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American Road Magazine
Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Dwight Yoakam And Route 23


RoadDog
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Dwight Yoakam, one of my favorite country performers, will be inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame tomorrow along with "Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue" Crytal Gayle, and Norro Wilson who wrote such classics as "The Grand Tour" and "The Most Beautiful Girl."

 

Yoakam is a native of Pikeville and, of course, how do you get a better song than "Guitars, Cadillacs, and Hillbilly Music"?

 

Yoakam currently lives in Southern California, where the famous Route 66 ends, but he says he has his heart on Route 23. He was born at the same hospital as Patty Loveless which is on the road. Other who grew up on or near Route 23 are "One's on the Way" Loretta Lynn, the "Mama He's Crazy" Judds, Ricky "Heartbroke" Skaggs, and Billy Ray "Achy Breaky" Cyrus.

 

Yoakam says, " We've had a pretty good run along Route 23. I'm proud to have it as a birthright."

 

Keep Singin' and Twangin' Down that Two Lane Highway. --RoadDog

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I've never thought much at all about Yoakam (except to note that he has a really great name) and I guess I didn't even realize he wrote "Guitars, Cadillacs, & Hillbilly Music". But those Route 23 comments made me look and I learned he's got a song about it ("Readin', Writin', Route 23"). I don't know that I've ever driven Twenty-Three south of the Ohio. Guess I'll have to do that someday -- with "G, C, & H M" blasting from the stereo.

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I grew up in southern Ohio, where we had a saying: "In Kentucky the schools teach 4 R's; readin', ritin', 'rithmetic, and Route 23 north." I was no dummy; I figured they just might have something there, so when I graduated from high school I took Route 23 north to Columbus. Then when I graduated from college, I took Route 23 even further north to Michigan and got me a job working in an auto parts plant.

 

The high school I attended was built on the original alignment of US 23, although by the time I started to school there the highway had been rerouted to a newly constructed 4-lane stretch of road. The university I attended was also on the original alignment of US 23, although in this case the school was there first. By the time I arrived on the scene US 23 had been rerouted, a little to the east.

 

I guess I should find myself a copy of his Hillbilly Deluxe album.

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I guess I should find myself a copy of his Hillbilly Deluxe album.

 

I just picked up a Dwight Yoakam's "Dwight Sings Buck" CD the other day and I have to say it is really good. I'm not much of a country fan but I do like the Bakersfield sound. Of course that's US 99 and this should probably be posted in the Pacific Highway/US 99 forum.

 

Roadhound

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  • 1 month later...

Great album. He took Buck's songs and kept his imprint along with adding his own. I highly recommend this album.

 

I don't know about anyone else, but goin' down the road listenin' to Buck and/or Dwight is a mighty fine way to enjoy the scenery.

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