Photo Credit: John Hutchings<\/p>\n
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Review by Natalie Shin<\/p>\n
Last Friday, country artist Waylon Wyatt brought Southern humidity to a particularly chilly Boston night. Originally from Arkansas, the 20-year-old singer has embarked on his Dustpiles World Tour in celebration of his 2026 album, \u201cDustpiles.\u201d Boston was one of his Northeast stops on a tour that will eventually take him all the way across the pond.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At his Boston show, Wyatt proved that he could still bring Southern charm to the Northeast. The concert took place at the Royale, a historic music venue originally built as a hotel ballroom. Whether you love the space or loathe it, there is no denying its vintage appeal \u2014 everything from the ornamented railings to the classical statues points to a rich past. And if it weren\u2019t for the night draft floating in throughout the venue, you would never have guessed it was late October as flowy white dresses, cowboy hats and camo muscle tanks filled the room.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As concertgoers awaited the opener, country music flowed from the speakers. They didn\u2019t need to wait long; country artist Noah James came out at 7 p.m., met with hollers and cheers from the audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He began his 45-minute set with \u201cDenim Eyed Dear,\u201d a meandering tune telling the story of hisblue-eyed love. While James was supported by a backup band, his vocals spoke for themselves. Raw and weathered, he sang with the voice of someone far older than 19. His vocals were complemented by his acoustic guitar and harmonica, which he played with a Bob Dylan-esque essence \u2014 if Dylan had emerged from the bayous of Louisiana rather than Greenwich Village.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The rest of the set included an unreleased song, \u201cDon\u2019t Judge a Man,\u201d a cover of Zach Bryan\u2019s \u201cPink Skies,\u201d the song which jump-started his career after he posted it to TikTok, and a concluding song called \u201cNothin Rich\u201d off of his new EP by the same name.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After being imbued with melodies of heartache, cowboy boots and southern twang, the crowd was humming in anticipation for Wyatt to come on. Some audience members hummed his lyrics; others discussed which songs they were most excited for. Finally, at 8 p.m., Wyatt took the stage accompanied by an eclectic band featuring instruments ranging from drums to banjo. Gauzy stage lights illuminated the ecstatic faces of the audience, and cheers rippled through the crowd.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Wearing blue jeans and a tee, Wyatt\u2019s humble acoustic guitar was his only accessory. However, as soon as he began singing his 2025 single \u201cPretty Little Liar,\u201d his stage presence became immediately apparent. The drums amplified the twang in his voice, and the whole crowd began dancing along. The stage lights began strobing to the beat, and in a matter of seconds, Wyatt had turned a small room into an electrified dance floor.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wyatt followed this song with a performance of \u201cI\u2019d Be Delighted,\u201d a slow and sultry melody with instrumentals that rang heavily of \u201cOneida\u201d by Tyler Childers, a major influence of his alongside Zach Bryan and the Turnpike Troubadours. He soon picked the beat back up with songs like \u201cRiches to Rags\u201d and \u201cIn Loving Melody\u201d and conjured a frenetic energy with \u201cDead Man Walkin\u2019.\u201d This song in particular was electrifying from start to finish, with some audience members breaking out into small line dances while Wyatt shredded his acoustic guitar and cocked it as if it were a rifle. As the pedal steel guitar droned in the background, one could imagine themselves at a honky-tonk concert.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Breaking out into a rockabilly jig during instrumental breaks, Wyatt was reminiscent of a southern Jerry Lee Lewis. At one point, he went head to head with his banjoist while the two performed a duet, trading dance steps between notes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Wyatt\u2019s youthful energy is not surprising considering the singer turned 20 not even a month ago. He got his start at only 6 years old, writing \u201cHow to Be a Man,\u201d a song that would foreshadow his later wise-beyond-his-years storytelling. Not long after, he began writing music seriously when he was 12 and delved into the country scene at 15.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Wyatt\u2019s age was apparent in how interactive the performance was. As he got the crowd to sing along, wave their phone lights and dance, it became clear how easily he spoke the language of those his own age. Much of the audience was young adults, with a couple of older fans also coming out in support. Wyatt\u2019s own father was on his feet throughout the night running the merch stand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Toward the end of the concert, a young fan gave Wyatt a portrait she had made for him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s crazy, ha!\u201d he responded. \u201cI was drawing stick figures at 16. Hell, I still draw stick figures.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ending with \u201cEverything Under The Sun,\u201d a fan favorite, Wyatt commanded the audience\u2019s attention with a song of heartbreak and bittersweet endings. Although melancholy, people spent the last four minutes of the show holding their loved ones \u2014 a friend, a partner or a family member \u2014 close. It was an apt end to a show infused with a taste of warmer climates.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo Credit: John Hutchings Review by Natalie Shin Last Friday, country artist Waylon Wyatt brought Southern humidity to a particularly chilly Boston night. Originally from Arkansas, the 20-year-old singer has embarked on his Dustpiles World Tour in celebration of his 2026 album, \u201cDustpiles.\u201d Boston was one of his Northeast stops on a tour that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26292,"featured_media":55445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[327,138,2811],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55446,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55444\/revisions\/55446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}