Ole 60

[00:00:00] What's up, Whiskey Riff Raff fans? This is Quinn Eaton, and I'm going to talk to you about today's sponsor. We've got Ammunition Whiskey. Ammunition crafts whiskeys for the rugged of spirit and persistent of heart. For the pursuers of excellence whose passions are fed by the defeat of mediocrity. For anyone who forges their own trail to their version of the American dream. Who doesn't like that? From farm to finish, every step taken towards perfection is a deliberate one.

[00:00:26] Go to drinkammunition.com and use code Riff15 for 15% off ammunition double barrel finished straight whiskeys today. Welcome to another episode of Whiskey Riff Raff, the first one of 2025. I'm Shelby.

[00:00:56] My name is Quinn. And we realized that, you know, last year we kind of picked up and took over the podcast and never really introduced ourselves. Right. So I feel like that would probably be helpful for people as we interview artists and kind of do a bit more of this. So a lot of people, Wes and Steve, obviously used to do Whiskey Riff Raff and they enjoyed the personable banter that they provided.

[00:01:20] And so we're taking a page from their book and trying to let you guys know a little bit about us before we get into the first interview of 2025, which ended up being a great conversation with Jacob Young from Old 60. So I think first thing that we should probably do is just share a little bit about kind of ourselves and our Whiskey Riff and country music background. Sure. Sounds good. You want me to go first? Gotcha.

[00:01:49] Well, my name is Quinn Eaton. I'm a writer for Whiskey Riff. I started writing for them in probably March of 23. I looked at you because you're the one that hired me onto the team. So from Kentucky, western Kentucky. And whenever I say that, people think Bowling Green, but a lot farther west than that near Paducah in a small town called Benton, Kentucky, home of Tater Day. Just in case I'd never mentioned that before. I don't think you have.

[00:02:19] To plug Tater Day. But, yeah, moved to Nashville and a little bit after I started working for Whiskey Riff and I've been writing and then, you know, jumped into this as well and do a little on the street interviews. And I'm hoping to get those back up and running at some point in this year, too. Nice. And like I said, I'm Shelby. I'm the operations manager at Whiskey Riff, which means I kind of do everything except write pretty much.

[00:02:46] I do a lot of admin work, social media management, anything involving paperwork I feel like I do, plus some playlisting, podcasting, anything in person. I do a lot of like artist work with artist management and sales. I just took over some of our sales stuff. You have a lot of plates spinning, I've noticed. All the time.

[00:03:10] But I'm excited to resume the podcast and kind of have it as one of my main things I do because I feel like I want to, I enjoy it. So I want to give it a lot of energy and a lot of my attention this year. I'm from California, which a lot of people look at me and wonder like how I got into country music. And honestly, I grew up kind of hating country music, which I know I don't really like saying that out loud.

[00:03:37] But like my mom would play, I think it was Carrie Underwood. And I just like, I was like 10. And I was just like, I don't know what this is. I don't like it. I liked the Jonas Brothers. So my taste in music was not mature yet. I liked the Jonas Brothers as well. So we can relate in that area. You know, but as I got older, I definitely leaned toward the country. And in college, it was a lot of like Dorks Bentley and Jason Aldean who came through. And so I would always go to those concerts.

[00:04:07] And then once I moved to Denver, Colorado, I think my music taste definitely matured a bit. And I figured out who Whiskey Myers was. And that's kind of like the very, very early days of Zach Bryan. And that kind of like threw me for a loop and changed my music taste completely. And now I am like diehard Red Dirt, Appalachia country music. So they got you. The country music genre got you.

[00:04:37] It got me. I think it. I think Whiskey Myers is probably a big, a big thing for me. And also Turnpike, Turnpike. I found out who Turnpike was on their hiatus. So when they came back, I was, that was like my first real concert experience of them ever. So it was nice. Although I feel like if I share that, I'm just seem like a bit of a bandwagon. But I don't, it doesn't matter at this point. I'm here. I grew up in Kentucky.

[00:05:04] So country music was, you know, seemed like it was constantly playing. Um, and I came to appreciate, you know, the older stuff. I've always really liked Alan Jackson. And, uh, I've always liked Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. Um, some of the newer stuff I will, like you said, I don't like saying it either. I always hated the pop country scene. Um, if you asked any of my friends, they would tell you, um, without me even prompting them

[00:05:30] that I used to use the, the band name Rascal Flats as a curse word. So if something happened, uh, something bad happened, I would say Rascal Flats in place of an F-bomb or something like that. Um, that was me sticking it to, uh, I guess pop bands, pop country, uh, music. But, um, I kind of grew up, my, my mom was a huge, uh, country music fan. Didn't always hear her listening to it, but I've come to find out that she loved, she's

[00:06:00] always loved country music. And then my dad was more rock, uh, listened to a lot of U2. So U2 is one of my favorite bands. Um, I like a lot of alternative rock and things like that. And we ended up talking to, to Jacob about that a little bit. He also, I think, listened to some of the same bands that I kind of grew up, uh, listening to. So I always appreciated country music for what it is. And I always knew that a lot of people love it. Um, I've never hated, hated it by any means, but, um, did I see myself working in, uh, the

[00:06:29] country music industry? I'm sure you could probably say the same thing. I wouldn't have guessed this, but I'm loving it. I'm loving every, every single second of it. Yeah. I was big on like, I, I loved country music in college and like, that's when the love started. But I never thought in a million years I'd be working in country music or living in Nashville. Right. Which funny enough, the podcast is how I got my whiskey riff job because I was listening

[00:06:55] to a podcast of Steven West with Cody Johnson and Steve was mentioning that he just had moved to Colorado and he was trying to get West to move to Colorado too. So they could finally be in the same state again. Um, and I had just moved to Denver and I was like, you know, I'm looking for a job. It's just right after COVID. Let me just DM whiskey riff and see if they're hiring. Like I know they're more than just an Instagram page and I just happened to reach out at the

[00:07:23] right time when they were really hiring employees and a team for the first time and not long after I started. So the podcast is the reason why I even, yeah, literally full circle. I didn't know that part. So that's, that's interesting to hear. Yeah. Um, I just was applying for jobs like crazy. I went to school at, uh, Murray State University shoes up, found out. I mean, it was crazy. I mean, Jacob and I might be best friends and we don't know it, but he also went to Murray State University.

