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Koe Wetzel may be the next big thing in Texas country music. If not? 'Screw everybody else,' he says

A few months ago, long-running Texas music site Galleywinter.com sent out a tweet that took many by surprise.

I was suspicious. Admittedly, the small amount of knowledge I possessed on Koe Wetzel is that he's an East Texas-based songwriter riding the Southern rock edge of the Texas music scene. And now, he's yet another in the long line of so-called "next big things." A deep dive into Wetzel's music was in order, if not past due.

That's Koe Wetzel on the right jamming with Odis Parrish in Waco.
That's Koe Wetzel on the right jamming with Odis Parrish in Waco.(Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer)

It didn't take long to realize that "deep" isn't what Wetzel's music is known for. His most popular song, "February 28, 2016," begins with lyrics detailing a drunken, stoned night of driving and avoiding the "punk ass" police before launching into one of the more inane choruses to ever be screamed in a Texas college town:

"Singing la la la let's pull over/I can't hold it, will you turn the music up/Let's play critter critter/Who is sober enough to take me to Taco Bell."

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It's silly and superfluous, but it's baked with riffs reminiscent of early Cross Canadian Ragweed. And it's crazy catchy. A handful of video clips featuring Wetzel and his band playing the song to scores of college-aged coeds packed into sweaty clubs suggest he's indeed tapped into a significant audience.

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So fine, Wetzel's the prince of a new generation of Texas country artists, a fleet of new royals that includes Parker McCollum, Flatland Cavalry and Shane Smith and the Saints.

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Wetzel has whipped up sizeable fervor in the past year or so since the release of his Noise Complaint full-length album, with crowds that are unquestionably larger than many Texas music veterans with twice his time on the road.

"A few weeks ago, we pulled up to the Silver Saloon in Terrell," Wetzel says over the phone during a recent day off from the road, "and the line to get in the door was down the block. And it just blew us away.

"It's a 2,000 person room and it was packed, so when we got on stage, I couldn't see the back of the place. We just kind of looked at each other and I said, 'OK, here we go.'"

Wetzel hasn't spent a dime promoting his songs to regional radio. And yet, stations including the influential "The Ranch" KFWR-FM (95.9) in Fort Worth are now spinning his songs with regularity.

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Ranch program director Shayne Hollinger says "it only made sense" to add Wetzel based upon the high amount of fan requests and his own observation of how many people he has seen quoting Wetzel's lyrics on Twitter and Facebook.

Audience members sing along with Koe Wetzel during the Heart o' Texas Fair in Waco.
Audience members sing along with Koe Wetzel during the Heart o' Texas Fair in Waco.(Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer)

According to Buddy Logan, the Tyler-based host of the popular Radio Texas Live syndicated show, Wetzel's approach is a fresh one. "Koe is in a class all his own right now," he says. "He's truly a grass-roots artist. He's grass roots in a way that he doesn't have to blast it, and good Lord, do the crowds show up for him."

And while traditional radio is still a powerful outlet, Spotify is Wetzel's real weapon.

In fact, Wetzel might be the most successful independent Texas artist around the state on Spotify right now, behind established Lone Star headliners such as Cody Johnson and Randy Rogers Band. Aforementioned up-and-comers McCollum and Flatland Cavalry are also riding the new-media surf to the top. According to the latest Sounds of Spotify playlists, which feature the most-streamed songs for thousands of cities worldwide, Wetzel's songs reside at or near the top of the service's most-played songs list for Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs including Carrollton, Plano and Euless.

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Prime concert circuit college town stops such as Lubbock and College Station show Wetzel is being streamed a ton. His five most popular songs have been streamed over 5 million times with millions more views on YouTube. And most impressively, the bigger cities around Texas show the same: Fort Worth listeners on Spotify click on many of his songs over and over, and Wetzel is the only country artist anywhere near the top of the most recent ranking list in Dallas.

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Wetzel's songs, including "Something to Talk About" and "Tell It All Town" have been in the top of these geographically specific lists for months.

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"It's all word of mouth, man; [it's] people sharing a song of mine with their friends after someone shared it with them," Wetzel says. Oddly enough, it was Wetzel's DIY style that basically erased his online musical presence for a short time earlier this year when his music was taken off not only Spotify, but other prime outlets including Apple Music. Without realizing it, Wetzel had ignored some important emails regarding the licensing of his songs, resulting in his music being taken down. The resulting Twitter-fueled furor likely helped get his name back out there.

Koe Wetzel: the next big thing?
Koe Wetzel: the next big thing?(Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer)

"I never check my email, so I never saw the emails Spotify sent me," Wetzel admits, offering a chuckle that said lesson learned. "When my music was stripped off everywhere I had people chewing me out all over the internet. ... That whole thing made even more people pay attention and [Spotify has] been better for us than being all over the radio."

Scratch beneath the digital surface of what Wetzel's doing and you'll feel the binding thread that connects his journey to beloved Texas music mavericks like Pat Green, Jack Ingram and Robert Earl Keen. They were all DIY at one point. And for all of them, it worked.

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"I want to be as different as possible," he says. "We're not on a record label, and we're not underneath anybody. We only do things we 100 percent want to do, and screw everybody else."

Koe Wetzel headlines Ranch Bash 2017 with Mike Ryan, Zane Williams, Shane Smith and others on Oct. 21 starting at 2 p.m. at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth. ranchbash.com.