Ole 60

Self-described as “Not your father’s country band,” Ole 60 is a relatively new band of five young men who write and perform songs with themes as old as the hills. While their home is in country music, their influences range from classic country to grunge-rock.

The two founding members, Tristan Roby and Jacob Young, are both from small Kentucky towns and were introduced by a person who knew the two had to meet. The band’s name, Ole 60 honors the US highway that’s the major road between their respective hometowns.

Ole 60 began as a duo with Jacob on lead vocals and guitar and Tristan on rhythm guitar. The band seems to have formed organically, through various links and routes, first when lead guitarist Ryan Laslie joined. (His brother managed a restaurant in Jacob’s hometown.)

After the group released their first EP, Three Twenty Four in 2023, Aden Wood joined the band as their drummer. As “Smoke and Light,” a track from that EP became a hit, Colby Clark joined the band to play bass, and Ole 60 gained national attention earning more gigs throughout the South and Midwest.

Their songs have modern lyrics that would be at home in the blues, and music firmly in the country built on a foundation of rock. Jacob’s songs have smart lyrics with rhymes that shouldn’t work but do, and stanzas with more words than seem necessary, but wouldn’t work as well any other way.

Ole 60 is a truly original band, with strong roots and the ability to make the audience feel both the beat and the heartfelt, and sometimes heart-wrenching, lyrics.