[00:07:53] Um, around the same time we, we might've walked past each other in the quad at some point, but, uh, loved Murray State and, um, was applying for jobs. Uh, I played golf there. You always tell me to talk about that. I don't usually talk about my, my past, uh, you know, college, uh, athletic accomplishments and I didn't have many. Please don't look up my scoring average while I was at Murray State, but I played golf while I was there. I took a fifth year because of COVID.

[00:08:21] Um, and then after that I was applying for jobs like crazy and, uh, whiskey riff was the one that, that got back to me. So. Well, I'll tell you what, as soon as a country artist says that they were a cheerleader in college, I will also be like, Hey, I was also a cheerleader in college, but they never say that. We haven't always talked about golf. We haven't had an artist say that. Yeah. Golf's pretty popular in the music industry. So. And like golf is a thing in California, but not the way it is here. Not the way people go all the time here. It's crazy. Yeah. I went for the first time and I actually enjoy it. So.

[00:08:51] That's good. I don't understand. I can't connect all the moving pieces yet, but it's, it's interesting. It's addictive for people that are just now picking it up. For me, I played it, you know, from, I was the time I was five to the time I was probably 22 or 23, I guess, competitively. And so I'm in the, like, if someone asked me to go play, I'll, I will, but I'm not actively seeking it out. But it's funny because all, all my friends and, uh, I know I've played golf with, um, your roommate before.

[00:09:19] Um, and he, and he hit me with a golf ball, but we won't get into that. I don't want to, I don't want to out him. I'm definitely going to tell him to come listen to this now. Yeah. Hey, we didn't say any names, but I did get hit with a golf ball and it's only like the third time in my life that that's happened. But well, we talk a lot about music, right? So we thought that it'd be good to mention our, uh, Apple music, Spotify wrapped artist. Yes. Which, which one do you use? I'm Apple. Okay. I'm Apple too, which I know we are in the minority.

[00:09:49] A lot of Spotify people. And I also recognize that a lot of people don't like that people share their, uh, Spotify wrapped, but we feel like, Hey, we're, we have the podcast. We're just going to go through it. And so like, you know, like what our music taste is. And for people who don't, like, I don't care if people don't like your Spotify wrapped. I literally put it on my Insta, like a hard post on my Insta. I know I could hear less. So that's literally what I'm looking at to see what my top songs and artists are of the year.

[00:10:17] Um, I'm just, there's, you know, there's one on my list. I'm just not going to mention that was not country. So I'm going to skip that one and I'll tell you my other artists for the year. Uh, top artists were Marcus King, Cody Johnson, Flatland Calvary, Wyatt Flores, Post Malone, Zach Bryan, Matt Koziel, Muscadine, Eric Church, Coetzel, Riley Green, Red Clay Stray. So that's like in my top 15. It's kind of, those are the artists I listened to a lot last year. I only checked in on my top five.

[00:10:46] Um, and I am going to mention a non-country artist, even though you did not. Uh, my top two, funny enough, number one was Johnny Blue Skies. Number two was Sturgill Simpson. So a lot of Sturgill slash Johnny Blue Skies for me this past year. Um, I was, for some reason I found myself mowing the yard back in, uh, Kentucky. This summer.

[00:11:11] And I think I exclusively listened to Sturgill while, um, I was, uh, doing that activity. Did you listen to the album where he's literally sitting on the lawn? Yeah, I think Cutting Grass or whatever. I listened to that one. Um, I listened to the, uh, the new Johnny Blue Skies, uh, record. Uh, it seemed like over and over again. And, and obviously we've talked about, we both went to that, not, didn't go together, but we were both at the Sturgill Simpson concert in Nashville and it's just, holy smokes. Oh. So that, there's a good reason why he was the top two on my list.

[00:11:40] I don't know if anybody else can say that, but, uh, then it gets weird. At number three was Childish Gambino, which if anybody isn't familiar with that, kind of, uh, it's Donald Glover. Yeah. Um, the, the actor and writer, um, and he has a rap persona and, uh, I think it would surprise a lot of people to know that, hey, sometimes if I'm in the gym, I just need to listen to Childish Gambino. Honestly, the only time I've ever listened to Childish Gambino that I've turned it on is in the gym too. So I get it.

[00:12:07] And then, uh, my last two are Tyler Childers at four and then Vampire Weekend at five. Which, I feel like that's pretty on brand. Talked about, yeah, talked about some alternative rock stuff. So, uh, I have always appreciated bands like that. And I love, like, alternative music. Again, I think if, like, like, all 60 were to come out, like, 10 years ago, they wouldn't be country. They would just be alternative. Yeah. And, like, that's, like, another, the weird shift that's happening right now. Definitely. Um, and I also want to touch on some of our, like, favorite concerts from last year.

[00:12:36] I actually, like, I put all the, all the concerts I go to on my calendar and I tried to count and I went to over 35 concerts last year. Which is on the low side for me. The year prior, I think I went closer to 100. That's. Yeah. That's crazy. I just got tired. So, I slowed it down a bit. But I think we'll agree that one of our top concerts for last year was Sturgill Simpson. Yeah, without a doubt. I knew it from the very get-go and I know we've talked about this before.

[00:13:00] But whenever I showed up at Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville and saw that Sturgill had maybe, like, a, not even a, what would you say, 100 foot screen behind him? Nothing. Interesting. Um, and then there was, there was no production to it whatsoever. He just played for three and a half hours. It was awesome. And you know, a lot of people's, you know, I like Taylor Swift. A lot of people's, like, argument is Taylor Swift goes out there and plays a three and a half hour show with no intermission or nothing. Who else does that? Sturgill Simpson.

[00:13:30] Sturgill with a lot less, you know, I haven't been to a Taylor Swift. In no means do I want to get on the wrong side of the Swifties, but I know that Taylor does a lot of the extra production stuff. So much production. And Sturgill, three and a half hours of just him. Just him. It was awesome. Other concerts I really loved in 2024 was Shane Smith and the Saints at Red Rocks. Haven't been to Red Rocks. That's on my, that's on my 2025. It was so good. To do list.

