Doyle Dykes

Doyle Dykes
Dykes, April 2006
Background information
Born	(1954-05-23) 23 May 1954 (age 62) Jacksonville, Florida
Genres	Country, folk, blues, Christian
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, minister
Instruments	Guitar
Website	Official website
Notable instruments
Taylor Guitars, Doyle Dykes Signature Model Taylor

Doyle Dykes (born May 23, 1954) is an American country acoustic guitarist from Jacksonville, Florida. He is influenced by a wide variety of musical styles and musicians such as Chet Atkins, the Allman Brothers, to the Beatles and U2. Cited along with guitarists such as Tommy Emmanuel as one of the best fingerstyle guitarists in the world, he is also known for his capability of playing proficiently with a wide range of different guitar tunings. Some of his best-known works and interpretations are "Wabash Canonball", "Country Fried Pickin", "Tricky Pickin", "Chet Stuff", "Be Still", "Amazing Grace" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Dykes is a devout Christian and has served as a minister in a small church in Florida; the influence of Christianity is present in much of his work. He was a major endorser of Taylor Guitars and Rivera Sedona amplifiers, with his own signature models of each. In 2013 he began endorsing the Guild Guitar Company.

Dykes grew up in Jacksonville, Florida in a Christian community. His father is referred to as "Bubba Dykes" and he has a brother named Aubrey. He cites June 1965 during his church's "summer revival" as the moment he became a lifelong Christian as an 11-year-old boy, seeing "the lights of salvation and a new purpose and desire for my life and since that day, I've never been the same". His first guitar was a $30 Sears Roebuck Silvertone acoustic. Dykes claims a sailor named Barry Lackey was the most important influence in his development as a guitarist. Lackey attended his church one day, and using a thumbpick from his pocket, "completely blew him away" with his "spider picking", playing just like Chet Atkins and Merle Travis, Doyle's heroes. Lackey was then invited to his house one day and showed him a right-hand picking pattern that "got his fingers working together in the right way, where the thumb played the bass and after-beat rhythm, and the three fingers took care of the rest." He later reunited with Lackey at a Taylor Guitars event in Detroit in 2002, and claims that were it not for him, he would never have become a successful guitarist.