du. Once "Guitars'' rocketed to No. 1 there was nothing to do but ride that pony, which Yoakam certainly has done.

Included on the album -- Yoakam's first of three consecutive No. 1 sellers -- are a pair of Top 5 singles that'll hold their own against anything that's come out of Nashville since then: "Honky Tonk Man'' and "Guitars, Cadillacs.''

Now it's guitars, cadillacs, hillbilly music
Lonely, lonely streets that I call home
Yea, my guitars, cadillacs, hillbilly music
It's the only thing that keeps me hangin' on

I'm just one Cadillac short of making that work.