DIPLO WADES DEEPER INTO COUNTRY

Diplo has returned with a new track as his country-music persona, Thomas Wesley. Titled “Use Me (Brutal Hearts),” the song features Dove Cameron and Sturgill Simpson (under the alias Johnny Blue Skies). The accompanying video stars Sean Penn in the role of Johnny, who isn’t shy about throwing back copious amounts of Tequila Don Julio 1942.

“Use Me (Brutal Hearts)” comes from Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: Chapter 2–Swamp Savant, out 4/28 on Columbia. “Wasted” featuring Kodak Black and Koe Wetzel is currently streaming.

“To prepare for this new Thomas Wesley project, I went back to my father’s house in Florida and spent six months learning guitar, getting in touch with nature and working his boat when the shrimp were running on full moons at the trailer park,” Diplo said. “I tried on a lot of cowboy hats. I rode a lot of motorcycles and horses, basically reflected on my whole life and career and connection with this music… There was a lot. It all started in the swamps I was raised in. This is the greatest single piece of work I’ve ever done, I can promise you that.”

Swamp Savant follows 2020’s Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Chapter 1: Snake Oil, home to the sextuple-platinum single “Heartless” f/ Morgan Wallen, “Dance With Me” with Thomas Rhett & Young Thug and “Lonely” f/Jonas Brothers.

Diplo will return to Stagecoach, 4/28-30 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, with another installment of Diplo’s HonkyTonk stage and his annual “Late Night in Palomino” festival closer. He’s also scheduled to play a Wesley set 5/10 at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon. Watch the "Use Me" video below while we continue to contemplate the questionable life choices that have led us here.