Waylon Payne. His name fairly floats off the page. The first time I encountered Waylon was hearing the song “Jesus On A Greyhound,” soaring, ragged and beautiful, from his 2004 album The Drifter. We actually played both versions of that tune, Waylon’s and Shelby Lynne’s, on my now defunct XM Channel, X Country. We met somewhere around that time, and kept crossing paths. When the movie Walk The Line came out, I got to interview Waylon and Shelby together, as they both had roles in the film. Then there was a tour bus ride back from a Willie Nelson appearance at the old Backyard outside of Austin, with Waylon regaling us with tales and tunes on the way to the Saxon Pub to jump on stage with the late Stephen Bruton. All rich moments, they are etched in stone in my mind.
Waylon Payne has been called country royalty. Named after Waylon Jennings, his mother was Sammi Smith, who rode the Kris Kristofferson song “Help Me Make It Through The Night” into the white hot spotlight. His father was Jody Payne, who played guitar in Willie Nelson’s band for decades. They are both gone now, and Waylon has had to cobble his own way, finding sobriety, and purpose and the path. He lives in Nashville now, and has a couple of films coming out, including the autobiographical The Drifter: The Waylon Payne Story. Look for Waylon in an upcoming appearance on the Grand Ol’ Opry on April 7th. We invited him before the Music Fog cameras in January at 3rd & Lindsley. From that session, here is “Sins Of The Father.”
