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WATCH: Cody Johnson, Zac Brown Sing ‘Wild Palomino’ for the First Time at Fenway Park

Country music favorites Zac Brown and Cody Johnson performed the new version of a recent Zac Brown Band song together for the first time at Fenway Park, completely blowing the audience away with the force of their combined talent. “Wild Palomino,” off of Zac Brown Band’s 2021 album The Comeback, had a facelift recently with the addition of Cody Johnson’s vocals.

Zac Brown and Cody Johnson’s voices meld together amazingly on the studio cut of the track, and also in the live version in Boston. They have similar sounds and textures, which lend themselves well to “Wild Palomino.” The song is about being stubbornly yourself, but also the old standbys we’ve come to know in the country music world. “You can’t put reins on a wild palomino / And you won’t see an old cowboy cry / Long as God’s still at church and hard work still works / And this collar on my shirt’s still blue,” Zac Brown and Cody Johnson sing together in the chorus. They launch into the last line, which is the culmination of the entire song: “I’ll never stop loving you.”

Essentially, “Wild Palomino” is a love song at its core. It says, as long as all of these things stay true, we’ll always be in love. It’s sweet, with a little touch of a wild side. Wild like horses running over rolling pastures, the wind in your hair, all that kind of Western imagery. All in all, Cody Johnson was a great choice as a duet partner for this song. He adds another level to it, a similar texture to Zac Brown’s, but it amplifies the musicality and the lyrics in a different way.

Zac Brown Band Bassist John Driskell Hopkins Diagnosed With ALS, Offers Updates and Shares Story

On June 21, ALS Awareness Day, John Driskell Hopkins shared an update on living with ALS, and how his life has been affected by the disease. He also shared more of his story, admitting that his symptoms began way back in 2019.

“I started noticing some issues with my stability and my speed on my instruments and just general mobility as early as the fall of 2019,” he said. “No one did anything for 18 months.” He explained that his knees would sometimes lock up, likening it to “cerebral palsy, where if one gets emotional, one doesn’t have as much control over their muscles.”

Hopkins revealed that an official diagnosis came in December 2021. In May of this year, Hopkins and his Zac Brown Band family came together to share the news, and explain a little bit about the diagnosis.

“Over the past several years, I’ve noticed some balance issues, and some stiffness in my hands,” Hopkins shared in the video. “After careful analysis by some of the country’s top neurologists, I have been diagnosed with ALS. Because my symptoms have been slow-progressing from the start, we believe they will continue to be slow progressing going forward. God willing, I plan to be rocking with these amazing people for many years to come.”