Yoakam appeared earlier this week on Jimmy Kimmel Live to perform a song from his newest release, Brighter Days. The album was released Nov. 15 and includes a collaboration with Post Malone. The album is Yoakam’s first since Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars was released in 2016.

Yoakam was honored by BMI with its President’s Award in 2019. Born in Kentucky, Yoakam bypassed the Nashville scene and moved to California, where the Bakersfield-style of country music became one of his big influences.

“I never thought about doing it another way,” Yoakam told the Associated PRess during an interview on the red carpet prior to the ceremony. “I kind of just did what I felt was honest.”

Known for his honky-tonk anthems and iconic voice, Yoakam has been a major name in country music since the mid 1980s, with his first three albums all reaching number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Hits released over the years include “Streets of Bakersfield,” and “I Sang Dixie” – along with 12 additional top 10 numbers. Original songs like “Guitars, Cadillacs,” “It Won’t Hurt,” “Little Ways,” “I Got You,” “Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose,” and “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere,” along with covers of artists from Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Cheap Trick and Queen helped earn Yoakam multiple Grammy Awards. Brighter Days is Yoakam’s 21st studio album.

Pictured is Dwight Yoakam who will perform next year at the Seneca Allegany Casino.

I was always a little stunned that things have been played 2, 3 million times in the case of some of the albums, you know, some of the songs that are tracks off albums,” Yoakam told the Associated Press.

Yoakam performed in 2022 in Warren at the Struthers Library Theatre , with Warren-based band Co. Townes as his opening act. Co. Townes opened three more times in 2022 for Yoakam, with that string of dates leading to another set of Co. Townes dates with Yoakam in 2024 in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

“I guess we made an impression on them,” said Eric Morelli, Co. Townes guitarist and vocalist. “We’re pleasantly surprised to have been invited back for another run of shows. It’s validating in a way that a one-off could never be.”

In addition to music, Yoakam has branched out into acting, with roles in such films Sling Blade, Wedding Crashers, Four Christmases, Logan Lucky and Cry Macho, among others. He also has more than a dozen television credits to his name.

Joining Yoakam in Salamanca are The Mavericks, a band known for its blend of country, rock and Tex-Mex.