Post Malone keeps giving fans more reasons to hope for a country album.
Post Malone releases Brad Paisley cover, announces Morgan Wallen collaboration
Ahead of his recent appearance at the Stagecoach Festival, where he performed a special set of country music covers alongside guest artists like Dwight Yoakam, Brad Paisley and Morgan Wallen, Malone released his cover of Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her,” available exclusively for streaming on Amazon.
“This song has meant so much to me for a long time and I’m honored to be able to cover it,” Malone shared in an Instagram post. “Love you, @bradpaisley :)”
Shortly after, Malone officially announced his collaboration with Wallen on the single “I Had Some Help” — a project he had teased a month and a half earlier. The duet comes out May 10.
Post Malone takes on Garth Brooks, Hank Williams
The rapper and singer has been dropping hints for a while now about a potential country music project, and one of his latest includes teasing a cover of the Garth Brooks classic “Friends in Low Places.” On April 12, Malone posted a 40-second clip on X that shows him strumming the guitar and working to hit the low notes in the chorus of the Brooks song. So far, the clip has 1 million views.
Now, Brooks is responding to Malone’s take on his song. In a recent episode of “Inside Studio G,” Brooks was all smiles as he watched the clip, and had nothing but praise for the rendition — especially when Malone reached the higher part of the chorus.
“Now he’s just showing off,” Brooks said with a laugh. “That’s great.”
After watching the clip, Brooks said he was surprised that Malone was covering his song.
“That is awesome,” the country star said. “I had no idea.”
“He’s one of those guys that when he sings, he’s alive,” he added. “And you can tell that he just loves to do it.”
When someone in the studio told Brooks they believed Malone had a country project in the works, Brooks offered up the ultimate endorsement: “Really? Well, there should be.”
Malone also recently made a surprise appearance at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, where he performed an acoustic cover of the Hank Williams classic “Honky Tonk Blues,” The Rolling Stone reported.
The performance comes roughly a week after Malone appeared in a collaboration with Beyonce on the singer’s country album, “Cowboy Carter,” the Deseret News reported.
Post Malone teases collaboration with Morgan Wallen
On March 20, Malone shared a video featuring a studio mix of a collaboration with Morgan Wallen. Per the website Whiskey Riff, Wallen had teased what was likely a demo of the song before, but the reactions to it were largely negative and the video was taken down after a few hours.
“Let’s go with the real mix this time @MorganWallen,” Malone shared in the new video on X, which already has more than 1 million views after just a couple of hours.
Post Malone honors Toby Keith
There’s been a slew of other hints from Malone about a potential country music album in recent weeks. At a concert, the artist took a moment to remember the late Toby Keith, who died in February after enduring stomach cancer for 18 months, the Deseret News reported. Malone performed Keith’s No. 1 hit “As Good As I Once Was” partway through his set, per People. Malone shared a video featuring a snippet of the performance on TikTok, and to date it has more than 2 million views.
One of the most-liked comments under the video reads: “Sir. I’m now begging for a country album.”
On March 13, a few days after that performance, Malone dropped a teaser of a country music ballad called “Missin’ You Like This,” American Songwriter reported. On Instagram, the video has more than 300,000 likes.
And thousands of people liked the following comment from one fan: “WE DEMAND THE COUNTRY ALBUM NOW COWBOY.”
Factoring in his country music-infused rendition of “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl earlier this year, and his performance of Joe Diffie’s “John Deere Green” and “Pickup Man” with Morgan Wallen and HARDY at the Country Music Association Awards a few months before that, all signs point to a potential new direction for the artist.
In fact Malone also recently teased a collaboration with country star Luke Combs, and Paisley has said he and Malone have worked in the studio together. Paisley even hinted that Malone may be featured on his upcoming album “Son of the Mountains,” People reported.
“He’s amazing. I love him. He’s the greatest guy and he loves country music,” Paisley said, according to People. “We’ll see if we do something. You never know.”
So is Post Malone releasing a country music album?
Malone has been vocal about his love of country music, and his interest in putting out an album.
“To be honest, there’s nothing stopping me from taking a camera or setting up in my studio in Utah and just recording a country album (to put) on YouTube,” the artist said on “The Howard Stern Show” in 2022, People reported. “I’m allowed to do that.”
Last year, following his performance at the CMA Awards, Malone said in a Twitch livestream that a “country record is coming,” per Taste of Country. This spring, the artist is scheduled to perform a set of country music covers at the Stagecoach Music Festival, Rolling Stone reported.
Although a date for Malone’s potential country music album hasn’t been revealed, 2024 is already proving to be a big year for pop-country music crossovers. Beyonce released “Cowboy Carter,” her new foray into the country music world, last month.
And the artist, who has the most Grammy wins of all time, became the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs with her hit “Texas Hold ‘Em” in February, Billboard reported.
“She’s as brilliant as a performer gets, and she wants to be part of this,” Simon Tikhman, co-founder of The Core Entertainment, which manages Nickelback and other artists, told Billboard. “It just goes to show how powerful the genre is right now.”