Not to catch a train – but to sit on the same wooden bench where he wrote the first half of “A Thousand Miles From Nowhere”
Amid the fast pace of touring, Dwight Yoakam keeps a habit that seems small yet is filled with meaning. Whenever his route passes through a certain Western town, he always asks to stop at an old train station that has long been out of service.
Where a song began
The station sees no trains anymore, only the dust of time and the scent of old wood. Years ago, as a young and struggling singer on the road, Dwight stopped there to take shelter from the rain. He sat on a wooden bench near the window, gazing out at the endless tracks, and began writing the first lines of “A Thousand Miles From Nowhere.”
The breath of memory
Though the song went on to become one of his biggest hits, Dwight still remembers that first feeling — a cold afternoon, raindrops tapping on the tin roof, and a loneliness filling the waiting room. He once said that without that moment, the song might never have been written.
An unchanging stop
Now, whenever his tour bus passes by, Dwight asks to stop for a few hours. He doesn’t bring a guitar, nor does he jot down new lyrics. He simply sits on the same old bench. Sometimes he closes his eyes to hear the silence of the station; other times he just looks at the tracks and remembers the woman who inspired the song.
The bench and the song
Locals have grown accustomed to the sight. They jokingly call that wooden bench a “landmark” of the town. As for Dwight, he just smiles, knowing it’s the place that holds a piece of his soul — where a song was born on a rainy afternoon, wrapped in longing.
🎵 Suggested listening: Dwight Yoakam – Suspicious Minds
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