Richmond Fontaine is an alt.country band that is consistently recognized for Vlautin's rich lyrics. They have recorded eight albums and toured extensively in Europe, where they have a particularly strong following, as well as in Australia and the US.

Working as both a songwriter and novelist provides Vlautin with a mechanism to develop the same characters and situations in both songs and his books. The main protagonist in Northline (itself a song from Richmond Fontaine's Winnemucca album) is Allison Johnson. Allison Johnson was the title of a song on their Post to Wire album. Some of the references in his lyrics also persist across albums, such as Reno's Fitzgerald Hotel. Mentioned on Post to Wire, it became the title of the next album, The Fitzgerald.

Published in the US, several European and Asian countries, Vlautin's first book, The Motel Life was well received. It was an editor's choice in the New York Times Book Review and named one of the top 25 books of the year by the Washington Post. His second, Northline was also critically hailed, and Vlautin was declared an important new American literary realist. Famed writer George Pelecanos stated that Northline was his favorite book of the decade. The first edition of this novel came with an original instrumental soundtrack performed by Vlautin and longtime bandmate Paul Brainard.

In 2008 Vlautin released his first spoken word CD, A Jockey's Christmas. It's the tragic black comedy tale of an overweight, alcoholic jockey who goes home for the holidays.

Vlautin's latest novel, Lean on Pete, is the story of a 15 year old boy who works and lives on a rundown race track in Portland, Oregon and befriends a failed race horse named Lean on Pete. The Sunday Herald stated, "Lean on Pete confirms his status as one of the most emotionally charged writers in America..." Eileen Battersby of the Irish Times stated “As one boy’s journey, Lean on Pete is as real as blood: as a novel it is remarkable. 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. How good is contemporary US fiction? This good: catch your breath good.” Cheryl Strayed, 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. ‘Lean on Pete’ riveted me. Reading it, I was heartbroken and moved; enthralled and convinced. This is serious American literature."

As a novelist, Vlautin has cited writers such as John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver, Barry Gifford, and William Kennedy as influences. As a songwriter, he has cited Tom Waits, Shane McGowan, John Doe, and Australian musician, Paul Kelly as influences.. HIs writing is highly evocative of the American West; all three of his novels being set in and around Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico. HIs books explore the circumstances and relationships of people near the bottom of America's social and economic spectrum, itinerant, and often ailed by alcohol addiction.