Post Malone Covers Sturgill Simpson w/ Dwight Yoakam’s Band
For a while now we’ve been following along with Post Malone’s somewhat weird but super cool fascination with some of the coolest cats in country music right now, including Tyler Childers and Colter Wall—who he’s repped in T-shirts—and Billy Strings who he’s been caught hanging out and collaborating with. Then there’s the case of Post Malone’s regular appearances on Dwight Yoakam’s SiriusXM station.
But this, ladies and gentlemen, takes the cake.
Sunday evening (3-21) Matthew McConaughey assembled a huge swath of talent for a streaming benefit concert for Texas to help raise funds after the crippling winter storm a few weeks ago. Quite a few country music personalities appeared, including George Strait who performed “Troubadour,” Kacey Musgraves who sang Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again,” and Willie Nelson who sang “Beautiful Texas.” Miranda Lambert appeared as well, singing her old hit “Heart Like Mine.”
Like many of these streaming events, it was a little hit and miss, though Matthew McConaughey did seem to pull some extra stops out, and approached the thing smartly here after a year of seeing good and bad streaming events amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
But perhaps the highlight of the entire night came at the very end when Post Malone appeared. Getting into the Texas theme (or at least, a country one), Post Malone threw everyone for a curve ball by borrowing Dwight Yoakam’s band, and busted out a few country songs, starting with the Brad Paisley tune “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)” from 2002. Co-written by Paisley with Frank Rogers, it was most certainly not what folks were expecting from Post Malone.
Then the tat-faced one did himself one better by lighting into Sturgill Simpson’s “You Can Have The Crown” as the credits for the benefit began rolling. And remember, Dwight Yoakam’s touring band was behind him, and Post Malone and crew absolutely murdered the song that up until a few months ago Sturgill Simpson had retired from his repertoire.
Sturgill Simpson has hinted he would be up for collaborating with Post Malone at some point in the future on an instrumental album. After watching Post Malone cover Sturgill, that doesn’t seem like a pipe dream. Check it out below.
March 21, 2021 @ 10:49 pm
I’m indifferent about his other stuff, but Malone seems like a good dude who enjoys good music, and he enjoys being him. Can’t fault the dude for that. And he covered the hell out of YCHTC.
Even though he does look like Bolbi from Jimmy Neutron.
March 22, 2021 @ 8:11 am
Hahahahahahaha I never noticed the Bolbi similarity!!!! One of the best comments on here yet
March 21, 2021 @ 11:06 pm
Heck yeah, that’s rocking it pretty.
Don’t know anything about the guy, but that’s fully sweet as.
March 22, 2021 @ 3:44 am
Minnie Pearl was an act but was embraced.
When does a stylist become the real thing? The answer is never, but that doesn’t make it less enjoyable. And, as here, it might even do some good.
+1 on the Paisley cover.
March 22, 2021 @ 5:51 am
I don’t know a lot about him other than that he’s VERY popular with the younger generations, but I’m impressed with his voice. He could do a lot of good for country music…
March 22, 2021 @ 8:53 am
His original music is a mix of a lot of genres, hip hop, r&b, pop, alternative. Super talented guy…
March 22, 2021 @ 6:29 am
Damn good, if you ask me. This Post Malone guy had my curiosity, now he has my attention.
March 22, 2021 @ 7:00 am
I hear Post Malone do these songs and I keep asking myself, “Why isnt he trying to do something country?”
March 22, 2021 @ 7:04 am
Wow – he nailed both of those songs. I’ve always heard he was a really talented guy, but was still suprised at how good this was.
March 22, 2021 @ 7:34 am
He sang a line about watching Dukes of Hazzard. ????
March 22, 2021 @ 7:42 pm
Haha. I was just thinking that. I wonder if Sturgill we be forced to issue a clarification / apology for that line at some point.
March 22, 2021 @ 7:43 am
I like this version better than Sturgills. Malone actually songs clear and enunciates.
March 22, 2021 @ 8:27 am
I was prepared to hate that but I absolutely loved it.
March 22, 2021 @ 9:01 am
Wow I didn’t see that coming. Props.
March 22, 2021 @ 9:10 am
Thanks Post Malone, now we actually know what the lyrics to the song is.
April 23, 2021 @ 11:30 am
I don’t get these comments. I have long suffered from chronic lyricosis in many songs. But I already knew this on word-for-word. Maybe Sturgill and I both speak poorly in the exact same way 🙂
Regarding Malone, I guess I need to do some more research/listening. I’m not repulsed by anything I have heard but he hasn’t impacted me the way he seems to with everybody I talk to.
March 22, 2021 @ 9:23 am
I couldn’t tell you one rap song of this guy. He famously had an online concert covering Nirvana songs at the beginning of this pandemic. It was LEGIT. Listen to them covering Territorial Pissings if you want to know what early Nirvana actually sounded like. https://youtu.be/BWiw9COvbzM
March 22, 2021 @ 10:37 am
Would be kinda funny if Post Malone and Justin Timberlake teamed up for a country album and out Nashvilled the current mainstream out there.
March 22, 2021 @ 11:27 am
Hell yeah! Live country music is really just rock n roll, eh?
March 22, 2021 @ 7:56 pm
This guy has suprised me from my first impression…might be my bad judging a book by it’s cover but he is a really legit talented musician…not a fan of face tattoos or rap music but that Nirvana stream he did during Covid lockdown and the two songs he did on that show last night were great…seems like a pretty cool guy as well…props to him for helping a very needy cause and sounding great doing it.
March 25, 2021 @ 10:48 am
Dude is like the 2nd coming of Kid Rock. He does whatever the hell he wants and is damned good at it
March 23, 2021 @ 12:06 am
Half the time I don’t know what anyone I listen to looks like. Who’s the guy on the stratocaster who is obviously not Dwight’s current guitarist?
also that was impressive.
