Country.  Rock.  Bluegrass.  Hillbilly.  Electric.  Twang.  Nasal.

Mix it all up and you get Dwight Yoakam, an immensely talented musician who’s always worried more worried about creating his own sound than mimicking the more popular, cookie-cutter sounds that offer an easier path to commercial success.  The world needs more artists like him.  And if you haven’t heard his latest album — released last fall it was his first studio album in seven years — then you’ve missed one of his best albums to date.

Kudos to the MrSEC.com iPod today.

“All I have to give is nothing less than one or two more.”

A little something extra:  US Route 23 runs from Jacksonville, Florida all the way to Mackinaw City, Michigan including a stretch that’ll take you from just outside Pikeville, Kentucky up to Columbus, Ohio.  Yoakam was born in Pikeville and grew up in Columbus.  He also wrote this song about that road. (If you want to see Yoakam in his early, early days… click the link.)  In Columbus, Route 23 used to run right down High Street, and yours truly used to live just one block over from High in the city’s once-thriving Brewery District.  For that reason, “Readin’, Rightin’, Route 23″ is a personal favorite.

Tuesday.  Plenty of stuff on the way.  Power Rankings included.

First, your morning musical kickoff.  You might have noticed that not a lot of country comes off my iPod, but that’s only because true country music died about the time Mutt Lange started producing his ex-wife Shania Twain in the same way he produced Def Leppard — as pop.  Darn near every other country artist soon followed and country died.  Only Alan Jackson and George Strait live on in the mainstream.  (Not surprisingly those two partnered up for this.)

Now, Dwight Yoakam has a new album out — “Three Pears” — and the critics say it’s A-1 solid.  Yoakam’s a throwback like Strait and Jackson, too, you just won’t hear his music on the radio anymore.  Today, one of his hits from back in the day when his songs were played turned up first on the iPod this morning.  If you remember it, here’s something to make those of you feel old… in March of next year, this song will turn 20.

Ouch.

“Once there was this spider in my bed.  I got caught up in her web of love and lies.”

News and views coming soon.