There's Nothing Old Hat About Dwight Yoakam

Concert preview

Dwight Yoakam, Pam Tillis and Alison Krauss & Union Station, 6 p.m. Sunday at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Grant County; $21-$31.50, 628-0888; Gorge Hotline: 442-2888 ext. 7625. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Will he wear it, or won't he?

Dwight Yoakam says he may abandon his signature cowboy hat in response to a jibe in Rolling Stone that suggested he covers his head because he's going bald.

It's hard to imagine him not peeking out from under the brim as he sings, his head lowered to the mike. It's one of the many things that makes him cool. But the hat is not his most famous item of clothing. He's never seen without a second skin of tight jeans, ripped, faded or silver-studded.

What really makes Yoakam hip is his rockin' brand of country. Not since Elvis Presley has anybody pulled together the two forms so stylishly. Like Presley, Yoakam loves traditional country music, and he uses it as a springboard for his own spirited, creative brand of singing, guitar-playing and songwriting. Yoakam has a genuine Kentucky drawl and a well-oiled twang, and uses them to underscore the irony and heartache in his songs. He also has a bittersweet sense of humor that enlivens tunes based on such traditional country themes as drinking, cheating and divorce.

Yoakam joined the front ranks of new country stars through an unusual route, starting in the early 1980s in the outskirts of Los

Angeles, opening for innovative bands like the Spanglish rockers Los Lobos, the neo-rockabilly Blasters and the post-punk X. Yoakam was accepted because, like those bands, he had his own vision and enough drive in his style to go over with rock audiences.

His 1984 debut LP, "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.," spread his fame beyond L.A., even to Nashville, where he had been rejected. Constant touring and recording increased his popularity and acceptance in country. Last year's "This Time," his sixth release, was a great CD that showed his brilliance in such songs as the biting kiss-off "Ain't That Lonely Yet," the tart put-down "Fast As You," the Stones-influenced "Wild Ride" and the perfectly delineated portrait of a breakup, "House for Sale."

Pam Tillis is a surprise late addition to the bill, substituted earlier this week for Joe Diffie, who canceled "because of scheduling complications."

Also an energetic young force in country, she complements Yoakam nicely. Although probably best known for the comic "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial," Tillis - daughter of longtime country singer Mel Tillis - has brought women's issues to the fore in country with such songs as "Spilled Perfume" and "Let That Pony Run."

Alison Krauss is a traditional country artist who lends her fine voice to folkish ballads, religious songs and pop-country tunes.