Dwight Yoakam Performs Private Show for SiriusXM at Stephen Talkhouse

Ahead of his WHBPAC performance, Grammy-winner Dwight Yoakam performed a private concert for SiriusXM at The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett to a full house of fans last night. The audience was clad in straw cowboys hats, scuffed cowgirl boots and a remarkable number of plaid flannel shirts for August in the Hamptons. Fans included musician G.E. Smith, NBC’s Andy Lack, Discovery Communications’ David Zaslav filmmaker Joe Lauro and, of course, members of the East End rockabilly band Spaghetti Westerners.

The Honky Tonk Man ad-libbed “This is our first excursion into the Hamptons. I found out just how far Long Island can be!” and segued into his hit “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere.” He sang Dixie and a whole lot more—the show included a memorable tribute medley to Yoakum’s hero and touchstone, Buck Owens. The special performance for SiriusXM, which aired live on SiriusXM’s Prime Country and Outlaw Country channels, featured Yoakam performing songs from throughout his career, as well as dipping into his vast repertoire of covers. As he said, “We’re shufflin’, keep shufflin’.”

Additionally, Dwight Yoakam & The Bakersfield Beat, a channel curated by Dwight Yoakam, will take over SiriusXM’s Prime Country for a limited time and will feature music from Yoakam’s extensive career as well as his musical friends and heroes. Dwight Yoakam & The Bakersfield Beat will air Friday, September 1 through Monday, September 4 on channel 58.

The guys in the Bakersfield Beat were decked out in sequined suits that were a cross between heyday Elvis and matadors that didn’t get any bull on ’em. No bull—this cowboy collective rocked it hard—classically, countrified and with more than a little groove.

“Dwight Yoakam is one of the most singular artists in country music history, drawing from both traditional country and classic rock ’n’ roll influences, like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Byrds. Bringing his hard-driving brand of West Coast honky-tonk to an intimate setting on the far Eastern tip of Long Island will be an unforgettable experience for lucky fans and subscribers,” said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer of SiriusXM before the show. In addition to his musical career, Yoakam is a respected film and television actor, whose films include Sling Blade and The Newton Boys. In 2016, he appeared in David E. Kelley’s Amazon series, Goliath. He will appear in director Steven Soderbergh’s new Amazon feature, Logan Lucky, with Channing Tatum and Daniel Craig later this month.

Yoakum has 12 gold albums and 9 platinum, or multi-platinum, albums, with five of those albums topping Billboard’s Country Albums chart and another 14 landing in the Top 10. In live performance Yoakum often invokes his unique hiccup-y signature vocals—much more often than in his recordings. Fun stuff. His special performance for SiriusXM in the Hamptons is the latest in a series at the famed music venue. Last August, Coldplay’s powerful performance in front of a crowd of lucky SiriusXM subscribers and guests at The Stephen Talkhouse was broadcast nationally to SiriusXM subscribers.