WEDNESDAY

With his trademark hat pulled low over cold, humorless eyes, Dwight Yoakam is the essence of cowboy cool—and a popular paramour of Hollywood hotties such as Sharon Stone and Bridget Fonda. Remove the lid from the 42-year-old rocky-tonk crooner, however, and what you’ll find is not an electric horseman ruling the range, but a rather homely dude with a soured mug and thinning hair. While the all-too-human Dwight has spent a lot time on the silver screen recently (Sling Blade, The Newton Boys), the suave singin’ Yoakam has been stretching the sides of his weathered heart for 13 albums now. Throughout his career, the Pikeville, Ky., native, influenced early on by C&W pacesetters Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, has taken refuge in such diverse musical saloons as L.A. punk and guitar-blast rock—much to the chagrin of picky Nashville purists. But country lovers, have no fear: On Last Chance for a Thousand Years: Dwight Yoakam’s Greatest Hits From the ’90s, the dominant sound is the nasty hillbilly twang that the singer-songwriter-actor-lover has made his signature. Yoakam’s cover of Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” featured in that super-sexy Gap ad, is a deserved pop hit, but attitude-rich burners like “Fast as You” and “Suspicious Minds” are the tastiest victuals on the new 14-track collection. Yoakam kicks some shit at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18, at Wolf Trap Filene Center, 1624 Trap Road, Vienna. $18-$28. (703) 255-1860. (Sean Daly)