“Walk Away,” from Tray Wellington’s new Heart on the Table, is a story song with a foot in at least two traditions.
“More focused on fame from an internet flex / versus feeling the pain in our hearts, we deflect / with pictures meant to take us from our lives’ weights,” Wellington raps. “We can’t lift our eyes to really see what’s getting in our way.” His banjo, too, rides the beat as he sets up a tragic tale of disconnect and isolation. With its jazzy backing track and vocalist Lizzie No’s neo-soul flavors on its chorus, “Walk Away” echoes inventive Virginia emcee McKinley Dixon’s memorable collaborations with singer Ms. Jaylin Brown.
Originally from Wilkesboro but raised in the mountains of Ashe County, North Carolina, Wellington comes from the land of banjo —and can play the hell out of one. His picking earned him a 2019 IBMA instrumentalist of the year award. Yet Wellington never seems content to sit still. An early EP found the banjoist interpreting Charlie Parker. Wellington’s 2022 LP Black Banjo featured a version of John Coltrane’s “Naima” that refused to simplify the heady, spacious original.
