Dwight Yoakam

The Read

Yoakam came out of Los Angeles rather than Nashville, playing hillbilly music to punk crowds because country radio had no use for it. The catalog that followed — “Guitars, Cadillacs,” “Streets of Bakersfield,” the Buck Owens lineage worn openly — turned out to be one of the most durable bodies of work in the form. The voice is a hiccup and a moan and it still does exactly what it did. The Ryman is the right frame. Hardwood pews, a room that rewards a band that plays quiet before it plays loud, and an audience that will sit still for the ballads. Expect the hat, the jeans, the Telecaster band, and a setlist that does not apologize for being made mostly of hits.

The Room

Ryman Auditorium

116 5th Ave N

Built in 1892 as a tabernacle by river captain Thomas Ryman, who was converted at a Sam Jones revival — little did he know it would become the church of American roots music.