Koe Wetzel
#
38
Ranking
Rising Artist
BIRTHDATE
BIRTHPLACE
Pittsburg
,
TX
,
USA
34
6
'
2
"
Koe Wetzel is a Pittsburg, Texas-born country rock rebel born Ropyr Madison Koe Wetzel who went from playing linebacker at Tarleton State University to grinding the Texas honky-tonk circuit for nearly a decade before building 4.2 billion streams and landing a five-week number-one radio hit with "High Road" in 2025, all while becoming a father and getting engaged to longtime girlfriend Bailey Fisher just in time to launch his biggest world tour yet.
Current Tour & Setlist
Wetzel's "The Night Champion World Tour" launched May 3, 2026, in Melbourne, Australia, before hitting Sydney and Brisbane, then three Canadian dates in Edmonton, Penticton, and Abbotsford, before launching the main North American amphitheater run in July and running through October 30 in Lubbock, Texas, for a total of 45 dates across three countries. Support acts rotating across select dates include Shane Smith and the Saints, Wyatt Flores, Corey Kent, Wade Bowen, and Ole 60, with Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum on October 10 confirmed, and fans can expect a setlist built around "High Road," "February 28, 2016," "Drunk Driving," "Creeps," and new material from his upcoming seventh studio album.
Early Life
Born Ropyr Madison Koe Wetzel on July 14, 1992, in Pittsburg, Texas, a tight-knit East Texas town of around 4,000, he took his stage name from his middle name, itself a tribute to outlaw country legend David Allan Coe, and was first exposed to live music by his mother Julie, a touring country singer who brought him onstage with her at regional opry houses when he was just six years old. His father blasted Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. on road trips, a cousin turned him on to Nirvana and Soundgarden, and his grandfather introduced him to Creedence Clearwater Revival, giving him the wildly eclectic musical DNA that defines his sound today; he picked up guitar at 12 but set music aside to play football and baseball through high school before earning a spot as a linebacker at Tarleton State University.
Career Highlights
At Tarleton State, Wetzel formed Koe Wetzel and the Konvicts, self-released his debut EP "Love and Lies" in 2012 and his first full album "Out on Parole" in 2015, and spent nearly a decade grinding the Texas and Red Dirt circuit before his 2016 independent release "Noise Complaint" broke through and made him a Lone Star sensation. He signed with Columbia Records in 2019 and released the Gold-certified "Sellout" in 2020, which produced the Platinum hits "Drunk Driving" and "Good Die Young," followed by "Hell Paso" in 2022, which debuted at number three on Billboard's Country Albums chart and spawned the Gold-certified hits "Creeps" and "Cabo." His 3x Platinum, five-week number-one hit "High Road" became the most-played song at country radio in 2025, and he has since amassed 4.2 billion total streams while building a live reputation for what he himself describes as "total chaos."
Family & Personal Life
Wetzel and Bailey Fisher, a Texas-born concert photographer, met in college around 2014 and maintained an on-and-off relationship for nearly a decade before welcoming their first child together, a daughter named Woods Madison Wetzel, on May 23, 2025, weighing 5 pounds 11 ounces. Wetzel proposed to Fisher on April 22, 2026, in a golden-hour ceremony surrounded by white flower petals with baby Woods present for the moment, with Fisher captioning her Instagram post "It's always been us," and the couple confirming their engagement to fans just weeks before his biggest tour yet kicked off.
