If you go
› What: Doyle Dykes› When: 8 tonight› Where: Unum Stage
“Wabash Cannonball” is one of many, and certainly one of the best-known, songs in the broad library of American train music. It is at its absolute best when played in such a way as to make the locomotive come to chugging, smoke-belching life.
When Johnny Cash recorded “Wabash Cannonball” in 1966, he accomplished the task with the driving rhythm of his guitar strumming, which admittedly sounds quite a bit like a train on many of his other songs, too.
In 2008, however, I watched a “Wabash” cover performed by Cleveland, Tenn.-based fingerstyle guitar master Doyle Dykes, and it stands as the definitive version of the song in my mind.
The speed and intricacy of Dykes’ playing makes the train almost tangible. He alternates between effortless movement over the fretboard and skillful manipulation of the tuners to render every iron gear, every cycling piston, every whistle blow. You almost feel your hair blowing back with its passing.