Dwight Yoakam Adds Traditional Country Twang to Cheyenne Frontier Days 2013

Were you part of the crowd Sunday night, July 21, at Frontier Park?

Dwight Yoakam brought his own spin on the traditional country sound to Cheyenne Frontier Days 2013, two decades since the entertainer was last at 'The Daddy of 'em All.'The singer, originally from Pikeville, Kentucky, ripped through songs from his more than 25 year career including originals and a variety of covers. He played the Elvis Presley hit 'Little Sister,' Johnny Horton's 'Honky Tonk Man,' his own take on Johnny Cash's 'Ring of Fire,' and several tunes by his biggest influence Buck Owens such as 'Act Naturally' and 'Streets of Bakersfield.'

Wearing his trademark holey, skinny jeans, denim jacket with rhinestones of the suits of a deck of cards along the bottom and his cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes, Yoakam played music from his debut in 1986, 'Guitars, Cadillacs,' through the 1990's, 'A Thousand Miles From Nowhere' and 'Fast as You,' to his most recent album, '3 Pears,' doing a song co-written by Kid Rock, 'Take Hold of My Hand.'

Yoakam warned men in the stands to 'watch out for those bull riders, they'll steal your girl' and commented that Cheyenne Frontier Days has been 'puttin' cowboys in the dirt for 117 years.' He also thanked the audience for being such a 'warm, receptive crowd.'

His backup band consisted of Eugene Edwards on lead guitar, Brian Whelan on keyboards, accordian, guitar and steel guitar, Mitch Marine the barefoot drummer and Jonathan Clark on bass, who was celebrating his birthday at the show.

Throughout the concert, Yoakam thrilled the ladies in the crowd with his trademark dance moves, rocking on the heels of his 'ace covered' cowboy boots and swinging his knees in and out. With plenty of hootin' and hollerin,' Dwight added some much needed traditional country twang to the Cheyenne Frontier Days lineup.