John Hiatt / Dwight Yoakam

These are two of the most recent in New West’s Live from Austin, Texas series where they have dug into the Austin City Limits archives and released some classic shows on CD and DVD for the first time. These both represent key periods in each of these two songwriters’ careers. First, the Yoakam concert was captured on October 23, 1988 when the rebel hillbilly was literally the new kid on the block — a 20-something looking to make a name for himself on the outskirts of the country music by mixing honky-tonk and rockabilly to recreate sounds made famous by the likes of Buck Owens. The elder Owens even guests on this classic Austin City Limits show that features 14 Yoakam classics in the making: from the gritty opener "Guitars, Cadillacs” to the honky-tonk classic closer "This Drinking Will Kill Me,” this disc is a must for fans of this talented hillbilly. For his part, the Hiatt concert was taped December 14, 1993, and while the songsmith had been playing music for 20 years already, this gig showed him at his best through these 14 storied songs. This show followed on the heels of his critically-acclaimed disc Perfectly Good Guitar. Throughout this energised set, Hiatt sways from introspective singer-songwriter to full-out rock’n’roll singer showing the breadth of this songwriter.