As he entered his second decade of recording,
Dwight Yoakam began to take more time between records. A three-year gap separated
A Long Way Home from
Gone -- the last time he went that long between albums of new material was 1990's
If There Was a Way and 1993's
This Time. As it happened,
This Time was a masterpiece, a breakthrough of sorts in that it expanded
Yoakam's already large stylistic trickbag.
A Long Way Home doesn't rank with
This Time, probably because it is an outgrowth of that leap forward instead of the leap itself, but like
Gone, it is a rich, diverse, continually impressive collection of timeless songs.
Yoakam and his producer/guitarist
Pete Anderson keep things interesting by never following conventions -- "These Arms" has a Bakersfield foundation, but it's graced by sweeping Nashville strings that bring the song into new territory. That's just one of many unexpected touches that make
A Long Way Home a rewarding listen, even if it doesn't consistently reach the heights of such previous masterstrokes as
Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.,
Buenos Noches From a Lonely Room, and
This Time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine