Dwight Yoakam: Buenos Noches From A Lonely Room

SINCE FOCUSING the public eye on his archival brand of country music with Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. two years ago, Dwight Yoakam has been good for lots of hot licks and hardcore honky-tonk replicas but for little in the way of depth. On Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room, Yoakam's emotionally empty exercises in the various country styles (bluegrass, honky-tonk, etc., etc.) give way to songs that explore the genre's dark and often conflicting underpinnings.