Just when I thought I couldn’t love Yelawolf any more, he goes tapping into the deepest, weirdest corners of my psyche with a new single that sounds like Black Oak Arkansas’ most batshit moments and features Southern rap god Juicy J. It’s like he’s living inside my head, or at least subscribing to my Spotify playlist. On Punk, released Sept. 1, Yela teams up with Travis Barker and the aforementioned Stay Trippy MC to “put [his] flag in Nashville” — and sweet baby Jesus, does bro ever sound fired up and ready to get buck. Scorching fiddles, fiery raps and rapid-fire beats blast out of the stereo like the devil himself is chasing every bar. Punk is high-energy country-rap that brings all of Yela’s skills to a rolling boil, raising the stakes on a career that has been building (and burning) bridges for more than a decade. Yelawolf’s performance at Marathon will be preceded by Slumfest 2017, the grand opening of Yela’s Slumerican Made lifestyle store, which will feature food trucks, vendors, performances from Hillbilly Casino and more. Slumfest is free, but Yelawolf’s performance is a ticketed event. Slumfest noon at 1314 Jo Johnston Ave.; show 8:30 p.m. at Marathon Music Works SEAN L. MALONEY
