Dwight Yoakam released his new album, Brighter Days, on Friday (November 15). It comes nearly a decade after the release of his 2016 album, Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars, and it is the result of a series of personal and professional changes in his life. Yoakam married Emily Joyce in March 2020, and later in August the couple welcomed their first child, son Dalton Loren. He also left his longtime label, Warner Records, and formed a new partnership with Thirty Tigers. The album’s title track “Brighter Days,” was inspired by an affectionate moment with his son, whom Yoakam gives a co-writing credit.

“He had a little Fender Telecaster-shaped ukulele he would wear,” Yoakam recalls. “He came bouncing in the room one day and said, ‘Get your guitar.’ I picked it up and I looked at him and said, ‘You know what? The future is you,’ and I started singing ‘Brighter Days,’ and he kind of sang it back to me. I came up with the first verse just watching him and singing and having him sing back to me.” (Billboard)