Yoakam was coming off a platinum debut album with a wiseass title (Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.) when he released Hillbilly Deluxe. Neither as hard-nosed nor as bereft as he"d soon be sounding, Deluxe was nonetheless both a smart, stylized missive and the kind of nouveau honky-tonk set that country radio was suddenly ready to eat up. With stuff like "Little Ways," "Please, Please Baby," and "Johnson"s Love" on the plate, it tasted great. --Rickey Wright