The Mission

WAYLON PAYNE
FACEBOOK LINK
WEBSITE
SPOTIFY
ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Waylon Malloy Payne (born 5 April 1972) is an American country singer, songwriter, musician and actor.

Payne was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of guitarist Jody Payne and Grammy Award-winning country singer Sammi Smith. His father became a longtime picker for Willie Nelson; his mother toured with Waylon Jennings. Payne is named for Jennings, who is his godfather. Due to the divorce of his parents and their heavy touring schedules, when he was about four months old, Payne’s mother placed him with her brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Yvonne, in Vidor, Texas. Waylon spent summers out on the road with his mom, and lived with his strict Christian uncle and aunt during the school year, until he was about 18.

After high school, Payne enrolled in seminary to become a minister. Payne had also acquired a taste for beer, marijuana, and popular music, which made his downfall complete in the eyes of his aunt and uncle. “I haven’t seen them since,” he has said. “I was branded a sinner and basically disowned.”

Payne’s music industry career began to take shape in the clubs of Los Angeles. He was part of the popular Eastbound and Down country night at the King King Club in Hollywood, which featured musicians playing pure, uncompromising roots music and appealed to such artists as Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam. Prohibited was the playing of anything but traditional classics by Hank Williams, George Jones and other performers of true country.

While in L.A., Payne wrote and recorded some songs with the help of his group of musical friends, which included producer Keith Gattis. With the record completed, but no deal to market it, Payne was playing New York with Willie Nelson and Pat Green, when Green suggested he play the album for his label, Republic/Universal. Payne was signed with the label and his début album, “The Drifter,” was released 22 June 2004.

Shortly thereafter, Payne was featured in the role as Jerry Lee Lewis in the hit 20th Century Fox movie Walk the Line (2005), which stars Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, and did all his own singing.

In 2007, Payne then starred as Hank Garland in an independent feature about the legendary guitarist’s life titled Crazy.

In 2010, he starred in Monte Hellman’s thriller Road to Nowhere.

In 2014, he played the role of Tony Nash in The Identical.

In 2015, he joined Willie Nelson
in the film Waiting for the Miracle to Come playing Shooter Jones. He also played the lead in the drama titled Turnabout.

In addition to film, Waylon has made several guest appearances on television, including the series Wanted (2004), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2006) and From Dusk Til Dawn (2014)

ROSE RIDGE (duo)
FACEBOOK LINK
Tracy and Jenny performing a short opening set to warm things up because nobody likes a cold stage.