Tips from the Top: Pete Anderson on the Making of Dwight Yoakam’s ‘Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.’
In Dwight Yoakam, Pete Anderson heard the direction Nashville needed to take, and insisted that the singer immediately commit a handful of his originals to tape.
By Dave Simons
With his 1986 major-label debut, Kentucky-born, Ohio-bred Dwight Yoakam joined roots-based newcomers like Randy Travis and Steve Earle in helping to establish the formidable “new country” trend of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. A 29-year-old singer/songwriter with a cowboy hat slung deviously over one eye and a throaty voice to match, Yoakam had spent his formative years with one ear on the Rolling Stones and the other on Buck Owens, and the convergence of styles would set the tone for Yoakam’s solo career, which began with an exploratory visit to Nashville in the fall of 1977.
Nashville at the time, however, had little use for a traditionalist with a hard-rock bottom. Frustrated, Yoakam charted a course for downtown Los Angeles, the polar opposite of Music City. Performing in the same clubs that housed regional punk acts like X and the Dead Kennedys, Yoakam began to establish himself as a hip alternative to contemporary country, even garnering a loyal fan base around Hollywood known as “cowpunks.”
Enter guitarist/producer Pete Anderson, who, like Yoakam, had been weaned on a steady diet of country and rock & roll. In Yoakam, Anderson heard the direction Nashville needed to take, and insisted that the singer immediately commit a handful of his originals to tape. Financial backing for the project came in the form of a $5,000 credit-card advance from Tulsa drummer Richard Coffey, a friend of Yoakam’s who received a portion of the publishing for his trouble.
In early 1984, Yoakam, Anderson and a hastily assembled backing crew entered Excalibur Studio, an independent 24-track facility conveniently located behind a sewing-machine repair shop in nearby Studio City, and proceeded to hammer out six songs, including Yoakam originals “It Won’t Hurt” and “South of Cincinnati,” along with a cover of Johnny Cash’s classic “Ring of Fire.” The limited budget dictated an efficient recording procedure, with most rhythm tracks cut in just a few takes with minimal fixes.
“Excalibur was the kind of kind of place where you could just walk in, hand them $200 and go to work for eight hours or so and get as much done as possible,” recalls Anderson, Yoakam’s producer of 19 years. “That’s how we recorded most of the EP - just get a bit of money, grab Brian Levi, the engineer, run over there and get tracking.”
With funds running low, Yoakam, Anderson and Levi repaired to another low-budget facility, Hit City West, and proceeded to mix the songs in a series of overnight cram sessions. “We’d arrive at 11:30, have the tapes up by midnight and start mixing non-stop,” says Anderson. “There was no automation, so there we are, the three of us on our knees in front of the board at four in the morning, holding down mutes, going, ‘Okay, ready? Un-mute the mandolin! Didja get it?! Ride it up! Pull it down!’ All night long. We even wild-tracked a few parts, just flying ‘em in from tape. That was a job.”
That November, Oak Records, an L.A. independent known for its hardcore punk roster, printed up 5,000 copies of Yoakam’s debut EP, entitled Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. Then Yoakam and Anderson sat back and waited for the big fish to bite, at one point even turning down alt-rock specialists IRS Records. “We were thinking, ‘We’re gonna be patient and get ourselves a nice major-label deal and then make them do things our way,’” recalls Anderson. “You would’ve thought we were nuts.”
When Warner/Reprise came calling in May of 1985, Yoakam and Anderson were ready. Their list of demands included the stipulation that all six songs previously issued on the Guitars, Cadillacs EP be used as-is on Yoakam’s full-length debut. “That was all part of it - we told them, ‘You get what you get - we’re not touching these tracks.’ We just didn’t feel like they needed to be done over again.”
Yoakam completed the deal by recording four additional tracks - a cover of Johnny Horton’s “Honky Tonk Man,” his own “Guitars, Cadillacs” and two others - at nearby Capitol Studio B, birthplace to the celebrated “sound of Bakersfield.” “Dwight was really into Capitol,” says Anderson. “The live echo chambers they had under the parking lot, the whole vibe - it was perfect for what we were trying to accomplish.”
Released the following March, the “extended” Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. quickly tore up the country charts, made impressive inroads on the pop side as well and spawned a handful of hit singles in “Honky Tonk Man” (#3) “Guitars, Cadillacs” (#4) and “It Won’t Hurt” (#31). In 1999, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. reached double-platinum status - making Richard Coffey’s original credit-card loan one seriously profitable investment.
