Koe Wetzel has been laser-focused on persevering with his present nation music success. He’s reaching it by showcasing the identical depth and ferocity onstage as he displayed whereas chasing down quarterbacks throughout his days on the soccer discipline. He’s additionally taking up a brand new problem: sustaining his music momentum whereas regaining his pass-rushing physique.
The previous faculty linebacker’s recognition has taken off with the 0-60 velocity of a Ford Mustang Shelby, the traditional muscle automobile whose creator resided in the identical East Texas city because the 32-year-old musician. On the identical time, Wetzel’s ascent up the charts may be thought-about unconventional by nation music requirements. He’s promoting out venues nationwide whereas refusing to promote out his Texas roots.
He now resides within the bigger Fort Price area, however Wetzel and his bandmates keep the down-to-earth mindset that they had once they carried out for 30 individuals at native bars, incomes sufficient money for each beer and fuel to get to the following gig. In different phrases, Wetzel takes creating music significantly whereas refusing to take the celebrity that comes with success too significantly.
“We nonetheless discuss how dangerous we suck,” Wetzel chuckles. “We’re nonetheless that band that’s persevering with to get higher. The celebrity is de facto badass and funky, however I don’t assume we ever actually checked out it like that.”
In 2024, Wetzel skilled a breakout 12 months. His single “Excessive Highway,” a collaboration with Jessie Murph, spent 5 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Nation Airplay chart and was additionally named the eighth finest total track of 2024 by the LA Occasions. Moreover, final 12 months’s Rattling Close to Regular tour was profitable sufficient to warrant the discharge of a full-length stay album, Stay from the Rattling Close to Regular Tour.
Wetzel is much out of your cookie-cutter nation artist. Although categorized as nation, he blends rock, hip-hop, and even grunge—because of early influences from teams like Nirvana—which has allowed him to attach with broader audiences and amass over 3.7 billion streams alongside a million-plus followers on social media.
“We have been type of outsiders—no one actually f***ed with us,” he displays. “We simply went in our lane and did every little thing the best way we thought it must be executed. And it’s labored out.”
As his recognition continues to soar in 2025, Wetzel can also be centered on downsizing his waistline. Amazingly, for somebody identified for songs about ingesting—and having been arrested for it—he’s misplaced as a lot as 35 kilos through the tour—and is working to proceed the development. “I’m hoping to remain round 245 at any time when we’re touring,” he says, “simply so I’m not a whole fats a**.”
Whereas he hasn’t sworn off alcohol utterly, Wetzel, whose setlist consists of alcohol-infused anthems resembling “Drunk Driving,” “Casamigos,” and “February 28, 2016,” attributes his weight reduction to a major discount in beer and liquor in addition to a recommitment to the weightroom. Lighter and leaner, Wetzel has seen noticeable modifications not solely in his physique but in addition his exhibits. “That was the routine I adopted all through the Rattling Close to Regular tour,” he explains. “It helped me loads with my voice and efficiency, and I feel it was the most effective tour we’ve had up to now.”
The highway to health hasn’t been utterly easy; he admits to have gained a number of of these kilos again over the vacations. Nonetheless, his new deal with relaxation, improved vitamin, and reducing again on late nights has been important for Wetzel to ship standout performances evening after evening throughout his present tour.
“I’m again within the health club, getting after it,” Wetzel states confidently. “I really feel like I’ll get all the way down to 245 and keep on high of it this time.”
Movement Idea Media
Soccer and Music Had been At all times Intertwined for Koe Wetzel
As a linebacker at Texas’ Tarleton State College in 2011, Wetzel’s gameday program had him listed at 6’1” and 220 kilos, almost 50 kilos lighter than his beginning weight on the Rattling Close to Regular tour. The “Good Die Younger” singer was leaner, sooner, and stronger, because of a weight-training routine that always had him within the health club as much as 3 times a day. The football-specific workload allowed Wetzel to devour hundreds of energy with out accountability whereas nonetheless remaining athletic.
“I used to be fairly yoked up,” he shares. “I do know you may’t most likely inform now, however in faculty, I used to be fairly large.” Wetzel says he was all legs and will squat near 500 kilos. When it got here to higher physique power, he admits to struggling barely. “I don’t assume I ever hit over 275 [on the bench press],” he admits, “however I might throw it out of the room on the squat.”
