Dwight Yoakam was left “amazed” after working with Post Malone.
The 68-year-old country singer performed with the 29-year-old rapper on his ‘Greater Bakersfield’ radio show in 2018 and was impressed by Post’s take on Bob Dylan’s song ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’.
He told The Sun newspaper: “Post was one of the earliest guests on my radio show, ‘Greater Bakersfield.’
“He had me on a bunch of his playlists. Then one of my show’s producers said, ‘Post Malone is a fan of yours. Do you want to hang?’
“Before we started the show, Post was noodling around on my Martin guitar.
“He sang Bob Dylan’s ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’. He looked shy and embarrassed but I was amazed at how well he did it.
“For the show, we did my song ‘A Thousand Miles From Nowhere’ and Merle Haggard’s ‘The Bottle Let Me Down’.”
The star – who released his new album ‘Brighter Days’ earlier this month – was invited to play with the rapper at the annual Californian country music event Stagecoach Festival, where Dwight’s heart “sank” after finding out Post wanted to be on the record ‘I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom)’ as he had already completed work on it.
He added: ” (I was told) Post also wants to be on your new record. My heart sank because I had literally finished mixing it two weeks earlier.”
Dwight revealed that he ultimately reshaped the song to ensure that the ‘Circles’ artist was able to contribute properly.
He recalled: “I was sitting at a traffic light and I told my wife, ‘It seems I don’t know how to say goodbye to this album’.”
Dwight’s new album ‘Brighter Days’ is inspired by his son Dalton, four, as he came up with the idea whilst playing on the guitar around his little boy.
He recounted: “He said, ‘Daddy, get your guitar’. I wasn’t planning on getting it but his elation when I stopped what I was doing and picked it up was overwhelming.
“I couldn’t help sharing his excitement and happiness in that moment.
“I just began singing that first line, ‘Brighter days are up ahead/Brighter days, that’s what you said,’ and he giggled and tried to sing it back.”
Yoakam added: “I gave him a songwriting credit. It felt appropriate because the poor little guy has had rock and roll hours growing up with me.
“He had been to 60 live shows by the time he was two. When he got a bit older, we stopped dragging him around so much.”