[00:13:57] I lived in Denver, so I used to frequent Red Rocks all the time. And whenever I go back, I try to hit a show. But 49 Winchester also opened up for them. And it was just epic. That's a great show, yeah. And I had all my best friends with me. And it was just a great show. Yeah, I mean, besides Sturgill, I saw Dierks Bentley at Bridgestone, too. I was very surprised because I would consider myself kind of a casual Dierks Bentley fan. But he won me over there. Really? So I'm a big Dierks Bentley guy. And who opened up for him on that show? Well, I know Zach Top. Yeah.

[00:14:27] Made a cameo appearance, if you will. Gosh, I can't remember. I can't remember. I assumed it was Zach Top because I remember seeing those videos of him come out. But he was just an appearance. I don't think he opened. I think he just came out. And I might be wrong in that. But I was also a couple drinks in, so I can't answer confidently. But I also, I know we frequented the Grand Ole Opry. And I remember seeing Jelly Roll there. I was really impressed with him. Got to meet him. One of the nicest guys I've ever met.

[00:14:56] And then I was also 49 Winchester at the Opry 2. It was awesome. And then, obviously, Reba at the Opry. I can't believe I didn't see that. She was amazing. And I can't believe how great she sounded still. She's still got it. I love her. She's awesome. She's someone I want on the podcast before we stopped doing the podcast or before her time is up.

[00:15:23] I want her on the podcast so bad this year. Last year, Brooks and Dunn was not on my list to have on the podcast. That's true. And we had him on. So I'm aiming high now. That's exactly right. And one last concert. I think that was actually one of my favorites was Post Malone. In Nashville? In Nashville. I think I saw him three times last year. But that was the one I spent my money on and went to go. I took my boyfriend to Nissan to see it. And it blew me out of the water.

[00:15:53] And obviously, Post Malone is great at what he does. And his country crossover is very controversial. And I love Post Malone. I don't love all his country music. I probably like a percentage of it. But I like when he covers the country songs. I think he's great. I wrote a story last year about how I thought the songs that he did by himself were the best ones on his country album. Or the extended version that he put out. I appreciate the collaborations.

[00:16:21] But also, if I want to hear Post Malone, I want to hear Post Malone. Yeah, no, I agree. But I think the show just surprised me so much. And that's why it was so good. And he did a mix of his old stuff and his new stuff. And the old stuff was just less production, more country. Which was definitely up my alley. Let's switch over to some podcast goals for 2025. Do you want to go first? Yes, I do. We had talked about this.

[00:16:50] I'm a big fan of trying to get a country artist to sign up. And I don't know if we'd have to sign a waiver or a disclosure. I don't know how this would work. But us just going drink for drink with the country artists. And having designated drivers to get us safely home. But just having a hell of a time while we're recording. That's one of my goals for 2025. I am not joking. I think we could do that in our second episode of the year if you're actually serious about it.

[00:17:19] Wow, there we go. As long as none of the involved parties are doing dry January. Sure. Yeah, that would be an issue for sure. But that's a good goal. You know, my goal for this year is to get drunk with you on the podcast. You changed your goal? Honestly, we've never been drunk together. True. And my goal is also just to have my favorite artist that I'm so passionate about. And hopefully you too. To have on here. To have just some conversations you won't hear anywhere else.

[00:17:48] We have Colby Acuff planned for the next podcast. And he is someone I sit down and I have conversations with regularly. That are oddly deep. And I just love picking his brain. I'm looking forward to that one. This next one should be really good. There's so much to talk about there that it'll be good. And then I want to do these intros more. This is really just to get people to know us. But I kind of want to do these intros to kind of talk about a little bit more of what's going on in country music.

[00:18:15] I pulled the top five stories that we had on Whiskey Riff this week. And we're not necessarily going to go through them all. And they kind of vary between country music and not country music stuff. Stuff from the Landman soundtrack, which is huge right now. To like you had a viral story about the Yellowstone. Yeah. You can talk about that. I did, yeah. And it's funny because whenever I got hired on for Whiskey Riff to be a writer, it was kind of presented to me as I'd be writing just about country music.

[00:18:45] But if you're a fan of Whiskey Riff or the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, you probably know that it kind of encompasses a lot more than just country music. We cover sports and culture and outdoors and lifestyle stuff. And so I find myself as, I guess, somewhat of a chameleon because I write about every single thing that we have as a topic on the website and came across a video of some tourists giving their dog a bath in a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park.

[00:19:13] Obviously, you're not even supposed to enter the hot springs, let alone bathe your dogs in them. So, yes, you can look that up under the title Clueless Tourists Give Dogs Hot Spring Bath on the Whiskey Riff website and read more about that because that was definitely eye-opening. I could not believe it. Yellowstone National Park, though, it's such a good mine for content.

[00:19:38] I'm sure that they would rather us write about the natural beauty of the park or the bison population holding steady, but instead most of the time it's someone getting flipped up in the air by a bison or like the one I just mentioned, people being stupid. You know, I didn't realize how often it happened until I started working at Whiskey Riff and then I could see all the articles that shock me. But I love that it's kind of like all-encompassing because I love country music

[00:20:07] and it is my number one passion, but I love that we kind of cover everything because like the pop culture like crossover or politics or everything, I just think it just adds another layer to it. It's like, yeah, the country music is great, but like how much it's grown this last year, just like it's really shown in Whiskey Riff because it's in everything. It's in Garth Brook playing a funeral today. It's everywhere.

[00:20:34] And that's a good way to look at it because obviously country music has always been, one could argue that it was always in kind of a box and it's almost as if someone took the top off of the box and it's been allowed to spread where it fits. And I think that's what Whiskey Riff has done as well. It's like, hey, if country music is going to do this, we cover country music, so let's cover everything else. So it's been great. Well, I hope we do these a bit more prior to episodes.

[00:21:01] And for everyone who's listening right now, please be sure to follow Whiskey Riff Raff on Instagram and Twitter and to subscribe, like, do all the things on every YouTube, Spotify, everywhere. Everywhere you listen. Whiskey Riff. That's right. And one last question I think we should probably end with every time is, what song are you currently listening to a lot right now? Easy. Easy. I Never Lie by Zach Topp. You know, it's, I mean, I can't get away from it. I really can't.

[00:21:30] And everyone's had the last, like, year, six months, ever since it came out, I think. I can't remember where I first heard it. Obviously, I saw Zach play with Dirks in Nashville. But it's one of the best country songs I can remember. I think initially whenever I heard Zach Topp, I thought it was Alan Jackson. I can't do that. Or I thought it was, like, someone pretending to be Alan Jackson. Yeah. He's got such a great voice.

