Post Malone, joined by Blake Shelton, more, impresses at Nashville's Marathon Music Works
Post Malone sings classic country music with the confidence of a karaoke singer who can shockingly do more than charismatically croak his way through mainstream pop hits recorded in the past decade.
However, most weekend warrior karaoke singers don't have pop songs like Malone's Morgan Wallen duet "I Had Some Help" that have reigned at or near the top of Billboard's pop and country radio charts for the past two months.
At Tuesday night's Bud Light-sponsored "One Night In Nashville," 60-minute set at Music City's Marathon Music Works, Malone performed classic country songs, his own material (including a solo take on the just-mentioned chart-topper) and songs likely to be included on his album "F-1 Trillion," out on Aug. 16, 2024.
He was joined in this presentation by Sierra Ferrell, HARDY, Joe Nichols and Blake Shelton.
The roughly 2,000 people who attended the event didn't just leave the festivities with a souvenir t-shirt.
They also left thoroughly convinced of Malone's authentic need to be fully included in the machinations of Nashville's mainstream country music industry for at least the next 30 years.
A night of karaoke with a pop superstar
A cigarette-smoking and beer-swilling Malone, heavily tattooed but also clad in a well-worn, trucker-style hunting cap, pearl-snap Western shirt, deep blue carpenter jeans and a quality pair of ostrich-skin cowboy boots, also still cuts quite the unexpected figure in the genre.
After witnessing him at the Stagecoach Festival and the Bluebird Cafe, a certain rhythm has emerged in Malone's countrified live set that feels like a night out at a live band karaoke event.
When aided by his backing band, The Fools For You — comprised of top-tier Nashville session players guitarist Derek Wells and steel guitarist Chandler Walters — Malone's takes on hits of his own making from the past decade like "Congratulations" and "Sunflower" didn't so much sound like his own, but the kinds of live-band, hip-hop-to-rock reinterpretations that MTV excelled at producing during the heights of the Unplugged era.
When 2000s country stars like Joe Nichols and Blake Shelton appeared, Malone — who was seven years old when Nichols released "Brokenheartsville" in 2002 — got the same magical look in his eye that children idyllically get when they ask their heroes for autographs on baseball diamonds or football fields.
He's comfortable taking a backing role to artists he views as musical icons. But when he pairs with them — like with Shelton for "Pour Me A Drink," the lifelong Westerner shows up belting out vocals as if his life depended on it.
Respect for Nashville's artisans, the city's collaborative spirit
Actually, his life, on some level, does depend on "F-1 Trillion" being mega-successful.
Stopping a runaway train of pop success for a passion project detour through Nashville is an improbable journey.
Stars usually end up in Nashville when pop sales dwindle, but Nashville's genteel Southern respect for peerless artistry offers a kind lifeline.
That isn't where Malone is right now.
When HARDY joined him to perform an unreleased murder ballad and a cover of Joe Diffie's "Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)," the power of what happens when a savvy artist interacts with Nashville's collaborative spirit took over.
Malone could view HARDY solely as a 15-time chart-topping country songwriter whose work aids him in achieving a dream release.
However, in Nashville, HARDY is also a nu-metal-inspired country rocker whose own on-stage vocal bellowing inspires crowds to chant his name.
"I don't know man, they love you, you're so sexy," joked Malone during a quiet moment after soaking in the crowd's cheers.
Malone's honest, thoughtful respect for the artists and creators and Nashville's historical legacy is appreciated.
Sierra Ferrell impresses
For most strictly radio-ready country fans, Sierra Ferrell is a current cult-favorite popular among their favorite stars.
On Tuesday evening, she cemented her value as someone far more significant than that.
Before 2024, Ferrell's most mainstream claim to fame was her rise from being a West Virginia-born street busker to an Americana Music Association Artist of the Year nominee, often clad — as she was on Tuesday evening — in a fanciful take on Western stagewear that turns back the clock to the barn dance era.
However, this year has seen her claim the same reigns acts like Tyler Childers and Billy Strings have in bringing their authentic rootsiness to country's mainstream industry.
At Marathon Music Works, it wasn't their duet "Never Love You Back" that sealed the deal on both Ferrell and Malone's authentic need to be entrenched in country for the foreseeable future. No, it's when they covered "Jackson" as if they were Johnny and June Carter Cash that brought the crowd to their feet and dancing or caused the artists and record executives in the building to do a double take.
Ferrell's the type of artist who can sing mournful Americana ballads and then, a second later, break into a George Jones classic. Wait for another song and there she is, plucking a banjo to the strains of "Good Night Irene." Yes, it's an almost weirdly frenetic showcase. But you're also whooping and hollering along for the ride.
Malone's country-inspired artistry sits best in this pocket.
He'll always be able to deliver a diamond-selling pop hit that, from any genre, will undoubtedly cross over hugely. But he's also a true fan, astonished that he's headlining shows in a genre he adores. When that passion spills into sharing, in community, a loving adoration for 100 years of music that guided and inspired much more his life than his art, it's one of the giddiest feel-good events in recent musical memory.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Post Malone, guest Blake Shelton, impress at Nashville's Marathon Music Works
