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On Episode 118, I am joined by singer-songwriter Waylon Payne. At the end of this week (Friday, September 11), Payne will be releasing Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher and Me, the long-awaited follow-up to his 2004 debut album, The Drifter. This new album is quite the opus for Payne as he details the struggles, pain, heartache, relapse, growth, beauty, and strength of the past decade (and really, his entire life). Like the greats before him, Payne is a sharp-witted poet and gifted storyteller who can turn a phrase with the absolute best of them one minute and deliver genuine gut-punches and teary-eyed ballads the very next.

During this interview, we talk about the writing and recording of Blue Eyes, creating cinematic moods, processing grief, the strength & beauty found on Blue Eyes, his time out in Los Angeles, writing with the likes of Pat Green, Lee Ann Womack, Wade Bowen, & Ashley Monroe, old notebooks of songs, essays, new country artists like Logan Ledger & Zephaniah OHora, and a few great stories about his mother, the late Sammi Smith (Which, he mentions listening to "Today I Started Loving You Again" so listen here).

This episode's presenting partner is Desert Door Texas Sotol and The Blue Light Live.

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Desert Door is a craft distiller of a premium and unique Texas spirit known as Texas sotol.

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The Blue Light Live is the premier live music venue of Lubbock, Texas.

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