June 9, 2023 —– Chart #199
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Let’s go country today! It’s summer and we should all be kicking our boots up a little. Today’s selection comes from none other than Dwight Yoakam. Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.. Yoakam had considerable success throughout the late 1980s onward, with a total of ten studio albums for Reprise Records. Wish I could wear a cowboy had the way he does, down over his forehead almost covering his eyes. Dwight has style galore.
“A Thousand Miles from Nowhere” is a song written and recorded by American Yoakam. It was released in June 1993 as the second single from his album This Time. Like his previous single, this song peaked at number 2 in the United States and at number 3 in Canada. The song was featured in two films, Red Rock West (filmed prior to the release of This Time using a studio demo recording) and Chasers.
His first three albums–Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., Hillbilly Deluxe, and Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room–all reached number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Yoakam also has two number-one singles on Hot Country Songs with “Streets of Bakersfield” (a duet with Buck Owens) and “I Sang Dixie“, and twelve additional top-ten hits. He has won two Grammy Awards and one Academy of Country Music award. 1993’s This Time is his most commercially successful album, having been certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The song’s narrator is dealing with the aftermath of the end of his relationship with his significant other. The breakup is causing him to feel sad, lonely, and lost. Some of the lyrics in the refrain (“time don’t matter to me” and “there’s no place I wanna be”) also describe his feelings of apathy and disinterest with everything else around him. Of course, none of you have ever had that experience, right?
Live with Carrie Underwood at CMA Summer Jam: https://youtu.be/mzMcjKKidMo
The music video was directed by Dwight Yoakam with the help of Carolyn Mayer. It features Yoakam riding on a Copper Basin Railway train across the Arizona desert, and is shown in two frames showing mostly different views of the train and Yoakam. Fellow musician Kelly Willis does a cameo appearance as the young woman standing in a shallow stream.
Play this one with an adult beverage close by . . . .
Keep Rockin’,
Stan Bradshaw