[00:22:00] That's another artist that I would love to be able to talk to in 2025. That'd be awesome. Hopefully this year. What about you? Mine is Wintering by Josiah and the Bonnevilles. It's not even his song. He does, like, country covers. But I, like, I went home for Christmas on December 23rd. And the song lyrics are literally, I go home on the 23rd. And it's just been stuck in my head ever since. But I love Josiah and the Bonnevilles. He's also, like, such a great guy. I've met him a couple times. Awesome. Well, that's it for now.

[00:22:29] And please enjoy our interview with Jacob Young of Ol' 60. You have had a lot of TikTok success. Wish. First Smoke and a Light and now Thoughts of You, which I feel like has been literally all over. My TikTok. Sorry. No, I love the song, so I enjoy it. But how do you feel about TikTok in general? Do you think it's going to get banned? I don't know. I don't know too much about it.

[00:22:55] I just, it is, like, a very useful thing, you know, for artists. We have had a lot of success on TikTok. It's definitely, like, the thing that broke us. And I'm grateful for it. But I try not to, like, spend all my time on there, you know? Yeah. It's hard, though. Sometimes I'll be, like, just scrolling, you know? But. Does your own stuff come up in your algorithm? Yeah. Well, so sometimes.

[00:23:24] And I just, I, like, have a physical reaction when I hear my own music. Like, it makes me tense up. Like, my girlfriend will be scrolling. I'll hear it. I'll be like, turn that off. Yeah. Get it out of here. I don't want to hear it. But, yeah, I mean, I'm grateful for TikTok. I hope it doesn't get banned. But if it does, we'll adapt. I think we've established, like, good enough bases on all platforms that that wouldn't hinder us, you know? I think we're crossing our fingers as well.

[00:23:54] Not holding our breath about it, because, like you just said, we could always shift to something else. And, like, there for a while we didn't have TikTok, so I'm sure we can get along without it if we needed to. But I know you wanted to mention that you've run into Jacob before, right? Yeah. I've actually ran into you, I think, and a couple other guys at Red Door. Oh, hell yeah. You know, I was just a tad bit drunk. And I was just like, hey, I'm Shelby. I work for Whiskey Rift. And that was about it. But I always feel like it's always, like, I don't know, I don't get really nervous, like, going up to people and, like, saying hey.

[00:24:24] But I wonder, like, with you, when you deal with other artists, you know, you probably deal with a ton of them. Do you ever go up and say hi? Do you kind of wait for them? Like, what's your approach? I like to wait. Like, when we're opening for people or, like, at festivals, like, if I see somebody, I'll walk up to them and say what's up. But, like, as far as, like, reaching out to people, I don't, I try not to reach out to anybody. Because I don't know.

[00:24:49] I like, I don't want to come across as, like, pushy or whatever. But I also think that there's something to be said when someone reaches out to me, you know, because I'm new. And up and coming. So, like, when someone does reach out to me, it's like, oh, wow, like, this is, this is cool, you know. And I don't know if that's silly, like, that I don't. But I'm typically, like, we sometimes find ourselves, you know, in a backstage area or something like that.

[00:25:17] And I'm always a little divisive about, like, should I go up and, because I don't want to bother this person. That's what I always feel like. I don't want to bother them. But also, I'm not ever going to put them in an uncomfortable position, right? So it's just like, hey, like you said, hi, I'm Quinn from Whiskey Riff. Yeah. And I leave it at that. But clearly, like, I understand where you're coming from, too, is like, I would rather almost them approach me. That way I know that the guard's down and I don't have to, I'm not bothering anybody.

[00:25:44] And it's like a, like a nod, I don't know, like a nod type of thing, you know. Like, I would, I would rather my first interaction not be me introduced, like, being like, hey, I'm a fan of yours. This is me, like, listen to me. I want them to be like, hey, I know you. Yeah. Like, I like you. Let's hang out or something. Yeah. I don't know. It's a. Have you had anyone surprising, like, come up to you and say, like, hey?

[00:26:16] Um, yeah, I mean, yeah, I had a, I did a, like a John Prine tribute at the Burrell in Lexington. Yeah. And afterwards, Tyler Childress fiddle player. Wow. Approached me and I was like, what? Like, this is really cool. You know, being from Kentucky, he's like royalty around there. Yeah.

[00:26:42] So we'll talk, we'll definitely touch on some more Kentucky stuff as a fellow Kentuckian sitting right here. But we do want to talk, obviously, about your music. And it's an exciting time for Old 60. And I know, or I wanted to ask, like, what does it feel like as an artist, you know, for fans that are tuning in and listening to this or maybe even being introduced to you all through this? What does it feel like as an artist to finally, like, get that break? Because obviously, maybe you guys have been working at it for a while and then you have that success with a song like Smoke and a Light.

[00:27:12] And all of a sudden you're thrown into, you know, you're considered a country music band. So I was still working. I worked at a factory before this. And it was an aluminum factory. I was still working there in February of last year. So before that, we had put out, while I was working at the factory, we put out a four-song EP. And it was in August of 23. And that was like the first music that we had done.

[00:27:40] And, like, we didn't have the full band that we have now. It was just me and two other guys. And we made the EP and we put it out. And that was, like, the very first time that we had tried to do anything. And we hadn't played any shows. Like, we played our first show January of last year. So we're coming up on, like, a year. I think it was the 11th. So it was, like, a Raze Rowdy thing out at Winners.

[00:28:06] And so we didn't really, like, like, I don't know. We didn't. I feel guilty at times because we didn't have to do the grind thing, you know. And which this past year we played a bunch of shows and, like, went out and did it. But, like, before our break we didn't have to do any of that stuff. And it was just crazy because it did happen because of TikTok and, like, social media and Instagram. Like, everything just started going at once. And you just wake up.

[00:28:36] Like, I just woke up to go to work at my factory job. And I was like, what the hell is happening, you know? Like, my phone wouldn't stop buzzing. And it's like I don't really know that we were even looking for that to happen from putting out the music. Like, we were just making music and putting it out there. And then it happens. And you're like, okay, how do I adapt to this? Like, this is obviously a sign that I need to keep going.

