Waylon Payne performed a solo acoustical set before Paula and her band came out. He sang a string of slow ballads, among other songs, and his music is so beautiful. He sang the song he wrote which LeeAnn Womack recorded, and which song was nominated for a grammy.
Here’s LeeAnn Womack singing the song, but I hope you get a chance to hear Waylon Sing this song. It’s Beautiful.
By William Michael Smith
http://blogs.houstonpress.comThe son of music royalty – his father is Willie Nelson guitarist Jody Payne, his mother was Nashville hitmaker Sammi Smith of “Help Me Make It Through the Night” fame – Waylon Payne is one of the best of the new breed of Nashville’s young writers in Nashville. So good, in fact, he’s nominated for a Grammy this year for writing Lee Ann Womack’s “Solitary Thinkin’.”
Payne, a scene stealer in his role as Jerry Lee Lewis in Walk the Line, wasn’t exactly embraced by Nashville when he recorded The Drifter in Los Angeles with Keith Gattis in 2004. But Pat Green heard the album and convinced his label Universal South to take a listen and a chance. The album, which was barely promoted, did little. But people in the business began to record Payne’s songs.
Green, Charlie Robison, and Shelby Lynne, in whose band Payne played for several years, all covered songs from The Drifter. But the biggest music break yet for Payne was Womack and producer Tony Brown picking “Solitary Thinkin'” for Womack’s 2009 album Call Me Crazy.