Posted Nov 02, 2005
Member Comments
I guess the lesson learned from this for all of us is this. There is no reason to think that the business is any different. So, write very good material, find a place to lay the best tracks possible, and believe in what you have done. Concern yourself with the song not the label. What do ya’ll think?
But even the sun, the moon and the stars, bow down to The Lord.
SUSIE
If you noticed the Lord didn’t over produce the sun, the moon, or the stars.
Matt
Go Pete Go!
You can read everything on the net about how to and why you should do it this way etc.. Go to The Nashville Songwriters sight and catch an earful of good advice of how to do it the way they did it. The talk is just that. You can plug in if you’ve got it, and you don’t have to move to Nashville and prove it. There are 10,000 songs a week shopped there, and most of them aren’t worth the chip their recorded on. Within the next five years, we will see more new successful writers and performers who don’t go the major record deal way. The pitfalls are well noted. Dwight was good, but more importantly, smart and lucky.
You can succeed without kissing ### or ever looking sideways at the political center stage strangely known as music row. The hat acts and weak songs that litter the charts are a sign of the lack of true artistry and the proliferation of lameness. Getting into the Nashvville scene is akin to joining a church. The closer you get the more it stinks of self righteousness and politiciscm, and before too long you realize you are in the pit of snakes. We do bury more talent than we ever hear on the radio or television. I believe that Dwight still isn’t a member of the Grand Ole Opry. and thank God!
Johnboy Martin
Dwight is as I understand a believer. It is God’s grace. Why we receive his grace , God only knows.
Af far as the over production of the universe well I haven’t been to the end of that so I have to ask have you? Funny. It’s finding the Lord and reading his message, scripture! The sky shall fall but his word will last. So it is, the sky needs clothing and clothing needs to be new.
Apple Annointed
SUSIE Q
What do you see from the photo?
All those brick? For many generations the Hebrews cut stones to make alters, pyrmids of egypt where the pharoes were burried,idoles tumes, the sameness in bricks which is common to people in bondage, all are made to comform,no variation in them all made to fit exactly in to a designated place, with little or no irregualrity,or no orginality. Slavery produces bricks the tone of the voice or the cut of the hair or the vocublary we use. Bondage. Uniqueness is quenched,
Is there a rock untouched by tools?
Brick are of egypts slaves.
God’s rock as God being the creator not created things.
Does any one read the “B”=“Bible” and live the “Truth”?
The bright light = the call of God!
(He knows the character of God!)God places the un-cut stones.
It’s an eye opening article. The pike does wonderful things, working both directions.
- George
Just goes to prove, there are artists and then there are acts. Dwight is clearly an artist. How many people wanting a record deal in Nashville would hit the punk scene in LA to keep his spirit alive after a Nashville rejection.
He cleans up good. Ah he could use some new britches. lol a change of clothes.
You know, I write and perform for the fun of it as God gives me ideas. I have a publisher and a couple of my songs are in the pitch process to Clay Walker, Tobie Kieth, Trick Pony, etc. I would love for one of these guys to cut and release my songs, but you know what? If they don’t, it won’t matter because my treasure is in Heaven. I am successful because I am doing what the Lord wants me to do and he is faithful in providing so I’m not a starving artist. I don’t believe in luck. I believe doors are opened at the right time ( or closed ).
Devin Caliri
Dwight had it going on. He had a new look and a new sound. I remember when that album came out. I’ve never owned the album and yet I can still remember some words that distinct voice to"Honkey Tonk Man"and I can still remember the chorus to “Guitars and Cadillacs”.
That tells me a few things.
1. He had a memoriable voice
2. He had memoriable songs
3. Working hard always pays off.
Dwight enjoyed a great career. That career started because he knew he had something, that’s why they were confident of the songs they had already recorded. They knew it was good enough, and the record label didn’t seem to mind. They wanted it.
I read once that 85% of artists who get signed do not generate enough sales to recoup the money loaned out to them.
That is alot of money. So the Recording Industy needs the other 15% to make up for the loss.
Dwight had what they needed a new style to keep it exciting and fresh.
A good lesson for us all.
If one thing doesn’t work try another way.
There’s always something. Take care guys.