[00:29:02] And so, I don't know, the next couple months are just, like, a scramble, you know, meeting, shaking hands. Like, who do I need to meet here? Who wants to meet me here? Like, people telling you what you want to hear and trying to get you to, you got to, like, seed through everybody. And it was just chaos for, like, two or three months. But then you settle down and you get good, start playing shows. That was, like, the main thing because we hadn't played shows. Like, we had never done that.

[00:29:31] And we're a brand new band. Some of us hadn't even been playing our instruments for, like, a couple months at the time that this all happened. And we're like, holy shit. Like, we're going to have to play shows. So, we get out and the first show we played was in Birmingham, Alabama. This was, like, after the Rage Rowdy thing. We did a show in Birmingham, Alabama. And it was the worst, like, experience of my life. Yeah. I thought I was getting fired.

[00:30:00] I was like, everybody's done. Like, we're not going to, this isn't for us, you know. And we had a come-to-Jesus moment backstage. And then we were in Tuscaloosa the next night and we turned it around and everything was good. Okay, maybe we can do this. But I don't think I, still, like, I don't think I've gotten used to it, you know. It's, it's something new every day and still trying to figure out how to navigate it.

[00:30:27] I realized, like, one of my things that I wanted to do was reach out to people and be like, how do you deal with, like, I want to make friends and be like, how do you deal with this? Or, like, when this happened, what did you do? But then I came to realize very quickly that everybody does everything completely differently. And there's, like, no right way to do anything. So you just have to make it up as you go. And that's what we do every day. So.

[00:30:51] It's interesting to hear that, you know, you guys weren't intentionally trying to make it big, I guess you could say. I don't know, I might be saying it wrong there. But with all that that you just said, and then how cohesive the band sounds now. I know that's what a lot of your fan base loves about Old 60 is how cohesive of a band. It feels like you guys have played for a long time together, but you haven't, right? Right. That's what you're saying. That's what you're saying.

[00:31:17] So, like, how, can you speak on, like, how have you guys been able to crack that code where, like, you sound like you've been together for years? Yeah, so we, like, whenever we first released the EP, we started getting together because we wanted to play shows. And that was that August. And we all got together. And it was four of us at the time. It was me, Ryan, who plays guitar, Aiden, who's the drummer, and Colby, who plays bass, who was a guitar player before and he just started playing bass.

[00:31:46] Aiden picked up the drums when he messaged us on Instagram and asked if we needed a drummer. Like, he didn't play the drums. That's crazy. Yeah. So we got together every night at a pizza shop that me and Ryan worked at. It's called Galaxy Pizza. And we practiced for, like, five, six hours a night just running through the same five, six songs over and over and over and over again until we were confident enough that we could play them in front of people. And then we did, and it didn't go good.

[00:32:16] Everybody was freaking out. But I don't know. I think that you just kind of have to get better. You know, you have to keep becoming a more cohesive band. And you have to get tighter. And, like, even now we're not as tight as we could be. You know, like, every day we could be getting better. And I think that everybody had the same mindset. You know, like, we need to do this. We need to get better. We need to get tighter.

[00:32:43] And it just kind of has happened over the year. You know, especially playing a bunch of shows. You know, you go from playing zero shows in 2023 to playing, I think we did, like, 80 this past year. But we didn't start until March. So it was like, for a band that's never played shows, you're out there just playing a bunch of shows. You're going to get better. You're going to get tighter.

[00:33:03] You know, and I think throughout the course of the year, like, I wish we could go, I mean, we will at some point, go back and play the first shows that we played again so that those people can get a proper show. So probably a lot of, like, fake it till you make it. Yeah. Yeah. Are you guys all around the same age or anything? Yeah. So it's 20 to 30 is the age range of the band. Aiden is 20. He's the drummer. And then Dwight is the utility player. He's 30. We're all kind of in between there. Okay. Yeah.

[00:33:33] I saw a video of you guys covering Yellow by Coldplay, which was really cool. But I was wondering because, you know, I'm 28. I didn't think about that. But I had a, like, that was, like, one of my favorite songs, like, growing up and, like, really discovering, like, music. And so I was wondering, like, where the inspiration comes from. Is it from the 30, the 20, or is it, like, everywhere in between? I think it's kind of all over the place because we did Coldplay. We've done Skinner.

[00:34:01] We've done Oasis. We're working in some new covers this year that are going to be really cool. Some, like, Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins. Like, it's... I, personally, I'm, like, big into the grunge stuff and, like, the alt rock and... You're like Cage the Elephant? Oh, yeah. Love Cage the Elephant. They're from Bowling Green. Bowling Green. That's right. Yeah. They're from... It's, like, an hour away. That's where we recorded our first EP. Really? Bowling Green. Awesome.

[00:34:31] And, uh... But, yeah, stuff like that. Like, I don't know. I like the rock stuff. And then, uh, the rest of the guys, for the most part, are all, like, metal heads. So, it's weird that we're up there playing Coldplay, but, you know, I love that song, so we play it, and I think we do a good job with it, I hope. But it's fun. It's, like, my favorite part of the show when we play Yellow, so... Is it weird that you guys are considered a country band, then? Sometimes, I think.

[00:35:01] But, like, when we started the band, I was like, we're not your father's country band. Yeah. You know? And it was, like, a line that we had, and we still use it. So, I think if we call ourselves a country band by saying that, but we're not really... Like, there's... I think there's more rock, and there's more folk. And it's... There's, like, two paths that we go down sometimes, but I don't know that any of it's, like, country. There's definitely elements of country in it. I think that comes from, like, the songwriters that I listen to.

[00:35:32] Like, I love John Prime. Like, he might not be country, but it's... There's a lot of country in what he writes. And, like, Nick Jamerson, love his stuff. But then, like, the music is, like, grungy, kind of. So, I don't know. It's just, like, a weird mashup that probably isn't country. Yeah. I mean, I feel like it's just, like, the climate of country music right now.

[00:35:58] It's, like, everything's just this umbrella of country, even though it's, like, all over the place. We have a playlist called, like, Sad Boy Cowboy. And, like, that was kind of, like, our kind of mix in there. And I want to rename it. I'm trying to figure out, like, what to rename it. Because it's, like, I've seen, like, Sad Yeehaw vibes. Like, I don't want to take someone else's, like, or, like, the alternative. Like, I don't want to take someone else's thing. I want to, like, come up with something else. But I'm, like, what is it that it's like? It's, like, southern rock, but country. Yeah. Like, because all the influences are pretty much country.

