Consumer Guide Album

Dwight Yoakam: Hillbilly Deluxe [Reprise, 1987]
Buck Owens may be his hero, but if George Jones earns a ten for contained intensity and Ricky Skaggs a one, Owens gets an eight and Yoakam maybe a four--he never breaks out of the jams, fixes, and world-historical dilemmas that are country music's reason for being. Reminding us once again that in a genre that's always fetishized tradition, neotraditionalism means immersing yourself in limitation until you convince yourself it's the air you breathe. B-