Local Yoakam lives up to billing: Frisco band generating fans of namesake artist

There's more than a generation gap between George Jones and Led Zeppelin. Call it a gorge.

Drawing upon his late father's influence and his own hazy adolescent days, Frisco musician Rodney Smith is having fun building the bridge. And it's getting some traffic.

About a year ago Smith conjured the idea of forming a tribute band to one of his - and many others' - favorite musicians, Dwight Yoakam. Judging from the response the band received from its latest gig on Feb. 23 at Dawgs and Hawgs off Louisiana Street in McKinney, the result is a hit.

Smith is the band's front man, playing rhythm guitar and belting lead vocals. He is joined by bassist and backup singer Rick Oltman, lead guitarist Thad Bonduris and drummer Danny Wood. Oltman was formerly with the Bill Tillman Band, while Bonduris is a longtime area performer with a resume` that spans ripping it with Ray Price to playing Broadway musicals. Wood, who struck the beat for Robert Lee Cobb, is the newest member of the quartet, which counts Frisco, Allen, Denton and Plano as their respective homes.

"We have some rich history as far as this band and who we've each played for," Smith proudly states.

Bucking the trend to over-classify, Smith employed a simple label to the music his band performs.

"We are a Dwight Yoakam tribute band," he said. "We do Dwight Yoakam music with our own ever-so-slight twist."

The "ever-so-slight twist" includes their own music sprinkled with some Beck and Tom Petty. Smith touts two new songs currently available on iTunes that he wrote and Local Yoakam performs, "Mrs. Smith" and "Take Me Back Texas." He describes the latter as "a song I wrote that's kind of a country western love sick/home sick song."

Aside from getting the lead out with some Zeppelin, Smith also rocked his teenage ears with Cheap Trick and many of the British invasion influences like the Who, the Rolling Stones and the Kinks. Then there were the sounds from his dad's influence, Johnny Cash. So when Dwight Yoakam hit the scene with his unique blend of country and rock, that music was an instant hit with Smith.

"I grew up listening to rock, however my father heavily influenced me," Smith said. "Dad was kind of one of those guys in those days in West Texas who played the gigs his entire life. I was a little baby, only about two or three years old, and he would take me along in those backyard catfish-type parties and he would be playing Hank Williams, George Jones, and it's amazing how much influence he had on me from those times.

"Dwight Yoakam is, to me, kind of like one of the rebels of his kind. He has kind of that edge I like," he continued. "You really don't even hear much of his type of honkytonk."

You can hear plenty of that style when Local Yoakam will play Dawgs and Hawgs again on April 6.

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