[00:36:27] It just sounds a little bit more rockish. I don't know. But it's... Either way, it's good and I like it. Yeah. And there's a lot of, like, a lot of bands doing, like, that thing right now. But every one of them sounds different, I feel like. Like, like, like, Treaty Oak, obviously. Yeah. They're amazing. And then you got, like, Dexter and the Moon Rocks who are completely, like, different. Yeah. But it's the same feeling that you get from listening to it, I guess. I don't know. But it's just, like, music's in such a weird place.

[00:36:57] It's a cool place, but it's weird. And it's... I think it's due to streaming, you know? Like, you can just... If I want to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd, I'll listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd. And then the next song's going to be a Smashing Pumpkins song. Yeah. And I think that's why people... Like, genres have started kind of going away. And, like, everybody's just making what they want to make now, you know? Right. Yeah. Plus, I grew up on, like... Like, middle school was Oasis, was Paramore, was, like, that kind of music, too. So, it's, like, I love country music, but also, like, that's what I grew up on.

[00:37:26] So, I feel like it all works. But you write a lot of sad songs. Yeah. I love... Like, I love the sad music. But you talked about, like, you know, you were kind of heartbroken and, like, that's kind of what inspired it. But you just shared with us before we started recording that you're in a relationship now. Yes. So, do you think the music's going to start getting happier or are you going to keep pulling the sad? I do have some love songs that I've been writing. Like, there's definitely still going to be a lot of sad music.

[00:37:56] But I don't know. It's just... I think it's easier for me to put myself... Like, when I write, I feel like I have to, like, feel, you know, like, what I'm writing about. And it's easier for me to just get sad than it is for me to get happy. I don't know. That makes sense. Yeah. Which, I mean, also, sounds like there might be some new music on the way. Because I know a lot of, you know, your all's fan base is waiting for that debut album. Yeah. Anything you can share in that one?

[00:38:25] Been writing a lot. We've got new music coming soon. I don't know when. But definitely this year is the plan. Like, a lot of new music. We're still in the early stages of an album, I would say. Like, we're still writing it. But that would be the plan. Yeah. I always wonder with bands, like, do you have plans to collaborate with anyone? Because, like, as a band, like, you guys are all collaborating with each other.

[00:38:53] But, like, bringing someone else or, like, a lead singer of another band in, like, how does that even work? Well, I think that, like, I would love... I love, like, the idea of collaborating with other bands. Because the coolest thing... And I mentioned before that I'm, like, a grunge guy. And the coolest thing to me is, like, when the bands would come together and form something different, you know? And, like, you had, like, the way Pearl Jam was formed.

[00:39:18] Like, from a tribute band of a band called Mother Love Bone, who then ended up being the band Pearl Jam. Like, it's... I don't know. I just love the idea of, like, bringing in another band. Because a band is, like you said, a collaboration. So, why not make that collaboration bigger, you know? And just bring in more brains and people that play different than we would. And just try to make something cool.

[00:39:45] But, yeah, there's definitely plans, like, in the near future of some collaborations. It's exciting. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mentioned Owensboro earlier. So now I'm going to talk more about Owensboro. Obviously, that's kind of where you guys... You could kind of drop your origin point, right? Right. The name of the band, I don't... If you want to tell the story, I know it's kind of out there. But it's inspired by the road between you and Tristan, right? Yes. Okay. So Tristan's no longer in the band. Whoops. Sorry.

[00:40:15] Yeah. So Highway 60 is... It runs, like, all the way through Kentucky. And there's a section of it through Hancock County and, like, Maceo and Owensboro where they built New 60. And the road's not technically called Old 60, but, like, that's what everybody calls it. And when I would go out to play and write and just play guitar, I would take Old 60 out there.

[00:40:47] And when we were, like, deciding on the name, we had, like, the... It was, like, a joke. Like, we were, like, Old 60. Like, that's what we are. And then we were, like, okay, we need to sit down and actually figure out a name for this because we're going to start putting out music. And I was always really gung-ho on Old 60. Ryan wanted to not name it Old 60. He was, like, that's corny. Like, we're not going to do that. We need to figure out something else. And I was, like, no, like, I think that it actually does work. And it stuck, so...

[00:41:17] Was there anything else in the running that you can remember as far as odd things? Um, yeah. He wanted to call the band Clovis, which I thought was, like, it's a cool name for, like, a prog rock band, you know? Yeah, yeah. Or, like, a Kentucky metal band. I like it. But Old 60, I mean, now I can't picture you guys as anything else. Right, yeah. But I think I'm, like, part of the movement that every band name sucks until it doesn't, you know?

[00:41:45] Like, I don't think that any band name is good when it's just the guys out there playing in a bar. You're like, what's this band called? Yeah. Old 60. Jacob Young and the Owensboro Boys. Yeah, yeah. It's never an option, I guess. Well, I'm from Kentucky as well. I've frequented Owensboro. And I'm sure everybody from Owensboro that's listening right now is like, yeah, they're mentioning Owensboro, Kentucky. But if you had to tell people about Owensboro, what would it be and why would it be a plug

[00:42:15] for Moonlight Barbecue? I was literally sitting here, I was going to, barbecue, you need to come try the barbecue. We were, we played in, this is, sorry, I'm sidetracked, but we played in Colorado, Denver. And we did a show out there and this person showed up with a Moonlight Barbecue cookbook. No kidding. He was like, can you sign this? This is the coolest thing I've ever been asked to sign. But yeah, no, Moonlight Barbecue is great.

[00:42:39] I think like the, there's a history of music, you know, around that area, like through Ohio County and Owensboro and Muhlenberg County and like that, just that whole area. Yeah. The third region in high school. But there's just a lot of, a lot of history through there. And I don't know, like the, the Riverwalk, like we're down Smothers Park, downtown Owensboro is like one of the most beautiful places that you can go see.

[00:43:09] And if you're ever driving through Western Kentucky, stop in Owensboro, stop in Hallsville too. Yeah. That's it. And to, to help you plug Owensboro, I feel like that's a place where people just drive through. Yeah. But it definitely is worth a stop because I, I've been there many times and gotten a lot of barbecue. Oh yeah. And it's always, it's always a great stop. It's actually the barbecue capital of the world. I think that that is self-proclaimed, but it is the barbecue capital of the world. And every year they have the barbecue fest.

