The C2C Sit Down with Waylon Wyatt
Waylon Wyatt is a 19-year-old folk-country artist from Hackett, Arkansas, known for his raw, red-dirt take on Americana. He began writing songs as a kid, often after long days working construction with his father. Waylon recorded and produced his debut EP Til The Sun Goes Down in the rec room of his childhood home. The EP has amassed over 225 million streams and two of its standout tracks “Arkansas Diamond” and “Jailbreak” have earned RIAA Gold certifications. Last summer the British audience got their first opportunity to catch this rising star when he performed to a ginormous crowd in London’s Hyde Park at BST on the same bill as Zach Bryan and the success of the show will see him return across the pond next month to perform at C2C: Country to Country on the main stage in Berlin, Rotterdam, London, Glasgow and Belfast. We caught up with Wyatt over Zoom to look ahead to the trip and hear all about his latest release ‘In Loving Melody’.
I appreciate you taking time to hang Waylon.
“Thank you for having me.”
No worries, we're excited that you coming back to see us and it's great to say coming back, because I saw you last summer. Well in fact, I heard you last summer, because I couldn't get anywhere near the stage when you were playing because that crowd when you were on the same bill as Zach (Bryan), was the biggest I've ever seen on that stage! I've been going to BST pretty much every year but I've never seen The Rainbow Stage rainbow any near to as packed as it was for you so it went down pretty well.
“Yeah, that was insane. I’m looking forward to being back and I miss the food if anything, I really love eating and I just can’t wait to eat ha-ha.”
That's so funny, all you guys from the States go on about the food and it always tends to be Indian food as the big one that a lot of people mention, that and how weird it is to have baked beans for breakfast.
“Funny enough, I'm a big fan of that. Like, I don’t like baked beans whatsoever, but I had it over there and I loved it.”
Epic, you've got quite a bit time to eat and explore as well, because obviously you're coming over to mainland Europe first in just over three weeks, where I’ll see you the first time as we're heading to Berlin as well as the London event. What have you heard about C2C as a whole and what are you most excited about for playing the festival over here?
“I don't know, I don't absolutely know a lot on it, I probably do need to do my research on it, but I mean, it's really far from home, so that's very exciting. A lot of these places, I've never been to and it's also the history of such places, I think we're going to Oslo on some of the dates as well and apparently, that's some of the most old architecture over there, so I'm really looking forward to seeing all that. You know, here in America, we think that the eighteen hundreds is old and like, you go over there where you’ve got stuff from the fifteen hundreds still around, it's crazy.”
It's so true, people that haven't been here before, that's one of the things they really pick up on. It's like, in the States, you guys think that if a building is thirty years old, you need to knock it down and rebuild it. Whereas everybody in Europe's like, this is four hundred years old, don't sneeze too close to it or breathe on it. It's good that you picked up on that and you're a fan of it.
“Yeah, it's amazing. I love the history over there. I would love to read more into it, too.”
I appreciate you taking time to hang Waylon.
“Thank you for having me.”
No worries, we're excited that you coming back to see us and it's great to say coming back, because I saw you last summer. Well in fact, I heard you last summer, because I couldn't get anywhere near the stage when you were playing because that crowd when you were on the same bill as Zach (Bryan), was the biggest I've ever seen on that stage! I've been going to BST pretty much every year but I've never seen The Rainbow Stage rainbow any near to as packed as it was for you so it went down pretty well.
“Yeah, that was insane. I’m looking forward to being back and I miss the food if anything, I really love eating and I just can’t wait to eat ha-ha.”
That's so funny, all you guys from the States go on about the food and it always tends to be Indian food as the big one that a lot of people mention, that and how weird it is to have baked beans for breakfast.
“Funny enough, I'm a big fan of that. Like, I don’t like baked beans whatsoever, but I had it over there and I loved it.”
Epic, you've got quite a bit time to eat and explore as well, because obviously you're coming over to mainland Europe first in just over three weeks, where I’ll see you the first time as we're heading to Berlin as well as the London event. What have you heard about C2C as a whole and what are you most excited about for playing the festival over here?
