Photo by Wayne Posner
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Playing the first of two nights for a post-National Finals Rodeo audience, Yoakam and his four-man band ripped through nearly 30 originals and covers steeped heavily in the honky-tonk, guitar-driven “Bakersfield sound” first popularized by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard in the ’60s. In fact, three of the first four songs performed were Owens covers: “Under Your Spell Again,” “Act Naturally” and “Streets of Bakersfield.” Playing on the same stage Elvis Presley has graced, Yoakam twice paid homage to the King: a swinging take on “Little Sister” and “Suspicious Minds,” which segued into the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody.” After that, Yoakam & Co. ramped things up with rockers “Little Ways,” “Guitars, Cadillacs” and show closer “Long White Cadillac,” showing why he is not only a favorite of the country set, but of many rock ’n’ roll fans, as well.
