From ‘White Iverson’ to ‘F-1 Trillion’: Post Malone’s journey down a country road

In 2015, on the brink of fame, Post Malone tweeted : “When I turn 30, I’m becoming a country/folk singer.”

Post Malone established a name for himself in the music industry with pop-hip-hop hits such as “Celebration,” “Rockstar” and “White Iverson” — a musical trajectory that’s earned him 10 Grammy nominations (he’s yet to win) and 80 tracks on Billboard’s Hot 100 .

In the era of growing interest in all things cowboy and country music — even Beyoncé release a country album this year — it would be safe to assume that Post Malone might be jumping on the train headed for country mania. But the musician isn’t just another hip-hop-artist-turned-country.

He’s been on the country music bandwagon for years.

“My love of country music came from my mom. Whenever I was a little kid, a little niño, my mom would always play country in the car,” Post told Vice Canada in 2017. “Johnny Cash influenced me a lot. He’s a great storyteller,” he continued, showing off a large Johnny Cash face tattooed on his shoulder.

Freshly 29, with his 30th birthday approaching in just under a year (July 4, 2025), country Post Malone has arrived a little early. This is how he got here.

Post Malone’s journey down the country road

Post Malone grew up in the Lone Star State

Post Malone was born in 1995 in Syracuse, New York, but primarily grew up in Grapevine, Texas — a suburb north of Dallas.

In a 2019 local report from CBS Texas , Post Malone’s father, Richard Post, shared that as a teenager, his son got started playing small gigs at a local Italian restaurant.

“He played a lot of Southern rock, a lot of country, which you wouldn’t expect from him now, but he did a great job,” recalled the restaurant’s general manager, Jaime Gage.

Before his hip-hop breakthrough

Before breaking through the horde of aspiring musicians with his 2015 debut single “White Iverson,” Post Malone recorded country music covers, which he shared on YouTube.

Most of his early covers have since disappeared from the internet, but a few still remain, including a clip of him covering Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright.” Dylan’s 1963 track errs on the side of folk, but Post Malone has shared that he enjoys the depth found in music like Dylan’s.

“If you’re looking for lyrics, if you’re looking to cry, if you’re looking to think about life, don’t listen to hip-hop,” Post Malone told Poland’s news site Newonce in 2017. “Whenever I want to sit down and have a nice cry, I’ll listen to some Bob Dylan.”

Another one of Post Malone’s early country covers still on the internet is a video of him singing Hank Williams’ “There’s a Tear in My Beer.”

The video was uploaded in 2018, but is not the original video posted by Post Malone — he has no face tattoos in the clip, which indicates that the video is much older.

‘I’m becoming a country/folk singer’

In wake of his 2015 meteoric rise to fame, Post Malone made his musical aspirations clear: “When I turn 30, I’m becoming a country/folk singer,” he wrote on X in May 2015.

Post said he started playing country music when he began playing the guitar, per a 2015 interview with Hot 97 . “I’ma get a rhinestone suit and a guitar strap with my name on it,” he said.

Then in 2017, Post repeated his intentions of transitioning to country, “Later down the line, I might make a country album. ... Why can’t you make both?” he said in an interview with Vice Canada .

Post Malone tests the country waters

After establishing himself as a hip-hop artist, Post Malone began publicly dipping his toe into country music — mostly through collaborations with well-established country musicians.

In February 2018, Toby Keith shared a clip of himself “jammin’” with Post Malone and Waterloo Revival covering “Kansas City” (a country-rock song made famous by Wilbert Harrison).

Then in May, Post Malone made an appearance at one of Nashville’s longest-running honky-tonks, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, where he covered several country songs , including Elvis Presley’s “That’s Alright Mama.”

He was a guest on Dwight Yoakam’s radio show, and the pair duetted Merle Haggard’s “The Bottle Let Me Down ,” Yoakam’s “ A Thousand Miles From Nowhere ” and a handful of other country classics.

During the next couple years, Post Malone routinely surprised fans with more country music covers and burgeoning relationships with country musicians.

He participated in a 50th anniversary Elvis Presley tribute concert alongside Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood and Kieth Urban, per Rolling Stone. Post Malone duetted “Blue Suede Shoes” with Shelton and “Baby, What You Want Me to Do” with Urban.

While headlining Bonnaroo in June 2019, he was spotted in an outfit plastered with 10-time Grammy winning country artist Dolly Parton’s face.

“Love the outfit from head to toe,” Parton tweeted , accompanied with a photo of Post Malone wearing her face.

Post Malone’s early conversion to country ended on a high note when Shania Twain incorporated a brief cover of his song “Rockstar” into her performance at the 2019 American Music Awards.

“I was so honored that she just threw it into the compilation a little bit,” Post told Yahoo of Twain. “One of my managers told me, ‘Hey, Shania wants to cover one of your songs tonight,’ and I was so, so ecstatic and excited.”

Post jumps into the country music world

Post Malone fully embraced the country music scene and continued hinting at a potential country album during the early 2020s.

He participated in Matthew McConaughey’s 2021 “ We’re Texas ” fundraiser, introduced Carrie Underwood to his mom, hung out with Randy Travis, Luke Bryan and Billy Strings and covered Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her.”

“There’s nothing stopping me from taking a camera, or setting up in my studio in Utah, and just recording a country album, and me just putting it on (expletive) YouTube,” Post told Howard Stern during a 2022 interview. “There’s nothing stopping me. Maybe I’ll face some repercussions afterward from the label ... but there’s nothing stopping me from doing that.”

Post added that he was “happily obligated” to continue performing his hip-hop music for his fans, but said if he found the time, he would potentially put it towards recording a country album.

“If I get another year to myself, maybe I’ll make a (expletive) country album.”

‘I Had Some Help’: Post Malone’s country debut

By 2023, Post Malone’s intentions were crystal clear: He would become a country musician.

Post made his Country Music Awards debut in 2023. Accompanied by Morgan Wallen and Hardy, the trio performed a medley of country hits in tribute to the late musician Joe Diffie.

In early 2024, Post collaborated with Beyoncé on “Levii’s Jeans,” a track on her country album, “Cowboy Carter” — followed by an appearance at Stagecoach, where Post performed a set of country tracks, per The Tennessean .

His performance was boosted with cameos from Brad Paisley, Dwight Yoakam and Sara Evans.

Post proved he had the chops to be a successful country musician with the track “I Had Some Help,” his first country single featuring support from Morgan Wallen.

The song launched with a No.1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 and sat there comfortably for six weeks, establishing itself as one of the songs of the summer, per Billboard . It remains on Billboard’s Hot 100 , seated in second position.

‘F-1 Trillion’: Post Malone’s first country album

Finally, Post Malone accomplished a long-awaited, highly-anticipated goal: He made a country album, making him a bona fide country musician.

“F-1 Trillion,” Post’s debut country album, was released on Friday. It features appearances from country royalty including: Dolly Parton, Tim McGraw, Luke Combs, Blake Shelton and Brad Paisley.

The oversized, 27-track album, has been met with mostly positive reviews.

Billboard called the album a, “tightly-crafted slate of largely rowdy country tunes made to get people on their feet, but also songs that highlight just how at home Post Malone’s music and voice feel in the country space, while interjecting it with a new shot of fervent, twangy energy.”

Post’s “F-1 Trillion” tour kicks off in Salt Lake City, Utah, at Utah’s First Credit Union Amphitheater (formerly known as USANA) on Sunday, Sept. 8, according to Post Malone’s official site .

His U.S tour will take him across the country, hitting major cities across the U.S. until December, where he will wrap up the tour in San Diego, California.