Population Me (CD - 2003)

Personnel: Dwight Yoakam (vocals, acoustic guitar); Willie Nelson (vocals); Pete Anderson (acoustic & electric guitars, D-neck guitar, mandolin, percussion); Gary Morse (pedal steel guitar, banjo, dobro); Earl Scruggs (banjo); Scott Joss, Gabe Witcher (fiddle); Lee Thornburg (trumpet, trombone); Skip Edwards (keyboards); Bob Glaub (bass); Don Heffington (drums); Jonathan Clark, Timothy Schmitt, Tommy Funderbunk (background vocals).

Personnel: Dwight Yoakam (vocals, acoustic guitar); Pete Anderson (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, percussion); Al Bonhomme (acoustic guitar); Gary Morse (dobro, banjo); Earl Scruggs (banjo); Gabe Witcher, Scott Joss (fiddle); Lee Thornburg (trumpet, trombone); Skip Edwards (keyboards); Don Heffington (drums); Kevin Sepriano (hand claps); Jonathan Clark, Timothy B. Schmit, Tommy Funderburk (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Judy Clapp.

Arranger: Pete Anderson.

Seventeen years into his recording career, having ventured into everything from rockabilly to Clash covers, Dwight Yoakam is far past the Buck Owens-carbon copy stage. Though a couple of songs on POPULATION ME do tip their cowboy hat to the classic Bakersfield sound, the album explores a wide variety of Americana styles. The opener "The Late Great Golden State" resembles nothing so much as an early Eagles country-rock classic. At the opposite end of the record, closing tune "The Back of Your Hand" is more of an introspective, singer-songwriter affair. In between, Yoakam teams with none other than Willie Nelson on the powerful broken-hearted ballad "If Teardrops Were Diamonds," and proves himself the reigning king of country self-effacement on "I'd Avoid Me Too." minimize