Rising stars Waylon Wyatt and Willow Avalon unveiled their new collaboration, “Smoke & Embers,” last Wednesday. Co-written by the singers and JR Atkins, the song is a heartrending duet about the ails of a long-distance relationship—or more accurately, the aftermath of it. They also put the story to action with a music video (watch it here).
With spare but rousing instrumentation featuring Wyatt’s slowly-thrummed guitar, steel guitar riffing, drums, and periodic piano accompaniment, “Smoke & Embers” captures the mournful mood of a relationship on its last leg. Wyatt and Avalon trade verses from the characters’ respective points of view, and come together for a harmonizing chorus that reflects the shared heartache of two exes mutually calling it quits. For any Damien Rice fans reading this, it brings to mind some of his early 2000s work (but a very awesome country version of it).
“Smoke & Embers” is Wyatt’s third release of the year. Recently named one of Amazon Music’s “2025 Artists to Watch,” he’s also been touring heavily, even powering through several shows while being incredibly sick. There’s no doubt he’s on the rise as one of the genre’s biggest upstarts. Meanwhile, Avalon put out her full-length album, Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell just three months ago. Give that a listen here, and check out “Smoke & Embers” below!