Watch Lil Nas X & John Mayer Do An Acoustic “Old Town Road”
At some point, Lil Nas X will have to come up with a song that is not “Old Town Road.” For now, though, the 20-year-old Atlanta native, a total unknown just a few months ago, is still riding high on the success of this massive, out-of-nowhere viral cowboy-rap hit. “Old Town Road” remains the #1 song in America, a position it’s held for the past four weeks. (We’ll soon find out if it withstood the precise blockbuster rollout of Taylor Swift’s “ME!“) “Old Town Road” has basically become part of the atmosphere. Last week, my kids tell me that their entire elementary-school but was singing “Old Town Road” together at the top of their lungs — loud enough that the busdriver threatened to drive back to school and make their parents come pick them up instead. When a song reaches that level, you’re allowed a few victory laps.
Last week, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus joined Diplo to perform their “Old Town Road” remix at Stagecoach, the massive country festival in California. And now Lil Nas X has also performed the song with John Mayer, another Katy Perry ex and a guy who’s always happy to show up for whatever. This time, they weren’t in front of a massive festival crowd; they were just doing it for Mayer’s Instagram Live, playing it acoustic and not even keeping both of their heads in the camera frame. (I guess that’s hard when one of you is wearing a giant cowboy hat.)
On that Instagram live show, Mayer and an offscreen drummer played a remarkably rich acoustic version of the “Old Town Road” beat, while Lil Nas X sang the song and, after a moment of hesitation, also did the Billy Ray Cyrus bit from the remix. Watch it happen below.
I never knew how much I needed an acoustic version of Old Town Road until now @LilNasX @JohnMayer pic.twitter.com/D9BgKiq7sG
— CAMERON ❤️ (@LILBANNG9) May 6, 2019
“Old Town Road” is now stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Congratulations.