FRIENDS, FOR OPENERS THE BLASTERS HELPED DWIGHT YOAKAM IN THE 1980S AND SUPPORT HIM AT THE GREEK THEATRE TONIGHT.

Byline: Theo Douglas Staff Writer

IT'S BEEN AT LEAST eight years in the making, but when neo-country traditionalist Dwight Yoakam shares a stage tonight with Downey's finest roots-rockers, the Blasters, and outlaw country man Hank Williams III, the Greek Theatre likely will become something of a mutual admiration society.

Yoakam and the Blasters go way back - to the early 1980s, when Grammy-winning ex-Blaster guitarist Dave Alvin was a fry cook and California State University, Long Beach, student, and Yoakam worked on the loading dock at the Bullocks department store in Lakewood.

Members of the Blasters went on to help discover Yoakam, often tapping him to open for them as they spearheaded the '80s roots-rock revival. Now the Blasters, sans Alvin (who has been replaced by Jerry Angel), is opening for Yoakam. A decade younger at 29, Hank Williams' grandson is still pulling himself up by his own bootstraps, and he's along for the ride.

``I don't want to say Dave Alvin discovered (Dwight Yoakam), but Dave was really high on Dwight when Dwight was starting out,'' remembers Blasters bassist John Bazz. ``He pulled some strings around that time and got him to open for us on tour. (He) was great because the style of music he played was legitimate, traditional country and the Blasters were all about traditional music and playing it right.''

They last played on a bill together in Britain in 1994.

``It looks like a bill that could have happened in 1982. And Hank III would have been at home on stage at the (Club) Lingerie with us,'' Yoakam says. ``It's really a full-circle moment in that sense.''

Hank Williams III is a little too young (compared to these 40-something artists) to have come full circle, but he's got enough sand in his craw to know just where they're coming from.

``I think we're all coming from the real world,'' Shelton Hank Williams says. ``Dwight, he started out playing country music in the rock clubs.'' Which is where Williams was stuck until just a few years ago.

Today these three bands are all at what could be another crossroads in their careers. Playing in support of his second Curb Records release, ``Lovesick, Broke & Driftin','' Williams is still chafing at his label's handling, which he characterizes as conservative. Some day, he hopes to put out country records with parental advisory labeling. It's a strategy he says will take country music out of the city and back out to the country where it belongs.

``Writing for people who are working 9-to-5 jobs and (have cusswords) in their vocabulary. Keeping it respectable but in an outlaw sense,'' says Williams, whose nasal singing style - much like his grandfather's - comes through. ``That's where I need to be, that's where my fans are, on the road 200 days a year.''

Unlike Williams, the Blasters need simply to get into a studio and record - never mind the set list or the production.

Yoakam is between record contracts for the first time since he signed with Warner Bros. 16 years ago. For now, Rhino Records will release two Yoakam box sets: an abridged four-disc compilation in October, then a complete 10-disc collection in November. As for Yoakam, he promises a new studio album by this time next year.

``The record business is changing very dramatically,'' Yoakam says. ``Not just for me, but for all established artists in the record business. The way we're going to market and deliver product to the record buyer is changing.''

DWIGHT YOAKAM

Where: The Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles. With the Blasters and Hank Williams III.

When: 7:30 tonight.

Tickets: $28.50 to $55.50.

Information: [phone] and www.ticketmaster.com.

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