He is the author of several novels, including The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, The Free, Don't Skip Out On Me, The Night Always Comes, and The Horse.

[3] In December 2008 he had released the spoken word EP A Jockey's Christmas, followed by his debut solo album, The Kill Switch, in October 2019.

Willy Vlautin, romantic and realist, has written something special that will make you shudder, weep, rage and wonder at how such things happen and do, and how some individuals such as Charley can suffer them, absorb the grief, and somehow survive.

This good: catch your breath good.”[citation needed] Cheryl Strayed of The Oregonian states "By the time ‘Lean on Pete’ reaches its sweet but unsentimental end, Charley Thompson isn't a character in a novel, but a boy readers have come to love.

Vlautin has cited writers such as John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver, Barry Gifford, Sam Shepard, and William Kennedy as influences.

[11] As a songwriter, he has been inspired by the work of Tom Waits, Shane MacGowan, John Doe, and Australian musician Paul Kelly.