Years after battling at the Grammys, Yoakam and Earle bookend Derby weekend in Kentucky

Dwight Yoakam

Steve Earle and the Dukes

The time: February 1987. The place: Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The occasion: the 29th annual Grammy Awards.

The showdown at hand was the trophy for Best Country and Western Performance, Male (notice how the genre name still included “Western” back then). It was an unusually attention-grabbing category as three major artists representing contrasting country camps had experienced career breakthroughs in 1986.

From the hardcore traditional corner came Dwight Yoakam, the East Kentucky native who blended elements of the famed Bakersfield sound from his relocated digs in California with the rural rhythms and narrative detail of his home state.

From a new generation of singer-songwriters whose sense of composition leaned more to the darker, plain-speaking confessions of Texas champions like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark came Steve Earle.

From a point somewhere in between, merging the vocal strengths of pioneers like George Jones with a modern country accessibility, was Randy Travis. Hank Williams Jr. and Ronnie Milsap rounded out the nominee list.

In an impressive round robin display, each artist performed the tunes on the Grammy telecast that got them nominated. Yoakam played “Guitars, Cadillacs,” Earle offered “Guitar Town” and Travis sang his inaugural hit “Diggin’ Up Bones.” Adhering to Grammy tradition, cameras were fixed on the three artists following their performances as the nominee list was read. Again, the contrasts were stunning. Yoakam posed stoically, his face half hidden under a cowboy hat. Earle stood grimly as if he were part of a police line-up. Travis flashed a mammoth toothy grin for the camera that underscored his more mainstream appeal.

Who won, you ask? None of them. The Grammys, preferring predictability and conformity over any youthful change, rejected all three and awarded the honor to Milsap.

Now here we are, 32 years later, with Derby weekend performances from Yoakam and Earle at hand to showcase careers that easily fulfilled the creative promise the Grammys didn’t initially recognize.

Yoakam, of course, took off almost immediately after the Grammy loss with a string of major radio and roots-conscious albums, all of which were collaborations with producer Pete Anderson. The music shifted from stark, rural storytelling (“I Sang Dixie,” “Buenos Noches from a Lonely Room”) to Elvis-savvy rock, pop and country (“A Thousand Miles from Nowhere,” “It Only Hurts When I Cry”) to hit covers of vintage singles (“Suspicious Minds,” “Little Sister”).

Ties were severed with Anderson for 2005’s “Blame the Vain.” While the radio hits became scarcer, the critical acclaim still soared for more Americana-inclined albums of recent years, including 2012’s “3 Pears” and 2015’s “Second Hand Heart.”

Earle became a true country renegade following the Grammy snub, turning concerts with his longtime band the Dukes into epic, Springsteen-esque sojourns as his songs were recorded by artists as diverse as The Pretenders and Emmylou Harris.

After bouncing back from near-fatal drug addiction, Earle released a string of albums revealing wild stylistic breadth. They included bluegrass collaborations (1999’s “The Mountain” with the Del McCoury Band), political snapshots (2004’s “The Revolution Starts Now”), a full-length Townes Van Zandt tribute (2009’s “Townes”), blues reflections (2015’s “Terraplane”) and outlaw country serenades (2017’s “So You Wannabe an Outlaw”).

Yoakam will bring Louisville’s Derby Week activities to a boil Friday night with a performance at Iroquois Amphitheare. Earle performs with the Dukes for a Sunday afternoon Derby handover performance at Renfro Valley.

Incidentally, since that night in 1986, Yoakam has won two Grammys. Earle has taken home three.

Interludes

▪  Yoakam isn’t the only Kentucky favorite back on home turf. Bowling Green native and (like Yoakam) Kentucky Music Hall of Fame inductee Sam Bush plays a return performance at the Grand Theatre, 308 St. Clair Street in Frankfort on May 10 (7:30 p.m.; $30-$55). As of this writing, the show is looking to be the latest in a string of sellout concerts at the Grand this spring (following shows by George Winston and Asleep at the Wheel). A call to the theater’s box office for last minute availability is highly recommended before making the trip. Call 502-352-7469 or go to Grandtheatrefrankfort.

▪  The weekend’s last but certainly not quietest entry is the Derby night return of Clutch to Manchester Music Hall, 899 Manchester Street. The Maryland guitar rock quartet has been a frequent visitor to Lexington venues over the past two decades. It comes to us May 5 on the heels of recording sessions for a new album with Grammy winning producer Vance Powell, whose credits include engineering and mixing duties on Chris Stapleton’s 2015 debut smash “Traveller.” (7 p.m.; $29-$60). The Bronx, Red Fang and Fireball Ministry will open. Call 859-537-7321 or go to manchestermusichall.com.

This story was originally published May 1, 2018 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Years after battling at the Grammys, Yoakam and Earle bookend Derby weekend in Kentucky."