Blame the Vain (2005)

For his first self-produced album, Blame the Vain, Dwight Yoakam trots out all his hallmarks — the Buck Owens/Bakersfield beat, the Elvis vocal snarl and sneer, the out-on-the-ledge laments of love gone cold. He's over-the-top when tacking a Moody Blues-meets-Spamalot opening onto routine country rocker ''She'll Remember,'' and fails to nail the NASCAR-themed ''Intentional Heartache.'' But all is forgiven when he gets to ''When I First Came Here,'' a down-on-your-knees gospel rendering of romance as redemption.