I knew Fort Worth was ready for the next phase of country music when Koe Wetzel’s drummer, Jared Easterling, left a staple of the Fort Worth metal scene - Fit For A King - to join Koe’s lineup. That moment felt like a signal that something in the scene was shifting.

Then I saw a video of Koe and the band getting tattoos on their tour bus after a show with more pyrotechnics than I’d seen at a country concert since the prime of Big & Rich. That’s when I was fully bought in on what Koe was about to bring into the scene.

The days of the clean-cut urban cowboy standing still at the mic with an acoustic guitar will never fully disappear and honestly, they shouldn’t. But man, it’s nice to hear country music live a little louder again.

We want to help keep the coals hot and make the Dallas–Fort Worth scene a little more exciting, a little more alive. Let’s smash guitars, light some stuff on fire, and then follow it up with a ballad that reminds me how much I miss breakfast with my grandma. RIP Mommom I love you.

I also want the fanbase here to hold the scene accountable. Support what you love, even when it’s inconvenient. Show up. Buy the ticket. Stand in the crowd. And if something doesn’t move you, that’s fine too… but what you support will shape what this scene becomes.

That’s how we build something real in our little pocket of Texas. Something that makes you feel fired up just to be alive. Something that leaves memories stamped into the concrete long after the amps cool down.

So shoutout to Koe and his crew. A legendary move - Jared Easterling going from double bass in a club to double-fisting beers in a stadium - felt like a moment where the walls started cracking between rock, alt, and country.

At the end of the day… what’s more rock ’n’ roll than country?

Written by Reed Hoelscher of Palomino