If There Was a Way
Dwight Yoakam's fourth studio album was his most muscular yet. Alongside the overtly rocking cuts, his honky-tonkers also kicked harder than anywhere in his catalog; on top of all this, he gave his loosest, most assured-sounding vocal performances to date. That he cowrote one of the disc's biggest singles, "It Only Hurts When I Cry," withRoger Millermakes perfect sense; Yoakam and Miller shared an ambivalently loving attitude toward the country-music establishment. Yoakam's insistence on going his own way would lead to even more indelible long-players, butIf There Was a Wayremains among his most impressive.--Rickey Wright