Dwight Sings Buck

1	My Heart Skips a Beat 2:25
2	Foolin' Around 2:54
3	I Don't Care (Just as Long as You Love Me) 2:15
4	Only You 3:56
5	Act Naturally 2:33
6	Down on the Corner of Love 2:40
7	Cryin' Time 2:40
8	Above and Beyond 2:36
9	Love's Gonna Live Here 2:04
10	Close Up the Honky Tonks 6:24
11	Under Your Spell Again 3:13
12	Your Tender Loving Care 3:18
13	Excuse Me (I Think I've Got a Heartache) 2:36
14	Think of Me 2:53
15	Together Again 4:36

Barnes & Noble

Who better to pay tribute to the avatar of the Bakersfield Sound than the visionary acolyte who built upon the foundation that Buck Owens laid? That said, the title here is apt: Dwight does indeed sing Buck, to the point of emulating some of his signature sideways phrasing at times, but he doesn't necessarily play Buck. Indeed, having studied the sturdy original productions steered by Ken Nelson, Yoakam keeps things lean, mean, and hot here, giving guitarist Eddie Perez some star turns and allowing ample room for pedal steel master Josh Grange to channel Buck's sideman Ralph Mooney. Dwight honors the robust energy of Owens's original take on "Under Your Spell Again" (which lyrically and sonically seems so much a template for Yoakam's style), the plaintive heartbreak of honky-tonk weepers such as "Cryin' Time" and "Together Again," and the genial irony of "Act Naturally." He does a nice bit playing with the time signature on "Foolin' Around" and elevates "Close Up the Honky Tonks" from a bereft lover's lament to an elegy for a fallen giant, by way of a dirge-like organ line humming throughout the arrangement. Yoakam is a master interpreter -- no one has done Elvis Presley songs better, he now owns Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me", and he even made Queen palatable with his take on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" -- but he really brings it on this tribute, demonstrating with every performance the depth of his affection for the man and the music. David McGee

All Music Guide

Is there any singer better suited to record an album of Buck Owens covers than Dwight Yoakam? Yoakam first came onto the country scene in the 1980s as the new face and voice of Bakersfield country, a subgenre Owens and Merle Haggard had put on the map. Yoakam not only sang the praises of Owens, he sang with the West Coast legend, and their duet on a cover of Owens' "Streets of Bakersfield" reached number one on the country charts in 1988, despite Yoakam's refusal to play by the rules of the Nashville-based industry. With Owens' death in 2006, it was only a matter of time before Yoakam honored his idol, but even if Dwight Sings Buck was inevitable, that doesn't make it any less of a welcomed event. Yoakam's love for these anthems is palpable in every track. He doesn't set out to imitate Owens' style or delivery, but he does capture the essence of each song, playing them as Buck intended: no frills, no foolin' around (even if that's the title of one of the songs Yoakam takes on). Yoakam even takes care to absorb the instrumental backings provided for Owens by his great Buckaroos, particularly the guitarist Don Rich. That doesn't mean the album is an exercise in retro: Yoakam does put a contemporary sheen on classics like "Act Naturally," "Close Up the Honky Tonks," "Together Again," "Cryin' Time," and "Under Your Spell Again" -- they sound natural coming from his mouth rather than Owens' yet there is no mistaking whose songs these are. If there is one disappointment it's that Yoakam didn't include "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail," one of Owens' best-known hits. Still, despite that one glaring omission this is a tribute in the purest sense of the word, and an album no fan of either artist should miss. Jeff Tamarkin