Introduction
Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs: A Defining Honky-Tonk Moment at the Roxy
Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs (Live at the Roxy, Hollywood, CA, March 1986) captures an artist right at the point where raw talent, unshakable conviction, and perfect timing collide. This wasn’t just another song in the setlist — it was the title track of his breakthrough album, the statement piece that announced Yoakam to the world as a torchbearer for real, unfiltered country music in a decade when the genre’s mainstream edges were softening.
Guitars, Cadillacs is, at its heart, a sharp, wry ode to the highs and lows of chasing love and life on the road. It’s full of swagger, but there’s a bittersweet undercurrent that keeps it from tipping into pure bravado. The opening guitar riff — bright, twangy, and instantly recognizable — sets the tone, and live at the Roxy, it rang out like a battle cry for honky-tonk loyalists.
On that March night, Yoakam’s delivery was electric. His Kentucky drawl cut through the room with precision, each line landing with a mix of humor and bite. The band was in peak form, their Telecasters snapping like live wires over a rhythm section that locked in tight and drove the song forward without letting it lose its swing. The pedal steel added just enough mournful color to remind the crowd that beneath the swagger, there’s always a little heartache.
What made this Live at the Roxy rendition special was the way Yoakam played it like it was both brand-new and decades-old — as if he’d written it that morning, but it had already been part of the honky-tonk canon for generations. There was no sense of him testing the waters; he owned the song completely, and the audience knew they were hearing the real deal.
Nearly forty years later, Guitars, Cadillacs remains one of Dwight Yoakam’s signature songs, and this Roxy performance still feels like a mission statement. It’s the sound of a young artist planting his boots firmly in country tradition, while making it clear he was here to shape its future.