''Blame the Vain'' is the 16th studio album by
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album '' Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerab ...
, released in June 2005, and his first not to be produced by guitarist producer
Pete Anderson
Pete Anderson is an American guitarist, music producer, arranger and songwriter.
Anderson is most known for his guitar work with, and critically acclaimed production of, country music star Dwight Yoakam from 1984 through 2002, a partnership th ...
. Yoakam wrote all the songs and produced the album himself. He also directed the videos for "Intentional Heartache" and the title track.
Background
After a near twenty year creative partnership, Yoakam and bandleader Anderson went their separate ways after recording ''Population Me'' in 2003 when the singer opted to tour with a small group rather than a full band. This was in part due to financial necessity after Yoakam bankrolled his 2001 film project ''South of Heaven – West of Hell'', which was a critical and commercial bust. Both Anderson and Yoakam agreed to be interviewed separately for Don McCleese’s book ''A Thousand Miles from Nowhere'', and while both show a great deal of respect for each other and pride in the music they made together, an undercurrent of tension is evident, with Yoakam stating of his collaboration with Anderson, “Maybe it went about four albums too long.” Anderson, who claims his first love all along was playing in front of an audience as opposed to producing, later explained:
The pair’s commercial peak came in 1993 with the album ''This Time'', but by the early 2000’s Yoakam was no longer on a major label, having signed with the Americana-based New West.
Recording and composition
Yoakam cited
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...
’s masterpiece ''Bridge Over Troubled Water'' as an inspiration for the sound he was going for as a producer, detailing to biographer Don McCleese:
While ''Blame the Vain'' did not result in any hit singles, producing the album appeared to reinvigorate Yoakam, with Mark Deming writing in his
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
review of the LP, “With Yoakam producing himself for a change without the help of longtime studio partner Pete Anderson, ''Blame the Vain'' also finds him fronting a new band anchored by guitarist Keith Gattis, and the new blood seems to have done wonders for Yoakam - while he wasn't exactly in a slump, ''Blame the Vain'' boasts a sharper and more energetic approach than his last several efforts, with ‘Just Passin' Time,’ ‘Three Good Reasons,’ and the title cut revealing that Yoakam is still a honky tonk man supreme.” Thematically, ''Blame the Vain'' is concerned with façades and self-deceit that mask the corollaries of heartbreak Yoakam later stated that "I Wanna Love Again" "...was written about my relationship with music. And I wanted to feel like I was fifteen years old again. The song talks about actually having a band, performing live music, or cutting a record, or at sixteen waiting for that opportunity...And it's not easy to get back to that place, that space...
Although steeped in
Bakersfield
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
honky-tonk, Yoakam chose to experiment on several tracks, the most obvious examples being “She’ll Remember,” which contains a synthesizer introduction and Yoakam speaking in a quasi-British accent until the songs falls into heavy honky-tonk mode, and the heavily-orchestrated losing track. His acting chops come to the fore again on the storytelling title track as he assumes the role of an awestruck bystander describing the apoplectic woman in the song. Yoakam, who is a big
Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
fan, also chose to open the album with a note of feedback that sounds almost exactly the same as found on the
Fab Four
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...
’s “
I Feel Fine
"I Feel Fine" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in November 1964 as the A-side of their eighth single. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The recording includes one o ...
,” and the main guitar part on “When I First Came Here” is reminiscent of “
I’ve Got a Feeling” from ''Let It Be''. As one critic noted, “There’s an unbridled lack of restraint on these cuts that listeners could dismiss as self-indulgence but which plainly sound like freedom of the artist.”
Reception
''Slant'' calls ''Blame the Vain'' “a new peak in a career full of them and is Yoakam’s finest work in a decade.”
AllMusic: “Two decades into his career, Dwight Yoakam is still the man who is too country for
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
, and on ''Blame the Vain'' he shows he's got too much strength and soul to let anyone hold him down - this is inspired stuff from a rebel who still has plenty to offer.”
Track listing
All songs were written and produced by Dwight Yoakam.
# "Blame the Vain" - 3:40
# "Lucky That Way" - 3:22
# "Intentional Heartache" - 4:25
# "Does It Show?" - 3:48
# "Three Good Reasons" - 2:37
# "Just Passin' Time" - 3:46
# "I'll Pretend" - 2:22
# "She'll Remember" - 5:26
# "I Wanna Love Again" - 2:57
# "When I First Came Here" - 5:47
# "Watch Out" - 3:03
# "The Last Heart in Line" - 2:59
Personnel
* Jim Barth - string arrangements
* Jessica Bolter -
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
A ...
* Al Bonhomme -
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
* Jonathan Clark - background vocals
* Thomas Dienner - background vocals
* Gary Ebbins - handclapping
* Skip Edwards -
Fender Rhodes
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...
,
Hammond B-3 organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
, handclapping,
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
, string arrangements,
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
,
Wurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
piano
* Eric Gaenslen -
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
*
Keith Gattis
Keith Gattis (born May 26, 1970) is an American country music artist, songwriter, guitarist and producer. Gattis has released two studio albums and charted one single while signed to RCA Nashville on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Trac ...
-
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
,
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
, handclapping
*
Bobbye Hall
Bobbye Jean Hall is an American percussionist who has recorded with a variety of rock, soul, blues and jazz artists, and has appeared on 20 songs that reached the top ten in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.
Early career, work for Motown and move to ...
-
bongos
Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...
,
cabasa
The cabasa, similar to the shekere, is a percussion instrument that is constructed with loops of steel ball chain wrapped around a wooden cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, wooden or plastic handle.
The metal cabasa was created by Marti ...
,
cowbell
A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...
,
shaker,
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
* Mitch Marine -
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
, handclapping
* Gerry McGee - acoustic guitar, soloist
* Taras Prodaniuk - bass guitar
* Dave Roe - background vocals
*
Timothy B. Schmit
Timothy Bruce Schmit (born October 30, 1947) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He has performed as the bassist and vocalist for Poco and the Eagles (band), Eagles, having replaced bassist and vocalist Randy Meisner in both cases ...
- background vocals
* Lee Thornburg -
french horn
The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...
* Phillip Vaiman -
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
*
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album '' Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerab ...
- acoustic guitar, soloist, lead vocals, background vocals
Chart performance
Album
Singles
References
;Bibliography
*
{{Authority control
2005 albums
Dwight Yoakam albums
New West Records albums