“I don't know, I don't absolutely know a lot on it, I probably do need to do my research on it, but I mean, it's really far from home, so that's very exciting. A lot of these places, I've never been to and it's also the history of such places, I think we're going to Oslo on some of the dates as well and apparently, that's some of the most old architecture over there, so I'm really looking forward to seeing all that. You know, here in America, we think that the eighteen hundreds is old and like, you go over there where you’ve got stuff from the fifteen hundreds still around, it's crazy.”
It's so true, people that haven't been here before, that's one of the things they really pick up on. It's like, in the States, you guys think that if a building is thirty years old, you need to knock it down and rebuild it. Whereas everybody in Europe's like, this is four hundred years old, don't sneeze too close to it or breathe on it. It's good that you picked up on that and you're a fan of it.
“Yeah, it's amazing. I love the history over there. I would love to read more into it, too.”
How crazy does it feel that you’re still at quite a young age and your music is not just impacting on people back at home in the States but taking you to different places across the world. Like, you’re coming back to Europe and I know you went to Australia last year too so how wild is it that you’re music is travelling so far?
“It's not even the fact that it's taking it so far as what I can do with it as well. Like, I brought all of my family over to the UK, it funded all of that. It’s insane that people's love for my music has gotten me this far in the first place. My mom, bless her heart, she always wanted to witness Ireland and Scotland firsthand Ireland and I got to take her there last year. Sadly, it rained the whole time, so she didn't get to enjoy most of it but it was just the fact of being there and she was all excited, I'd never seen her so lit up with joy before in my life. It was amazing experience and I was just happy to experience that with her.”
Then music wise, we had a new track out on Friday. I know ‘In Loving Melody’ is a song that you've had written for a little while so can just tell us the idea behind that song and where it came from.
“Well, it's called ‘In Loving Melody’ because it’s like a play on words of when someone says in loving memory of someone is to honour somebody but ‘In Loving Melody’ is because it looks at it from a music point of view because of how music has such an impact on everybody's life. I think music is one of the most magical things, it's what a lot of people resort to whenever they're filled on some certain type of emotion or no emotion at all, you know, just playing for fun. It talks about how playing their favourite songs on the stereo because it reminds me of such person and like as if they're still there and the passenger seat riding along with them, even though they're not there in reality, they feel that they're still there spiritually. It's also the fact that it's kind of a twist, in a way, because at first, you're thinking that they're probably going on a date with where he’s buying her flowers and a dress, but it's actually for her funeral, you know? That's why it says, bought me some too, because it reminded me of you kind of thing. I was kind of in a Shakespeare moment, I guess but none the less, it's one of my favourite works of all time just because I think it's the most expressive that I have put out in a long time.”
“It's not even the fact that it's taking it so far as what I can do with it as well. Like, I brought all of my family over to the UK, it funded all of that. It’s insane that people's love for my music has gotten me this far in the first place. My mom, bless her heart, she always wanted to witness Ireland and Scotland firsthand Ireland and I got to take her there last year. Sadly, it rained the whole time, so she didn't get to enjoy most of it but it was just the fact of being there and she was all excited, I'd never seen her so lit up with joy before in my life. It was amazing experience and I was just happy to experience that with her.”
Then music wise, we had a new track out on Friday. I know ‘In Loving Melody’ is a song that you've had written for a little while so can just tell us the idea behind that song and where it came from.
“Well, it's called ‘In Loving Melody’ because it’s like a play on words of when someone says in loving memory of someone is to honour somebody but ‘In Loving Melody’ is because it looks at it from a music point of view because of how music has such an impact on everybody's life. I think music is one of the most magical things, it's what a lot of people resort to whenever they're filled on some certain type of emotion or no emotion at all, you know, just playing for fun. It talks about how playing their favourite songs on the stereo because it reminds me of such person and like as if they're still there and the passenger seat riding along with them, even though they're not there in reality, they feel that they're still there spiritually. It's also the fact that it's kind of a twist, in a way, because at first, you're thinking that they're probably going on a date with where he’s buying her flowers and a dress, but it's actually for her funeral, you know? That's why it says, bought me some too, because it reminded me of you kind of thing. I was kind of in a Shakespeare moment, I guess but none the less, it's one of my favourite works of all time just because I think it's the most expressive that I have put out in a long time.”
