Dustpiles

At just 19, Waylon Wyatt may be short on years, but the country singer-songwriter from small-town Arkansas has the instincts of an old soul. On this full-length debut album, he spins yarns of broken hearts and faded dreams, foregoing youthful idealism in favor of the kind of bleary-eyed, down-and-out storytelling that characterizes so much of classic country music. Like peers Cameron Whitcomb and Sam Barber, Wyatt also takes cues from the go-for-broke mentality of recent genre trailblazer Zach Bryan, imbuing many of these songs with a palpable melancholy, like on opening track and early single "But There Was a Time." That tune finds Wyatt in a nostalgic place, looking back on a relationship that couldn't seem to stick, a theme that recurs on Dustpiles. Where Wyatt strays from the pack, though, is in his willingness to have a little fun. "Dead Man Walkin'" could be a long-lost Alan Jackson song, while "Otherside" ditches he-said/she-said breakup narratives to pose a bigger question: "Would it hurt to spread a little love?"