[rating=9.00]
Though it’s billed an authentic bluegrass album, Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars….Dwight Yoakam’s first foray into those hallowed realms isn’t as dramatic a change as his handlers might suggest. Yoakam’s always mined the rich heart of country music, and while his chief environs have been in Bakersfield, the further realms aren’t all that far apart. Yoakam’s vocal remains a deeply stirring invocation of the thousands of heartland heroes that came before him — Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Hank Snow and the like– but there’s no mimicking or imitation involved. Yoakam may have gotten his start in the post punk scene of the early ‘80s, but his devotion to that timeless tradition has remained steadfast ever since, all in service to his straight up settings.
While its title hints at some frivolous intents — “Swimmin’ pools, movie stars” being an extract from a lyric that accompanied the theme for TV’s “Beverly Hillbillies” — there’s nary a wink or a giggle anywhere here. The songs span the usual concerns — heartache, cheatin’, break-ups and brooding — but the tracks themselves ring with an authenticity that bring the aforementioned great masters to mind. Yoakam is well-versed in that down home delivery, and on original songs such as “What I Don’t Know,” “I Wouldn’t Put It Past Me,” “Please Baby, Please” and his old standby “Guitars, Cadillacs,” the fiddles and banjos find a fit as snugly as that ever present cowboy hat that practically covers his eyes.
The album’s biggest surprise comes in the cover of Prince’s iconic “Purple Rain,” and while there may appear little at the outset to bind the song to any of the album’s other outlays, Yoakam’s stirring honky tonk take manages to pay respect to the original while also spinning it into an entirely new direction. While Yoakam may be offering due reverence elsewhere, he’s also finding cause to strike out in a stunning new way as well.
