A Waylon Payne album is a gift. The artist and songwriter is beloved in his hometown of Nashville, both for his talents as a songwriter for artists like Lee Ann Womack and Ashley Monroe, and for his own solo output, which spans only three albums over the course of nearly as many decades. The follow-up to 2020’s transcendent Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher & Me, this third album from Payne is brimming with the kind of clear-eyed lyricism, compassionate storytelling, and virtuosic musicianship that initially earned him a cult following. Produced by Music Row heavyweights Frank Liddell and Eric Masse, Wayward also boasts one hell of a roster of co-writers, including Monroe, Miranda Lambert, Charlie Worsham, Pam Tillis, and Matraca Berg. Highlights include the Worsham co-write “Holding on to Lonely,” a warm and rootsy dissection of self-sabotage, and “Together,” a spacey, almost Radiohead-esque country waltz penned with Lambert and Monroe. “Hell Is Empty” showcases Payne’s prowess as a narrative writer, bristling with Biblical imagery and anchored by the Shakespeare-quoting refrain, “All the devils are here.” Payne closes the album with “Weed by the Wall,” a synesthetic celebration of the divine nature of artistic impulse.