"Dwight Sings Buck" Tribute Album Due in October

7/25/2007 Stephen L. Betts Dwight Yoakam is set to release Dwight Sings Buck, a one-of-a-kind album honoring the legendary Buck Owens, on October 23, 2007. The album, on New West Records, will be released as both a CD and a limited edition 180-gram vinyl record. “After his death, it was the clearest way I could express my love for him and acknowledge the depth of our friendship” says Dwight. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the album will be donated by Dwight Yoakam and New West Records to the Buck Owens American Music Foundation, a charity devoted to the preservation of the Bakersfield sound and the Buck Owens legacy. The emotional “Close Up The Honky Tonks,” will be released as the album’s first single.  Dwight and Buck’s profound initial musical connection turned into a life-long friendship. The Bakersfield sound was developed in Bakersfield and throughout California in the 1950s and '60s by the likes of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and the Buckaroos. Bakersfield country was an alternative to the Nashville country sound of the late 1950s. It was a sound that added electric instruments and other stylistic elements borrowed from rock and roll. Buck Owens was one of the first to bring the Bakersfield sound to mainstream audiences. His music also influenced countless other country and pop stars.  In 1996 he was indcted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Hailed as a “Renaissance Man” by Time Magazine, Dwight Yoakam is a Kentucky native, who was raised in Ohio, migrated to Los Angeles, and blazed out of the LA club scene in 1986. Dwight shared stages with LA roots-rock acts such as X, Lone Justice, the Blasters and Los Lobos.  Beginning by revitalizing the Buck Owens/Bakersfield sound for a new generation, Dwight would later push the envelope of the country music genre. To date he has notched 17 Top 10 country hits and sold more than 23 million albums worldwide. Since his 1993 film debut opposite Nicholas Cage in Red Rock West, he has worked steadily in movies and television with acclaimed performances in films such as Sling Blade, Panic Room, and Crank.  In 2000 he also directed, wrote and starred in a film of his own South of Heaven, West of Hell. Dwight Sings Buck includes Dwight's versions of eight of Buck's No. 1 country singles: “Act Naturally,” “My Heart Skips A Beat,” “I Don’t Care (Just as Long as You Love Me),” “Only You (Can Break My Heart),” “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” “Your Tender Loving Care,” “Think of Me,” and “Together Again.”