You had Ian Fitchuk working on that one as producer and you've worked with him before, what's he like to work with and what makes him a great fit to help you with this music you've been putting out?
“He's an amazing producer as well as a great musician and he just absolutely knows what to do whenever you bring something to him. He's amazing and I got the honour to work with Jon Estes, who is one of his friends that was also producing on the track and he's an amazing musician as well, but it's just the fact that they both were so dialled on whatever they do in that area they work in, they were just so easy to work with, to get along with and came up with great ideas for the track. I wrote the whole song myself, but musically in the instrumentation of it all, they were just so dialled in with it. It was very great a time working with them and I can't wait to work with them again.”
‘In Loving Melody’ is essentially the first single on what's going to be a bigger project that will be on the way. Why did you decide on that to be the first song to be leading into what ultimately will be your debut album?
“Honestly, I didn't look into it that much, I just really liked that song and I've wanted people to hear that song for the longest time. I'm a very big love song writer and I mean, that's what that is, it's a very big yearning song, you know? I mean, you can't yearn more than after someone's passed, you know? That's when you when you probably yearn the most for someone because you're no longer with them, so that's all you can do. I feel like all of these songs are just kind of pieced together in that aspect of love song, creating, where I come from and just what I can bring to the table.”
I know you probably don’t want to give away too much about the album that'll ultimately be coming, but in terms of the process of where you with making a record, are you still writing? Have you been in to track anything yet? Or are we a little bit further along where we're just waiting for the right to get things moving?
“It shouldn't be long. I mean, I'm always writing, that's probably my favourite thing in this whole process, is the song writing part. I feel like I'm very much more of a songwriter than I am a singer firsthand. But, I mean, we've been writing and tracking continuously throughout the beginning of the year, so we definitely have a lot coming for sure.”
Lastly, I see you've just played a couple of shows with Sam Barber who was over in Berlin playing C2C last year so I guess he might have told you a couple of things about it, but what was it like being on the road with Sam? What's he like as a tour buddy to get to play shows with?
“Sam is just an absolutely outstanding artist. He's a little shy but once you get to know him, he's an amazing person to deal with and his stage presence is just out of this world. He has amazing stage presence and is an amazing musician as well. His songwriting too, I've always looked up to him so being alongside that, you know, can't help but kind of fangirl a little bit.”
Then obviously, you get to be on the road playing shows with a couple of other really cool people across the two weekends in Germany and Rotterdam, then London, Belfast and Glasgow where you are sharing that bill with Zach Top, Scotty McCreery, Ty Myers and Noeline Hofmann.
“Exactly, also you know, it's a lot of experience to learn from as well, just watching other people’s stage presence, you can pick up on a few things. One of the very first artists that I ever toured with was Drayton Farley and I learned so much from him, just from me and him having one on one conversations of what to expect from a crowd. We were playing to bar crowds, that was what we were playing to for the longest time and you know, sometimes it'd be more rowdy than others or sometimes it'd be a dead crowd, you never could really expect it what they'd be. So, it was a lot easier to get to sit down with an artist and talk about what to expect, how to learn from this such experience, what to take from it and what not to take from it. I love all of it.”
That’s great. I Appreciate you taking the time to hang and I Look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. Enjoy the jet lag, you're already fully aware of how much it sucks.
“Oh, yeah it’s the worst thing in the world.”
I find going back to you isn't a problem but coming this was is horrible. I think anyone that can sleep on a plane and can beat it has a genuine real life superpower! But don’t think about that, get excited about all those breakfasts and all the food you can have over here instead, we’re really excited that you are coming back over.
“I'm super stoked, it's gonna be amazing time.”
The new track ‘In Loving Melody’ from Waylon Wyatt is out now and is available HERE and you can up to date with all that Waylon is up to by following him socially on INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK.
C2C: Country to Country will take place in Berlin and Rotterdam over the weekend of on Friday 6th to Sunday 8th March where you can full more details about the German event on their WEBSITE or on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK.
