I came across Dwight Yoakam through my old friend John who ran 'Sunshine Records' an independent record shop in Oxford. He and his then wife, Heather, were great friends and I was close to his younger brother Colin or 'Bill' as we rechristened him, just as my older brother Steve was pals with John at school. John introduced us to many new sounds and from Cajun to Zydeco to Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead to all sorts of 'New' country music like Dwight (I bough everything since that first album), Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett (got everything too) and John went on to manage many live music venues in London (Break For The Border and The Brixton Academy eventually amongst others) 

I miss them both as both were taken too early . . . . . 

Every time I hear Dwight Yoakam or Lyle Lovett I think of John and every time I hear Grateful Dead's 'Workingman's Dead' I think of Bill