Born in Kentucky in 1956, Yoakam was raised in Columbus, OH. Learning the guitar at a young age, he showed an early facility for music and by high school had joined a succession of bands. He moved to Nashville to pursue a career but found his music, which owed much to the rockabilly roots of country was out of vogue. Hooking up with guitarist Pete Anderson who shared his sensibilities, the two headed to L.A. where they found a more appreciative audience. An independently recorded extended play record, "A Town South of Bakersfield" (1984), won airplay on college and alternative radio stations and led to contract with Reprise Records. Yoakam's debut album, "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc." (1986), was a hit on the country charts and featured his first Top Five hit. Subsequent albums have spawned numerous Top Ten records and in 1994 Yoakam received the Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal.

Yoakam began to act in 1991. He first played himself in the pilot of the short-lived CBS series "P.S. I Luv You", but later had a character role. His 1993 stage debut as a mental patient in "Southern Rapture", directed by Peter Fonda, garnered praise and indicated he was more than a dilettante. That same year, he made his film debut as a truck driver who had a memorable encounter with Nicolas Cage in John Dahl's "Red Rock West". Yoakam further demonstrated his abilities as a rancher in the based-on-fact TV-movie "Roswell" (Showtime, 1994) and in his first lead as a rodeo clown in "Painted Hero" (1995). After a turn as a photographer obsessed with a rich businessman's wife in the direct-to-video "The Little Death" (also 1995), Yoakam gave his most nuanced performance yet in Billy Bob Thornton's "Sling Blade" (1996). As an abusively alcoholic, he struck notes of menace and pathos and earned his best reviews to date.