Combine Townes Van Zandt with Joe Ely, and somewhere in the middle, you’ll find Matthew Payne. His music moves seamlessly between folk, country, and blues, and honors old time roots. “He truly is Austin timelessness personified,” says Taylor Wallace-Riegel, KUTX. He grew up in the beautiful hill country surrounding Dripping Springs, and loved every minute of his two decades as an educator of English and Creative Writing in Austin public schools. Payne’s debut album, "Better Times," has a bare-bones stripped-down feel, and tells stories of conflicted characters looking for a way forward, trying to carve it out, trying to make something better, trying to believe that “better times come from these.” In the Texas songwriter tradition, he lives in multiple musical worlds, and can be found playing original music with his band in all the legendary dance halls in the Texas Hill Country or playing intimate listening rooms and songwriter's festivals.