The event then heads to the UK for the following weekend where London, Belfast and Glasgow will host the showpiece of the country music calendar which you can more details and ticket information on their WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK)
“He's an amazing producer as well as a great musician and he just absolutely knows what to do whenever you bring something to him. He's amazing and I got the honour to work with Jon Estes, who is one of his friends that was also producing on the track and he's an amazing musician as well, but it's just the fact that they both were so dialled on whatever they do in that area they work in, they were just so easy to work with, to get along with and came up with great ideas for the track. I wrote the whole song myself, but musically in the instrumentation of it all, they were just so dialled in with it. It was very great a time working with them and I can't wait to work with them again.”
‘In Loving Melody’ is essentially the first single on what's going to be a bigger project that will be on the way. Why did you decide on that to be the first song to be leading into what ultimately will be your debut album?
“Honestly, I didn't look into it that much, I just really liked that song and I've wanted people to hear that song for the longest time. I'm a very big love song writer and I mean, that's what that is, it's a very big yearning song, you know? I mean, you can't yearn more than after someone's passed, you know? That's when you when you probably yearn the most for someone because you're no longer with them, so that's all you can do. I feel like all of these songs are just kind of pieced together in that aspect of love song, creating, where I come from and just what I can bring to the table.”
I know you probably don’t want to give away too much about the album that'll ultimately be coming, but in terms of the process of where you with making a record, are you still writing? Have you been in to track anything yet? Or are we a little bit further along where we're just waiting for the right to get things moving?
“It shouldn't be long. I mean, I'm always writing, that's probably my favourite thing in this whole process, is the song writing part. I feel like I'm very much more of a songwriter than I am a singer firsthand. But, I mean, we've been writing and tracking continuously throughout the beginning of the year, so we definitely have a lot coming for sure.”
Lastly, I see you've just played a couple of shows with Sam Barber who was over in Berlin playing C2C last year so I guess he might have told you a couple of things about it, but what was it like being on the road with Sam? What's he like as a tour buddy to get to play shows with?
“Sam is just an absolutely outstanding artist. He's a little shy but once you get to know him, he's an amazing person to deal with and his stage presence is just out of this world. He has amazing stage presence and is an amazing musician as well. His songwriting too, I've always looked up to him so being alongside that, you know, can't help but kind of fangirl a little bit.”
Then obviously, you get to be on the road playing shows with a couple of other really cool people across the two weekends in Germany and Rotterdam, then London, Belfast and Glasgow where you are sharing that bill with Zach Top, Scotty McCreery, Ty Myers and Noeline Hofmann.
“Exactly, also you know, it's a lot of experience to learn from as well, just watching other people’s stage presence, you can pick up on a few things. One of the very first artists that I ever toured with was Drayton Farley and I learned so much from him, just from me and him having one on one conversations of what to expect from a crowd. We were playing to bar crowds, that was what we were playing to for the longest time and you know, sometimes it'd be more rowdy than others or sometimes it'd be a dead crowd, you never could really expect it what they'd be. So, it was a lot easier to get to sit down with an artist and talk about what to expect, how to learn from this such experience, what to take from it and what not to take from it. I love all of it.”
That’s great. I Appreciate you taking the time to hang and I Look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. Enjoy the jet lag, you're already fully aware of how much it sucks.
“Oh, yeah it’s the worst thing in the world.”
I find going back to you isn't a problem but coming this was is horrible. I think anyone that can sleep on a plane and can beat it has a genuine real life superpower! But don’t think about that, get excited about all those breakfasts and all the food you can have over here instead, we’re really excited that you are coming back over.
“I'm super stoked, it's gonna be amazing time.”
The new track ‘In Loving Melody’ from Waylon Wyatt is out now and is available HERE and you can up to date with all that Waylon is up to by following him socially on INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK.
C2C: Country to Country will take place in Berlin and Rotterdam over the weekend of on Friday 6th to Sunday 8th March where you can full more details about the German event on their WEBSITE or on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK.
The event then heads to the UK for the following weekend where London, Belfast and Glasgow will host the showpiece of the country music calendar which you can more details and ticket information on their WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK)
