New Dwight Yoakam album nears release as tour continues

Reprise Records has set an Oct. 31 release date for a new Dwight Yoakam album titled "Tomorrow's Sounds Today," the artist's second release of 2000. Meanwhile, Yoakam's long-running tour of North America continues unabated.

Five songs from the forthcoming album have been played on Yoakam's current tour, according to Reprise, including the album's first single "What Do You Know About Love." The track, which Yoakam performed on "The Late Show with David Letterman" earlier this month, is scheduled to hit radio stations on Sept. 25. He is set to perform the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Nov. 3. Yoakam also directed a video for the track.

Buck Owens--who created country music's Bakersfield sound and who recorded the 1988 hit "Streets of Bakersfield" with Yoakam--co-wrote and contributed vocals to a track on the forthcoming album. The LP also spotlights accordion player Flaco Jimenez, Chris Hillman (of the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers) and singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale.

Meanwhile, Yoakam--who took a three-year break from extensive touring before returning to the road in 1999 to support a greatest hits album--has kept a busy road schedule for much of 2000. In May, he released "dwightyoakamacoustic.net," which features acoustic renditions of some his previously recorded material.

Yoakam's current tour itinerary runs through Oct. 1, but more dates are expected.