As we kick off the new year, Koe Wetzel says that his main focus is that elusive country album of his, but the East Texas native has a lot on his plate and even he says, smiling, that he probably needs to stop talking about that or else fans might wind up getting pissed off for real.

"The main focus is the country record, obviously, but you know how I am," Koe says with a chuckle. "It's comin', I don't if it'll be the next record but it's coming."

His latest album Hell Paso which was released in September '22 surprised many fans, from the project's edginess to dark themes. Some have even expressed concern for the country-rocker. But Koe assured me that he's okay. "Man I just wanted to reach out to anybody going through stuff like that, you know, and help them out and hopefully it helps them get through another day."

"It was something that we'd never done before. We're used to touching on Rock and alternative styles, but with this one we went all out. Did stuff out of the norm and stuff people aren't used to hearing from us." - Koe on <em>Hell Paso</em>

It's a fan favorite, but where did the song "Oklahoma Sun" come from? Well, it turns out it was actually a song written with Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg in mind, I'll let Koe explain: "I went to Nashville, was writing with Ernest and he played me the hook to "Oklahoma Sun." At the time it was called "Willie" [Ernest] had written it for Snoop Dogg and Willie to sing... I just went in and put the verses over the top of it."

[At meet and greets] "I get a lot of older women that try and kiss me and stuff," Koe says as the ladies sitting about 5 feet behind us find themselves unable to contain their giggles... "and depending on how drunk I am I'll kiss one back. Full-on wet sloppy stuff, I'm just kinda sitting there like where's your husband at?"

It's something I know we've all been wondering, is his song "Cabo" real? "Yeah, Koe says definitely. "'Cabo' is real. It is in a sense, but it wasn't just one trip that I went to Cabo... I wanted to do something that was completely different, that one song that doesn't sound like the rest of the record... I'd been listening to a lot of Spaghetti Westerns... Maybe everything in the song didn't happen in Cabo but a lot of it did."

There ya go a taste of what we talked about. And, hey, while we all wait patiently for Koe's country album, give my full 25 minute interview with him a listen on my podcast.

Get the Radio Texas, LIVE! app and stream all of your favorite Texas and Red Dirt music 24/7, commercial free, directly to your phone. Click here for IOS, or here for ANDROID. Give my new podcast a listen, Buddy Logan's Aircheck is available to stream or download on Spotify, Google, Tunein, anywhere fine podcasts can be found.

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