As hinted in its name, The Wayfarer Quartet draws some of its melodic material from the folk song Wayfaring Stranger. Throughout the piece, the folk song is hinted at with partial quotes across various members of the quartet. As the piece alternates between small variations on the opening and drastically different episodes, with some that lean more into various folk styles and others that are completely different in style. The piece eventually removes all attempts at partially quoting the melody of Wayfaring Stranger and plays an energetic full quote that alternates between the members of the string quartet in pairings. After returning to the initial opening material another time, the piece shifts gears into a raucous jig in 5/8 that leads into an unaltered version of the opening material. After one final quote of Wayfaring Stranger the piece erupts into a folk explosion.