At Tarleton, the child who grew up idolizing Brian Bosworth and Clay Matthews was honed in on smashing quarterbacks. “I used to be, like, filling the hole after which hitting individuals within the mouth—that was my outlook,” he says. Sadly, his season—and obsession—with soccer ended after a brutal ankle harm. “I watched the video a few times and virtually threw up once more,” he remembers. “I used to be like, no, I can’t be doing this.”
Whereas he fell out of tune with soccer, Wetzel started choosing up further money singing nation tunes in native bars. Having grown up singing and taking part in guitar, he and a teammate, a bass participant, fashioned a small band and began taking part in extra typically. “We have been taking part in music much more than video games. Then I mentioned the hell with soccer. I went to high school for one more 12 months, after which they kicked me out.”
Wetzel’s transition from soccer to nation music isn’t distinctive. Artists like Chase Rice, Riley Inexperienced, and Tucker Wetmore have been additionally standout athletes earlier than turning their attentions to music. He’s beginning to perceive the enchantment and connection between music and sports activities.
“I didn’t understand that was a factor till about 5 – 6 years in the past once I began trying round at my buddies. All of them performed both baseball or soccer, and when that didn’t work out, they went into nation music,” Wetzel displays.
Movement Idea Media
Weight loss plan and Self-discipline Made the Distinction in Koe Wetzel’s Weight Loss
Koe Wetzel is All-around Muscle
Koe Wetzel might have scaled again his coaching at one level, however he has at all times been about muscle in a method or one other. He’s the proud proprietor of Mike’s Motive, one of many extra highly effective bulls on the Skilled Bull Riders circuit. This bull is one in every of eight that Wetzel has partnered with Blake Sharp, a well known inventory contractor.
“[Blake] met me in Mississippi at a live performance and mentioned, ‘Hey, have you ever ever thought of shopping for a bull?’” Wetzel remembers. “At the moment, I had began making a little bit cash, so I mentioned, ‘Completely.’ It simply type of snowballed from there. I’ve at all times been a fan of bull driving. It’s been actually cool to be concerned and put my stamp on it.”
Considered one of Wetzel’s passions additionally consists of American muscle vehicles. It’s becoming on condition that Carroll Shelby, the creator of the enduring Ford Mustang Shelby, constructed his residence in Pittsburg, TX. Wetzel at present owns a ’70 Oldsmobile Cutlass, and whereas he hasn’t bought a Mustang but, he made certain to characteristic a traditional mannequin in his introspective video, “Casamigos.”
“The Shelbys have been the cream of the crop,” he says. “When you had a kind of, you have been doing one thing proper. I plan on getting one quickly. Since we’re each from Pittsburg, there’s some sentimental worth there.”
Whereas making music is Wetzel’s high precedence, music movies have performed an important position in his artistic expression. “I’ve at all times liked music movies,” he says, citing Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as a major affect. “I choose the movies which can be like little mini-movies, and that’s what I’ve aimed to create all through my profession.”
Wetzel has been candid about his arduous partying—lots of his late-night antics have impressed his lyrics and movies. His hit “February 28, 2016” was written after being arrested for public intoxication outdoors a fast-food restaurant on that date. It’s develop into so in style, Feb. 28 has been “unofficially” designated by followers as “Koe Wetzel Day, the singer releasing his newest album on that day. “Casamigos” addresses themes of relationships and habit. Wetzel acknowledges that reducing again on alcohol has improved his bodily well being and efficiency. He believes that his previous experiences have additionally profoundly influenced his music.
“It positively helped with my inspiration,” Wetzel explains. “There have been instances I’d get up and never keep in mind what I had written down. I’d verify my notes on my cellphone and discover stuff I didn’t perceive till I saved studying, after which I believed, ‘Oh, that’s what I used to be pondering.’”
His followers—and his administration—know what they’re getting with Wetzel. His 2020 video “Solely the Good Die Younger,” which revolves across the premise of a final day earlier than heading to jail, was launched shortly after Wetzel and his band signed with Columbia Information. Whereas it raised some eyebrows, it was—and nonetheless is—100% Wetzel being true to himself.
“We didn’t maintain something again. We had all these individuals from Columbia there asking, ‘What the hell are we getting ourselves into? What’s flawed with this man?’ However we had a good time, and it was plenty of enjoyable to make.”
