ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘Brighter Days’ Dwight Yoakam Finds New Ways to Explore His Signature Sound

Staying true to yourself amid a changing world and evolving technology is no easy feat, but if anyone can do it, it’s Dwight Yoakam. Nearly 40 years into his recording career, the legendary Yoakam is still finding new ways to explore his signature sound—a kind of California punk rock country he helped pioneer. Made over the course of the pandemic and then some, his 21^st studio album, Brighter Days, is pure Yoakam with a few behind-the-scenes twists. Just to name a few, Yoakam got married and welcomed a son, did some virtual co-writes (a staple for so many artists in lockdown, but a new experience for him), and even collaborated with Post Malone.

From its first clang of guitar, Brighter Days is a party worthy of the honkytonks and dance halls Yoakam came up through. Songs like the rollicking opener “Wide Open Heart” and the driving, steel tinged “I’ll Pay the Price” would be as at home on an early career album as they are here, and they sound just as divine in Yoakam and his longtime band’s more seasoned hands. The breezy “California Sky,” and title track are uppers that feel perfectly nestled alongside covers like the Byrds’ “Time Between,” and the Carter Family’s “Keep On the Sunny Side.”

Brighter Days is a throwback in the sense that it’s got all the beloved tenets of Yoakam’s token originality and buoyancy, but it’s wrapped in a satisfyingly shiny package that makes it as exciting as a release from a brand new voice. Maybe this is partially because it’s been nearly a decade since Yoakam has released a set of original music, or maybe it’s just that the sound Yoakam originated back in the 1980s still feels so fresh amid today’s oversaturated landscape of homogenous, mainstream country music.

Yoakam, somehow, remains an outsider in all the best ways. Rather than conforming to someone else’s sound, for example, Post Malone finds where he fits within Yoakam’s orbit. Their duet, “I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom),” is a blast of a tune, part kiss-off and part desperate plea, that feels so much like peak Yoakam, it’s almost jarring when Post Malone jumps in with his quivering, raspy call-and-response. As for Yoakam’s own vocals— they’re at their best on the soulful ballad, “Hand Me Down Heart,” and the sweet tribute, “I Spell Love”—every time that electric yelp comes out still feels as good as the first time.

Dwight Yoakam’ s Brighter Days is out Nov. 15 on Via Records/Thirty Tigers.