March 23, 2021 @ 7:52 am
Dwight changes over players so often these days and the pandemic has probably shaken up his band even more, I can’t tell you who that is, and can’t confirm it isn’t his current lead player. About all I can tell you is it’s not Pete Anderson.
March 23, 2021 @ 1:02 pm
I’m pretty sure the guy on the strat was Andrew Watt. He’s produced some songs for Post AND Ozzy Osbourne among others. I believe he just won a Grammy for producer of the year. Young talented dude who happens to rip on the guitar. Check out the solo he does on the Post Malone / Ozzy song “Take What You Want” for reference.
March 24, 2021 @ 2:57 pm
Thanks. They’re actually a couple of people in that lineup that aren’t his current touring band, one of them went on to a solo career several years ago. They are all incredible musicians so it’s no surprise that this track absolutely rocks.
March 24, 2021 @ 3:01 pm
Dwight’s current guitarist as of a year ago is/was Eugene Edwards, who is an absolute MONSTER player. during the pandemic he’s been running a bunch of instructional livestreams over at Fender Play and has done a pretty good job spreading the gospel of the telecaster…
March 23, 2021 @ 5:41 am
I’ve always had an eye for Post. Amazes me how a rap artist can be so diverse. Would love to see him collaborate with either Sturgill or Tyler Childers. He should definitely do more country!
March 23, 2021 @ 6:10 am
Don’t get all the gushing love for Post Malone from country fans all over the internet. The guy wears a couple t-shirts with country artists on them and suddenly people are posting how awesome he is. Now he plays a couple one off country songs and everyone is ready to label him the new great outlaw of country music and want him to collaborate with all their favorite bands. And yet any other artist, whether from rock or pop or other genres, try to cross over in to country, the immediate reaction is to shun them as posers. Artists like Arron Lewis who has released 3 country albums gets dismissed, and yet Post Malone who has now played two country songs is awesome? He played a song with Ozzy too. Maybe he can be the first Metal Rap Honky Tonk star. Like I said, I don’t get it.
March 23, 2021 @ 9:04 am
Whenever you have an unexpected collaboration like this, people are going to lose their minds over it, and Post Malone did kick this song’s ass with a badass band behind him. I don’t know that it portends anything for the future. Maybe Post Malone does a country record or collaborates with Sturgill. We’ll judge whatever they come up with then.
March 23, 2021 @ 9:17 am
Not that this applies to Aaron Lewis, but when most pop/rock artists pull a “going country” move it’s nothing but a PR stunt used to drum up interest in their flailing career or push a “return to their roots” narrative. In the process, they often bastardize the genre and expect country to just roll over for whatever bs they are trying to market as country. I just don’t think that’s the case with Posty. If he was doing this for pure PR he wouldn’t be hanging out with Dwight Yoakam and covering Sturgill Simpson and wearing Colter Wall T shirts. Even if his musical interests lie all over the board, it seems clear that he holds a lot of respect for the genre and the way that it should be played. Even if he just does some brief work and leaves the genre, I have a lot of confidence that he will be turning people’s attention to the right kind of country and artists and would honestly be beneficial to the genre.
Also I’m in my 20’s and most people my age hate my music, so it’s exciting to me that someone that is so central in current pop culture can shine some light on my music in a respectful way.
March 23, 2021 @ 9:36 am
Not saying that his performance shouldn’t be mentioned or enjoyed. Just don’t get the over excitement about him in general as some sort of country outlaw or something. Not just this article, but all over the place on country music groups on social media even before he recorded these songs. I dislike Post Malone. As a hip hop artist who tries to be creative beyond the norm he’s better than most. But I think there are plenty of actual country artists who could be getting all this attention.
As far as bringing a new young audience, I find it doubtful. I actually sent the video to my daughter who is 19 and a big Post Malone fan. Her reply back was Ugh, that’s horrible. And she has grown up listening to country music with me as her father.
March 23, 2021 @ 9:38 am
Should have been I don’t like dislike Post Malone.
March 23, 2021 @ 11:11 am
I think the overall excitement and approval has a lot to do with him as a person. His interest and respect for the music comes across as very genuine, and I think people sense it.
He also doesn’t take himself that seriously, even though he’s a level of mega star that could easily get away with being an asshole, and that helps his likability a lot. Dude is a multimillionaire that pounds bud light and chain smokes. It doesn’t get much more everyman than that.
March 23, 2021 @ 8:09 am
One day Post Malone is going to drop a surprise old-school country album and it’s gonna be awesome.
March 23, 2021 @ 1:53 pm
Y’all can say what you will but the fact of the matter is, Post Malone is living his best life. Collabs with Ozzy, hanging out with Dwight Yoakam, and playing pretty much what ever he wants.
If anyone hasn’t seen the video of the AMAs with Shania Twain’s performance and Malone in the crowd check that out.
March 24, 2021 @ 8:59 am
Post is a pop artist—not a rap artist. I know that’s confusing because he looks like a member of MS-13. I hate most pop music, but I really like a couple of his songs. He’s talented regardless of genre. It would be fine if he did some original country so long as it’s not some cliche, watered-down, cultural appropriation of country. After hearing his cover of YCHTC, I have no doubt that he could do something really great. Honestly—I still love Sturgill, but I genuinely liked the Post cover better than the original.
March 24, 2021 @ 10:20 am
Why in the hell is he wasting his time with his auto-tuned-to-hell garbage when he can belt out a tune like that? It’s literally the first time I’ve heard something from this guy that didn’t make me want to take an icepick to my eardrums.
March 24, 2021 @ 2:44 pm
SO DOPE