Dwight Yoakam - Population Me

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Free Music Notes for Population Me

Free Music Review: Heart-broke Hillbilly Music With Brains
Hit: 5 Stars

Late Great Golden State has a nice retro feel to it especially in the backup singers -- the sound and style match the lyrics' feel of being out of place in time. I especially enjoyed the bright pedal steel and brisk drumming.
No Such Thing is bouncy and danceable, but has a sardonic undertone with Dwight's broad accent: "There's no such thaaaang as me and you". It's a hurt reaction to the sting of love denied, masquerading as a snappy little tune.
Fair to Midland gave me a whole new reason to fall in love with Dwight's voice... singing in his deeper register, the vocals are rich and grave, and at points balanced by a lovely mandolin & pedal steel counterpoint. The straightforward singing and slow pace make this song deceptively simple, but the lyrics are full of imagery.
Exception to the Rule could be subtitled "The Pessimist Puts On Rose-Colored Glasses" ... and the lyrics are classic Dwight, tight and complex with internal rhyming. Very nice keyboard bit in the middle.
The title track, Population Me, rendered me speechless for awhile and I think it may be one of the best things Dwight has ever done in the heartbreak genre. With a hard-edged voice, he gives us the bleak view of newly departed love from very bitter eyes - a man trying to come to grips with loss and perhaps his own part in it. And the musical construction is a marvel: After a spare start, layers of instruments are added to the first chorus, complete with a tuba that recalls a New Orleans funeral band. It peels back to banjo only, then adds a single drum and a muted, sarcastic, mocking trumpet. The second chorus builds to a new peak and then slowly the song deconstructs as it wanders off, shaking its head in regret.
Staying Up Late Thinking About It has a much more cheerful sound that belies the topic: the futility of trying to stop thinking about person you've lost when their absence makes them painfully present in everything around you.
Trains and Boats and Planes gives us yet a third distinct singing voice in a hillbillied up version of an old song that I remember as sad and atmospheric. The fiddle makes a nice appearance, at times sounding like a train whistle, and knits together the song's conclusion with the mandolin and banjo.
If Teardrops Were Diamonds is spare, melancholy and elegant. Not really a duet, Dwight and Willie emphasize the theme of loss and separation by trading vocal lines instead of actually singing together. The lyrics are lovely: "If heartaches were rubies... you might begin to understand the price love has to pay for being wrong."
I'd Avoid Me Too starts off with a rising vocal line that sounds like Elvis in the Sun Records days. Though the words are humorously self-deprecating and hold real emotion at arm's length, the song is grounded in a roadhouse hipshaking rhythm, with the baritone guitar bending notes deliciously.
Back of Your Hand, written by Greg Lee Henry, may be most familiar since it's been shown on music TV. With its graceful swelling strings and pleading lyrics, it's an uncharacteristically direct address to a lover who has turned away from love. Those who have heard only this song as a single may be surprised by the stylistic range this album covers, but I hope they will stick with it.
Bottom line: Dwight remains an enormously talented and highly original artist with a passion for music that rings true on every cut.

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