Dwight Yoakam Teams up With Post Malone for First New Song in 9 Years, Announces New Album ‘Brighter Days’

It has been a long time since Dwight Yoakam released new music. His last album, Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars dropped in 2016. Today (September 6), the Bakersfield Sound legend announced that he’ll release Brighter Days in November. He introduced the long-awaited new release with a Post Malone collaboration. Listen to “I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom) below.

This isn’t the first time Yoakam and Malone have worked together. Long before the “White Iverson” singer’s official move to country music, he appeared on Yoakam’s Sirius XM show where they performed together. More recently, Posty joined the “Guitars, Cadillacs” singer onstage to perform a string of classics. This is, however, their first recording together.

[RELATED: Watch Post Malone Join Dwight Yoakam at the Greek Theater to Perform a Handful of Timeless Country Hits]

Malone worked with a laundry list of country stars on his genre debut. Many fans saw those collaborations with artists like Dolly Parton, Tim McGraw, and Hank Williams Jr. as stamps of approval from the country music world. “I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye” further legitimizes his place in the genre. On one hand, Yoakam is a legend and the fact that this track is for his first album since 2016 speaks volumes about his respect for Posty. On the other hand, it’s a great country song, once again showing how comfortable he is within the genre.

Post Malone Is the Sole Guest on Dwight Yoakam’s New Album

To further drive home the above point, Post Malone is the only guest vocalist on Dwight Yoakam’s forthcoming album. Furthermore, according to press materials, he wrote the song specifically as a duet with Malone.

Brighter Days features 14 tracks, 12 of which Yoakam either wrote or co-wrote. See the full tracklist below.

1. “Wide Open Heart”
2. “I’ll Pay the Price”
3. “Bound Away” (Cake Cover)
4. “California Sky”
5. “Can’t Be Wrong”
6. “I Spell Love”
7. “A Dream That Never Ends”
8. “Brighter Days”
9. “I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom) feat. Post Malone
10. “If Only”
11. “Hand Me Down Heart”
12. “Time Between”
13. “Keep on the Sunny Side” (Cater Family cover)
14. “Every Night”

Brighter Days drops on November 15. Preorders are available now through Dwight Yoakam’s website.

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