Some men get drunk and punch walls when love and life go sour ... I don't know that there are any fist-shaped holes where Dwight lives, but I suspect he made this album instead. Only the first cut on Population Me does not address love and loss, and only one of the rest, Exception to the Rule, expresses even cautious hope where love is concerned. And though Dwight as usual is a master of indirect truth and self-mockery, some of the songs may be as personal as we've ever heard.

Late Great Golden State has a nice retro feel to it especially in the backup singers -- the sound and style match the lyrics' feel of being out of place in time. I especially enjoyed the bright pedal steel and brisk drumming.

This may be a new label for Dwight Yoakam, but his signature sound is still in place. And that's just fine. In the opening track, Yoakam sings, "I ain't old, I'm just out of date." I beg to differ. He might be getting old (47 as of this writing), but his brand of honest country will never be out of date. With Timothy B. Schmit lending background vocals on "The Late Great Golden State," and the banjo chiming in the background, this song is reminiscent of Poco/Eagles. Another non-original is the seemingly odd choice, "Trains and Boats and Planes" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. But with the fiddles and Pete Anderson adding his mandolin flourishes along with Earl Scruggs' guest appearance on banjo, this could be a huge country hit. [Oh, yeah, I forgot...country radio doesn't like fiddles and mandolins and especially banjos.] The other non-original is the stark "The Back of Your Hand," used to close the album.

The other seven tracks are all Yoakam originals. Standouts include the upbeat "No Such Thing," the toe-tapping "An Exception to the Rule," the heartache of "I'd Avoid Me Too" and "If Teardrops Were Diamonds," a gorgeous duet with Willie Nelson, puncuated with Gary Morse's weeping pedal steel.

If there is any criticism to be leveled at Yoakam's debut release for Audium Records (after more than a dozen albums for Reprise), it's the brevity of the album. At ten songs and just under 32 minues, it is short. But you can't argue with the quality. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

It's so great to know that in a world of CMT cookie-cutter country wannabees that DY is still out there doing it the way it was meant to be. This latest album is stripped down, bare bones Yoakam and it's just about as good as anything he's ever done (it's hard for me to decide since This Time and Tomorrow's Sounds Today are both classics).

"The Late Great Golden State" is an up-tempo, banjo twanger and is a perfect song to begin the album. "Fair to Midland" is more slowed down as is the great duet with Willie Nelson "If Teardrops Were Diamonds". Many of these songs are up tempo but with downbeat lyrics, including my personal favorite "No Such Thing". Don't expect to be cheered up while listening to it. "I'd Avoid Me Too" is another one (the title should pretty much give it away) but the most downbeat of the bunch is the title song and it does take some getting used to. I found it disjointed at first but eventually warmed up to it.

"Stayin' Up Late (Thinkin' About It)" is another fast one lacking cheery lyrics and "Trains and Boats and Planes" is excellent with some sweet mandolin. Moreover, this is yet another great album from DY (I'm amazed at how he keeps doing it) and if you're new to his music you can begin here and work your way back.

Firstly let's get the technical stuff out of the way. The recording level on the CD is way too high for most domestic and portable equipment. Playing the CD in a friend's car resulted in horrific distortion, likewise on another friend's el-cheapo sound system. For this reason I've given this 4 stars rather than 5. On my own setup (somewhat over the top, both home and car) it sounds pretty good though, but please on future releases reduce the level by about 6dB, and don't apply so much compression! This is a criticism that's common to a lot of Dwight's recent recordings, and indeed a large number of modern recordings regardless of artist, label or genre. Producers take note - dynamic range good, compression bad! Quick fix though, rip the disc with Nero, then load the ripped WAV files into Nero Wave Editor, reduce the level by a few dB (between 4 and 6), then burn back to a blank CD-R. You'll then have a disc that works on anything without causing distortion in the line level section. Another note to record producers everywhere though - WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS, PLEASE TURN IT DOWN!!! (Apologies for caps, have to shout over the high recording level!)

Anyway, onto the music. I bought this after hearing the first track "Late Great Golden State" on satellite radio (here in the UK we're generally quite poorly served for country music, unfortunately). This is one of the better tracks, probably my third favourite on the album.

Second favourite (close run thing though) would be the closing track "The Back Of Your Hand". Not what I'd have thought of as Dwight's normal style, but very good nonetheless.

But my favourite has to be the second track "No Such Thing". Lyrics aside, the interplay between Dwight's vocals and Gary Morse's pedal steel is just amazing, and sums up everything that's so good about the traditional 4-beat country shuffle. (On a more personal note, I'd just broken up with someone after nearly 5 years, and the lyrics kind of echoed what I was feeling... "Where we're concerned there was no such thing as love". But even without this I still love the song.)

In short, provided you've got a decent sound system (or the distortion doesn't bother you), buy this, it's musically brilliant.

I've been a long time fan of Dwight but this CD has entranced me! I bought it for "The Back of Your Hand" which I had seen on CMT videos but I just bought the CD tonight (I've been looking for it for weeks but had a hard time finding it) and I've listened to it 5 or 6 times in a row - really great - probably one of his best! BUY IT! I don't know why "The Back of Your Hand" is not being played on the radio but country fans / Dwight fans are missing something by this not getting radio airplay!