[00:43:37] So if you're ever looking for some barbecue or something to do, the barbecue fest is cool. Maybe I need to go. As someone who's not from Kentucky, like what is, like what is the greatest accomplishment that you can do for like the state of Kentucky? Like we talked about how like Tyler Childers is like royalty in Kentucky. Like what can you do? So like. Like playing the Burrell is already like. Playing the Burrell is, is definitely an honor. Yeah. Like to, to get to do that.

[00:44:01] Um, and I think Rupp, like Rupp Arena, being a UK fan, some people might say the Yum Center because it's pretty like split, you know, but I think Rupp's a lot more historic. And, uh, I went to basketball camp there when I was like 12. So it'd be cool to play a concert there.

[00:44:23] There, there's like, uh, the, the Friday After Five that we did in Owensboro this year, uh, which is like a free concert series they do out there. And, uh, it was like the second largest public gathering in Owensboro, downtown Owensboro history. That's really cool. So the Friday After Five's are cool. The first largest gathering in downtown Owensboro history was the last public execution. Okay.

[00:44:54] Well. So you've got to get that title. So that's not in the history books. Um, yeah. An old 60 downtown Owensboro concert, maybe to top that list instead of that. Yeah. Maybe we'll have to do it again. I don't know. I think so. I think so. Which I was going to ask a little bit later on, but you mentioned it. You're a Kentucky fan. So you're sitting right now across from a Louisville fan. But we'll, we'll let it slide. We've gotten along pretty well so far. Yes. So I don't want to, I'm not the type of person that's going to hold that against you. I hope you don't, you do the same for me. I'll be civil.

[00:45:24] I'll be civil if you be civil. Because I mean, it legitimately, you're talking about Kentucky stuff like Louisville and Lexington, you know, I don't know how many miles apart they are, but they hate each other. It is, I mean, it probably does come up in like the best rivalries in sports, but, uh, I don't think people understand. Like I grew up poor, poor Quinn was raised a Louisville fan and I went through hell whenever I was a kid, you know, cause everybody else is Kentucky fans.

[00:45:51] I feel like Kentucky fans probably outnumber Louisville fans. I don't know, 10, 10 to 10 to five or 10 to two. It's, it's, it's, it's pretty bad. But obviously Kentucky has had a lot more success. I'm assuming what's the story of you becoming a Kentucky fan? My dad was just a Kentucky fan. I pretty much got all my sports from my dad. He's a big Cubs fan too. But so I also hated the St. Louis Cardinals. Yep. So like if I see a Cardinal, I get angry. That's fair. Yeah. Yep. That's fair. Yeah.

[00:46:21] Any other sports you follow? NFL? I'm a Colts fan in the NFL. Shucks. Couldn't make the playoffs this year. So it was next year. We'll see. Yeah, probably not, but. Yeah. No, they can't figure it out. But it's all right. Just a couple more questions before we dive into rapid fire. Are there any, like what is the craziest fan experience you've had?

[00:46:46] Whether it's on tour, whether it's like someone following you to the bathroom. I don't know. We were playing at the Burl and there was this guy who was really drunk and you could see him during the show. And the way that the Burl set up, I love the Burl. So this is nothing against the Burl. The way that it's set up is the stage and then you go, you have to walk across the parking lot to get to the green room. And it was super cool. This is unrelated again.

[00:47:16] But they brought us, we were like joking in the green room. We were like, it'd be sick. Because it's like maybe a minute long walk to the stage. Like what if we had a limo to like bring us from the green room that everybody can see to the stage? It's like drives like 50 feet, you know. And then we open the door to go out and there's a limo waiting for us. But so we're walking back to that green room after the show and we get in. You know, everybody's hanging out. There's like fans outside. We got the door open.

[00:47:46] We're just like hanging out. Well, we go into the green room, shut the door. And then this dude opens the door, walks in. And my name is Jacob. He's going, Jacoby, Jacoby. Real drunk. It's like, I need to give you a hug. And he's just like stumbling across the green room. Everybody's like, whoa, dude, you need to get out of here. He ended up, they like just turned him around. Pushed him back the other way. And he just drunkenly stumbled out. I think about that guy. All the time. Hopefully he's still alive.

[00:48:16] I hope he's having fun. You know, he's having fun that night. Maybe he's listening to this right now. Yeah. Very well-can-be. Probably. Okay, we'll end with some rapid fire, which usually ends up not being as rapid. So don't feel bad if it's not as fast. What are your 2025 predictions? 2025? Like for what? Anything. Like, I don't know, LA's on fire right now. What's going to happen in Nashville next? Or music or whatever.

[00:48:45] I think that the NCAA championship goes to Kentucky in basketball. March Madness. I think the Colts still suck. I don't know. We've got, I think that we sell out our show at the Beaver Dame Amphitheater in Ohio County. That would be so sick. Hell, I don't know. Those are all good ones. Beaver Dam. Shelby, do you know anything about Beaver Dam? I know nothing about Beaver Dam.

[00:49:15] We always, so I'm from far west Kentucky, and we always referred to Beaver Dam as halfway to anywhere in the world. Is that referred to in the Owens Bros. world? I've never heard that. Well, if you know that stop that's right there, like the gas station, I think it's a Hux now. That was the whole thing is that stop right there was halfway to anywhere in the world. Obviously, it's only halfway to like probably Lexington or Louisville. Depends where you start from. Yeah, that's true. That's how we always refer to Beaver Dam. I'm excited to see how those predictions age. Yeah.

[00:49:45] I'm very most confident in the UK one. Yeah. Yeah. Let's hope that that one works out. Although they did just lose to Georgia. Well, what song do you have on repeat right now? Can I say an album? Sure. The Binge by the Radiohead. Specifically, Fake Plastic Trees and High and Dry. Those two songs are just... Fake Plastic Trees is awesome. I feel like it needs to be a law that when someone is making a new album that they needed

[00:50:12] to write down what they were listening to at the time that they were making it, so then you can put all the pieces together. It's like you would have the most random references, but you would never know where it came from unless you knew what they were listening to at that time. Right. Yeah. No. So, yeah, if the album sounds a little radio-heavy, that's why I've been listening to a lot of radio-heads. Is there anything outside of country music that you're oddly obsessed with? Music-wise? Anything. Not country music. Oh, anything outside of country music that I'm oddly obsessed with.

