Dwight Yoakam is a father! The 63-year-old welcomed his first child, son Dalton Loren, on Sunday, August 16, with his wife, Emily Joyce, waiting almost a week before announcing the news on social media.

“Like the lyric from the song Waterfall that Dwight wrote for Emily on his 3 Pears album says…Babies get born even in a… Pandemic lock down…With great joy and happiness Dwight & Emily announce the birth this past Sunday of their new baby boy,” Dwight’s team shared, along with a photo of both Emily and the parents-to-be as they headed to the hospital.

 

Dwight and Emily, 36, began dating in 2010, tying the knot this past March, ahead of shutdowns related to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Dwight Yoakam and Emily Joyce wed in March just before the quarantine in a private ceremony at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica,” a representative for Dwight confirmed to People. “At a time when there is so much uncertainty in the world, there are still happy moments. In the face of shutdowns and social-distancing requirements, love prevailed, and the less than 10 attendees were seated at least six feet from one another.”

Dwight and Emily waited until May to share the news of their marriage.

“The happy couple have been engaged for several years and have been dating since 2010,” Dwight’s representative confirmed in a separate statement. “This belated announcement was withheld out of respect to so many people affected by and on the front lines of this pandemic.”

Dwight’s first album, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc. was released in 1986. Since then, he has released more than 20 albums, including two live projects, and plans to keep on making music for a long, long time.

“You know, art is a seed,” Dwight told GQ, in an interview published earlier this year. “And some things are quick-growing, fast-bearing of fruit, and other plants are a slow growth, but they’ll become the redwood forest, the sequoias, or the aspen. The aspen forest—maybe the largest singular living organism on the planet. That’s just different.

“And that’s not to dismiss bamboo,” he continued. “Bamboo has its own majesty, you know? But don’t dismiss the thing that takes longer to germinate. Mountains are not, in fact, grown overnight. But a million and a half years later, Wow, y’know? That range is pretty spectacular to visit.”

In addition to a successful music career, Dwight is also an established actor, appearing in hit movies like Sling Blade, Wedding Crashers, Four Christmases and more.