Dwight's Used Records
In what could almost have been the fifth disc ofhis box set, Yoakam pairs three previously unreleased recordings with 11 collaborations, tribute-album tracks, and other odds and sods. There are some predictably oil-and-water mismatches in singing partners (Deana Carteron "Waiting") as well as material ("Loco Motion," one of the new tracks, is, uh, "different"). Still, there's also his way-cool revival of "Mercury Blues" and a robust, beautifully arranged "Understand Your Man" in tribute toJohnny Cash, along with some welcome hard-country likeWebb Pierce's "If You Were Me (And I Were You)" and that odd version of "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide," which sounds all wrong at first but has a way of growing on you.--John Morthland