A melody he wrote for his mother – no lyrics, just a few aching chords.
For most fans, Dwight Yoakam is the embodiment of honky tonk energy, a performer who lights up every stage he steps on. But behind that public image lies a far more intimate side – especially a melody he quietly plays in the kitchen, meant only for his mother, Ruth Ann Yoakam. There are no words, just a handful of simple chords on an old acoustic guitar, yet they carry more emotion than many of the songs he’s ever recorded.
Dwight once shared in a rare interview that the melody was born in the late 1980s, after he returned from a long tour. One morning, he sat at the kitchen table, watching his mother make breakfast, and his hands instinctively found gentle, unhurried chords. There was no plan to write lyrics – he wanted to preserve the purity of the moment, letting the guitar speak as a quiet message to the woman who had nurtured his musical dreams from the very beginning.
Ruth Ann was never a fan of the spotlight, but she was always the first to hear Dwight’s new songs. With this unnamed melody, she simply smiled, placed her hand on his shoulder, and said, “Never forget to play that one for me.” And Dwight kept his promise. For more than three decades, he never brought the song to the public. It only played in the small kitchen, sometimes late at night after a show, when Dwight returned home searching for a moment of peace.
After his mother’s passing, Dwight admitted that whenever he picks up his guitar at home, his fingers still instinctively find those same chords. To him, it isn’t a song meant for an audience – it’s a private conversation between mother and son, music that lives only in memory and in sunlit mornings in the family kitchen. “One day, maybe I’ll record it… but if I do, it won’t be mine anymore,” he said.
For fans of Dwight Yoakam’s music, the full melody may remain unheard forever. But perhaps that’s what makes the story more beautiful – a reminder that not every song is meant to be performed; some exist only to hold the memories we can never replace.
🎵 Suggested listening: A Thousand Miles From Nowhere – Dwight Yoakam
Lyrics:
I’m a thousand miles from nowhere
Time don’t matter to me
’cause i’m a thousand miles from nowhere
And there’s no place i want to be
I got heartaches in my pocket
I got echoes in my head
And all that i keep hearing
Are the cruel, cruel things that you said
I’m a thousand miles from nowhere
Time don’t matter to me
’cause i’m a thousand miles from nowhere
And there’s no place i want to be
Oh, i
Oh, i
Oh, i
Oh, i
Oh, i
Oh, i
Oh, i
Oh, i
I got bruises on my memory
I got tear stains on my hands
And in the mirror there’s a vision
Of what used to be a man
I’m a thousand miles from nowhere
Time don’t matter to me
’cause i’m a thousand miles from nowhere
And there’s no place i want to be
I’m a thousand miles from nowhere
Time don’t matter to me
’cause i’m a thousand miles from nowhere
And there’s no place i want to be
I’m a thousand miles from nowhere
Time don’t matter to me
’cause i’m a thousand miles from nowhere
And there’s no place i want to be
I’m a thousand miles from nowhere
Time don’t matter to me
’cause i’m a thousand miles from nowhere
And there’s no place i want to be
I’m a thousand miles from nowhere
Time don’t matter to me
’cause i’m a thousand miles from nowhere
And there’s no place i want to be