Dwight Yoakam Living the Singles Life?
The recording business has gone through fundamental changes several times, driven by the evolution of technology. For decades in its beginning stages, the industry made its money on the sales of singles. The Beatles helped develop an album mentality, and that was heightened by the introduction of the CD in 1983. With the growth this decade of iTunes and digital downloading, the pendulum has swung back toward sales of individual songs.
While many country performers admittedly tried to make albums full of potential singles, Dwight Yoakam has viewed his albums as an artistic statement, which is part of the reason that his most recent release, Dwight Sings Buck, was a tribute to the late Buck Owens.
That was two years ago, and Dwight’s ready to crank out more new material. But he’s been watching the landscape closely, and he’s thinking strongly about tossing aside the album format — at least temporarily — as he figures out what to do with the latest songs he’s written. There’s a strong possibility he may record them one at a time and put them out as individual tracks online instead of making them part of a package.


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