Post Malone joined Billy Strings on stage Wednesday night for a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Cocaine Blues.” Watch the performance below.
The moment occurred during Strings’ concert at the Observatory in Santa Ana, California, where the bluegrass guitarist told the ecstatic crowd, “I saw this guy lurking around backstage and figured we gotta drag him up here to fuckin’ sing for you.” Malone raised his beer to the audience and responded, “Billy Strings is the best to ever fuckin’ do it, thanks for having me out.”
From there, the duo kicked off the classic murder ballad by playing dueling acoustic guitars. Strings showed off his lightning-fast picking skills while Malone sang, “Early one morning while making the rounds/ Took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down/ Went right home and I went to bed/ I stuck that lovin’ .44 beneath my head.”
The jaunty Western ditty, which Cash most famously performed during his 1968 concert at Folsom Prison, is actually a reworking of the traditional folk ballad “Little Sadie.” The troubadour recorded multiple versions of the track over the course of his career, including it on 1968’s At Folsom Prison, 1960’s Now, There Was a Song! (as “Transfusion Blues”), and 1979’s Silver. Cash also played the song at his 1969 concert at Madison Square Garden, but the label withheld its release until finally unveiling the recording in 2002 as part of Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden.
Posty is currently gearing up for the release of his next studio album, twelve carat toothache, which will feature “One Right Now,” his 2021 duet with The Weeknd, as its lead single. Earlier this week, his co-manager Dre London teased the LP will be dropping in May.
Strings, meanwhile, is in the midst of a North American headlining tour, which will run through October 1st and features stops at Bonnaroo and Ohana Fest before heading to Europe. Snag tickets to their upcoming dates here.