[00:50:43] So, this is a new one. I never watched Game of Thrones, and I watched the first season and I stopped, but I've been reading the books now, and I can't put them down, so I'll say the Game of Thrones books. I'm halfway through the second one, and they're long books. Yeah. That's what I was going to say. We've been doing this podcast for, I don't know, almost a year, but I don't think anyone has brought up books, really. Yeah. Like, not a lot of artists read, but it's also another creative thing, so it makes sense to me, but almost no artist ever talk about reading.

[00:51:13] I think it's important. Like, I didn't read. And then I had a meeting with, like, this producer, and he asked me, he was like, do you read? I was like, not really. He was like, you write, but you don't read. Well, I'm going to start reading. So I started reading. Here I am obsessed with Game of Thrones. That's a fair point. Yeah. Because I write for a living, and oftentimes it's like, if I'm writing, why would I go read after a full day of writing? Yeah.

[00:51:38] I could see you think that it's a little bit beneficial to dive into it. I mean, you can be inspired by anything, you know, movies, TV shows, a commercial, a song that you hear. Like, you can be inspired by books, too, to write. And I've found, like, a lot of inspiration through reading since, like, I started reading last year. But, yeah, I think it's important. Go-to hangover cure. Not a great transition from the books topic. Goodies powder.

[00:52:07] Do you know goodies powder? Or, like, a... I don't. It's like BC powder. Okay. Yeah. But it's goodies. And if you take, like, no water, just straight into the mouth, swallow it, like, 20 minutes later, you're golden. Okay. Yeah. There we go. Name something that's overrated. Something that's overrated.

[00:52:36] Like, what comes to mind first? I don't know if I'd say it out loud, but... Something overrated. The next question's name something underrated. So, if you could think of something underrated and then overrated. I've got my overrated. Okay. McDonald's, I think, is overrated. Okay. They're not a sponsor of the podcast. Okay. That's fine. I can say that. Yeah. I just say, like, it's good, but there's, like, so many better options.

[00:53:05] Like, I'm never just going to go to McDonald's, but they're, like, the first fast food restaurant you think of when you think of fast food. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So then, yeah, underrated would be the next question. I'm going to say right now, but I think this can be added in my 2025 prediction. Raising canes is underrated, and I think that they will not be underrated by the end of 2025. I feel like they're pretty hype.

[00:53:29] Well, they're just, like, not every, like, we just got one in Owensboro a few years ago, and that's, like, it's still a 30-minute drive for me, but I'll eat canes, like, twice a day. I've heard people refer to it as overrated, too. I am in the camp of it's underrated and I could eat it every week. Yeah. But maybe it's just because I didn't have it growing up. Yeah. I don't know, but it's so good. What is an embarrassing onstage moment?

[00:53:56] So we were playing this festival in St. Augustine, and this wasn't me, but I thought this was very funny. But we're playing, and it was going good, and then all of a sudden the drums start sounding a little weird. And this is a testament to we haven't been playing very long, and we're still learning how to do this stuff. And I turn around, and Aiden has lost his drumstick, and he's smacking the cymbals with his hands.

[00:54:28] And I, like, I was like, I don't know if I'm mad or if I think that's hilarious. And I turn and look at Colby, the bass player, and he is hunched over, like, just laughing as hard as he can. And I just lost it. It was the hardest I've ever laughed onstage. But I'm sure that that was embarrassing for Aiden, so Aiden, I'm sorry to bring that up. Was it a learning moment to you? Oh, I've never heard him hit it with his hands again. I mean, I feel like it's, like, your reaction. Like, what else do I do?

[00:54:56] That was the first time he'd ever, like, lost a stick. So he's lost sticks since then, and he's recovered much better. That's good. Now my goal for today is going to be to find that one video somewhere. Yeah, I'm sure it's out there. St. Augustine. It was a sing-out-loud fest. This one might throw you for a loop here, and we don't want to make PETA upset. So how we word it is, what is the largest animal you could take in a fight? 1v1. 1v1.

[00:55:26] Maybe we could also present it as if you had to fight an animal in self-defense or something like that so we don't get in any trouble. I don't think we'd get in trouble. I don't think you didn't listen to this. Don't worry. Okay. This is a tricky one. Yeah. Me and my roommate used to actually have this conversation often. And I think it's much smaller than most people think. Like, I think that I could, I don't know.

[00:55:55] So, like, I don't think I could take, like, a wild cat of any sort, like a bobcat or, like, a, I don't think I could do that. Mm-hmm. But I feel like, like, a larger than that size, like, I don't know. I think I could take maybe, like, a baby doe. Mm-hmm. Not even a... Like a fawn. Yeah. Not a full-size one. Yeah. I don't think those things will mess you up.

[00:56:24] Yeah, do you or feisty, I've seen them kick people before? Like, I think that I could, but I think that there's many situations that I don't, you know? Yeah. Well, I appreciate your transparency there because there are some people that would be too confident and say an animal like, you know, a bobcat or something like that. No, those things will mess you up. Like, you might beat it, but you're getting messed up. Yeah. Right.

[00:56:52] I think we had a video go viral of, like, it was, like, a hunter, like, hunting, and this deer literally just, like, attacked him. And then there's another guy just, like, video recording it, and it's hilarious. Yes. But I'm like, I'm not messing with one of those. Mm-mm. No. Okay. And last one, what is your ideal bar meal? So pick a shot, a beer, and bar food. I love tequila, so I'm going to say Patron. Okay. A beer.

[00:57:21] I was a big Miller-like guy, and I still am, but I've been heavy on the Coors Banquet recently. So I'm going to say tequila, Patron Coors Banquet, and a food, you said? Just buffalo wings. Buffalo wings. Yeah. Any favorite? I mean, I just, like, I like the medium buffalo sauce anywhere. Anywhere I go, that's what I get, so.

[00:57:44] Well, pro tip for when you're in Nashville, there's a place called Centennial in the nations, and they're known for their wings. Like, everyone loves their wings. Hell yeah. It's, like, the diviest of dive bars. I'll have to check it out. Well, that's it. So thank you so much for being on the podcast, and we're looking forward to some new music this year. Yeah, thank you for having me. Thanks so much.