Riley Green On Koe Wetzel And His Unique Brand Of Texas Country: “It’s So Hard To Have Your Own Genre… Koe’s Got A Cool Thing”

Riley Green country music
Jody Domingue

Riley Green knows a thing or two about real deal country music.

And he recently stopped by for an episode of the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk about growing up in Alabama, his writing process and how he goes about putting out music, his favorite hunting stories, and he also had a little bit to say about Texas’ finest, Mr. Koe Wetzel.

Koe opened for Riley not too long ago at the Georgia Rodeo in Athens, and Riley said it was actually the first time they’d ever crossed paths in person.

He elaborated a little bit on Koe’s unique sound within the Texas country genre, saying that he “gets it,” and even though he doesn’t know his music very well, can see how he’s become such a massive act with his distinctive brand of music:

“Koe is… you know, I’d never really crossed paths with Koe. We’ve had a few shows, he opened for me at Georgia Rodeo in Athens the other day, and like, I get it, you know?

I mean, not even really knowing his music that well, it’s a thing. It’s really like Tom Pettyish, you know? It’s not what you think of when you think of Texas country.

I’ve always kind of enjoyed that, man.”

Of course, Koe has a ton of rock and grunge influence in his music and isn’t really “country” per se (and he’d tell you the same thing), but he does plan to work on a full-blown country album next year.

But he’s managed to go about growing a huge career in the music industry by doing things completely his way and making the music he wants to (while selling tons of tangible tickets in the process), which is pretty rare and impressive in this business, whether you like him or his music or not.

Riley also added how hard it is to be so different that you have your “own genre,” in a sense, and also said he’d seen first-hand how much Koe gets after it when he’s out on the road having a good time.

I don’t know if I’d ever put these two together right off the bat, but it would be really neat to see them team up in some capacity with Koe’s new country album in the works:

“It’s so hard to have your own genre, I guess.

I was always such a big fan of Mike Ryan for that reason. He’s not Texas country to me in the sense of Turnpike, even Cody Johnson, that kind of stuff, so I always liked it.

Koe’s got a cool thing, man. He gets after it, too. You gotta appreciate that. I think I’m probably a little older than he is, so I’ve had some of those years. I try to dial it back when I can.”

Riley Green with the spot-on analysis.

You can check out the full video here:

@whiskeyriff Riley & Koe? 🤠❤️‍🔥 Full podcast episode w/ @Riley Green on WhiskeyRiff.com #rileygreen #koewetzel #rileyduckman #countrymusic #texascountry #fyp ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff

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Cheers, y’all.

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