Dwight Yoakam › Similar Artists

Merle Haggard - 100% match to Dwight Yoakam

6 April 1937, Bakersfield, California, USA. ‘Like a razor’s edge, Merle Haggard sings’ is how John Stewart described his voice in ‘Eighteen Wheels’, and that razor has been honed by his rough and rowdy ways. In the 30s Haggard’s parents migrated from the Dustbowl to ‘the land of milk and honey’, California. Life, however, was almost a Read more

George Jones - 91% match to Dwight Yoakam

George Glenn Jones, 12 September 1931, Saratoga, Texas, USA. Jones is the greatest of honky tonk singers but he has also been a victim of its lifestyle. He learned guitar in his youth, and in 1947, was hired by the husband-and-wife duo Eddie And Pearl. This developed into his own radio programme and a fellow disc jockey, noting his close-set eyes and upturned nose, nicknamed Read more

Buck Owens - 88% match to Dwight Yoakam

Alvis Edgar Owens Jnr., 12 August 1929, Sherman, Texas, USA, d. 25 March 2006, USA, Bakersfield, California, USA. Buck Owens became one of the leading country music stars of the 60s and 70s, along with Merle Haggard, the leading exponent of the ‘west coast sound’. Owens gave himself the nickname Buck at the age of three, after a favourite horse. When he was 10, his Read more

Waylon Jennings - 75% match to Dwight Yoakam

Wayland Arnold Jennings, 15 June 1937, Littlefield, Texas, USA, d. 13 February 2002, Arizona, USA. Jennings’ mother wanted to name him Tommy but his father, William Alvin, insisted that the family tradition of ‘W.A.’ should be maintained. His father played guitar in Texas dancehalls and Jennings’ childhood hero was Ernest Tubb, with whom he later recorded Read more

George Strait - 71% match to Dwight Yoakam

18 May 1952, Poteet, Texas, USA. Country superstar George Strait is a throwback to the 50s honky-tonk sound of country music. He uses twin fiddles and steel guitar and his strong, warm delivery is similar to that of his idols Merle Haggard and Lefty Frizzell. He has made no secret of his influences, recording a fine tribute to Frizzell, ‘Lefty’s Gone’.

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Dale Watson - 69% match to Dwight Yoakam

7 October 1962, Birmingham, Alabama, USA. An old-fashioned honky tonk performer of the traditional variety, Dale Watson made a major impact in 1995 with the release of his Cheatin’ Heart Attack debut set for HighTone Records. Growing up in Alabama, he had been introduced to country music by his marine father who ran a small band. His father even released a single, ‘ Read more

Hank Williams Jr. - 64% match to Dwight Yoakam

Clint Black - 61% match to Dwight Yoakam

4 February 1962, Long Branch, New Jersey, USA. Black was born in New Jersey when his father was working there, but the family soon headed back to their home of Houston, Texas. Black was playing the harmonica at the age of 13 and the guitar at 15. He spent several years playing country music in Houston clubs, and his career took off when he met local musician Hayden Nicholas. Read more

Randy Travis - 59% match to Dwight Yoakam

Randy Bruce Traywick, 4 May 1959, Marshville, North Carolina, USA. The second of the six children of Harold and Bobbie Rose Traywick, this singer-songwriter shows in his style and delivery the heavy influence of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard. His father, a builder, was a country music fanatic who even built a music room complete with stage onto the Travis’ house just Read more

The Mavericks - 59% match to Dwight Yoakam

Country rock band formed in Miami, Florida, USA, a region better known for its dance and rock music than any fondness for the country genre. Lead singer and songwriter Raul Malo (7 August 1965, Miami, Florida, USA; vocals/guitar) was born of Cuban descent. His parents’ record collection was full of American roots music and rockabilly, and led to his discovery of Johnny Read more

Marty Stuart - 57% match to Dwight Yoakam

30 September 1958, Philadelphia, Mississippi, USA. Country singer Stuart learned the mandolin as a young child and played with the Sullivan Family Gospel Singers, and went on the road with Lester Flatt when only 13 years old. After Flatt’s death in 1979, Stuart became part of Johnny Cash’sband. He married Cash’s daughter, Cindy, although in keeping with most o Read more

Br5-49 - 56% match to Dwight Yoakam

Regarded by many as the most exciting country rock-inspired band in Nashville since Jason And The Scorchers, BR5-49 arrived in 1996 with a provocative manifesto. As Chuck Mead (22 December 1960, Nevada, Missouri, USA; guitar/vocals) told the press: ‘I don’t want it to be seen as some kind of planned competition to stamp out new country. But that’d be nice, bec Read more

The Derailers - 55% match to Dwight Yoakam

A honky tonk country rock outfit based in Austin, Texas, USA, the Derailers are led by singer-songwriters, Tony Villanueva (8 August 1967, Eugene, Oregon, USA; guitar, vocals) and Brian Hofeldt (b. 10 June 1967, Caldwell, Idaho, USA; guitar, piano, vocals). Villanueva once described the band’s mission as one of exploring ‘the moan and the mournful harmonies’ t Read more

David Ball - 53% match to Dwight Yoakam

9 July May 1953, Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA. Country singer-songwriter David Ball was born into a musical family headed by his Baptist preacher father. Later he moved with his family to Spartanburg, South Carolina. There he was able to persuade his parents to buy him a guitar - a Stella. Having written his first song in seventh grade, he played it in a school talent show Read more

Rodney Crowell - 51% match to Dwight Yoakam

7 August 1950, Houston, Texas, USA. Combining careers as a country songwriter, producer and artist, Crowell rose to fame in the 80s as an influential figure in Nashville’s new breed of country traditionalists, along with Emmylou Harris, in whose Hot Band he worked for three years, Rosanne Cash, and fellow songwriters such as Guy Clark. His songs have been covered by Bob Read more