Fifteen years is a long time, especially for a band—people grow up and grow apart—but not for the Texas five-piece Green River Ordinance, who’ve been together since they were 15-year-old high school students. A decade and a half later they’re still making country-inspired folk-rock music together with their latest offering, Fifteen, topping Billboard Folk Albums chart in January. We caught up with 2/5 of the band to talk about everything from crashing hotel parking lots to opening for Bon Jovi.

Their Name is Not Inspired By the Green River Killer

“Green River Ordinance is an ordinance against door-to-door solicitation”, vocalist Josh Jenkins explains. “When we started the band as teenagers, there was a street sign in one of our parents’ garages that said ‘Green River Ordinance Enforced.’ In the spirit of Creedence Clearwater Revival, it felt like it fit the vibe of the band. The other option wasn’t really good; it was Five Card Draw. So we went with a little cooler name.” So the name has nothing to do with the Green River killer. “Our music is very happy, so it’s definitely not about a killer," he assures us, although agreeing that a story about a killer would make a good country song. “You know what? You just gave me a good idea,” Jenkins says with a laugh.

They Never Punched Each Other (Though They Wanted To at Times)

“Geoff and Jamey are brothers and Josh and Joshua went to the same high school,” drummer Denton Hunker explains. “I met them in college. We were all in the same town in Fort Worth.” Sure, there were some struggles. “Any time you get five individuals, put them in a van and drive them across the country, something goes wrong,” Jenkins says. “We all grew up together; we’re all friends. We never punched each other, but as you go through all these different seasons and stages of life, there are always challenging moments, like with any relationship. We learned a lot about each other during these 15 years.”

There’s Always Some Drama on the Road

“One time Jamey ran into the yellow pole. We were driving in between San Diego and LA and we pulled off at the hotel at 4 in the morning. Turning around in the parking lot, we hit the yellow pole at 20 miles an hour,” Jenkins recalls. “The van breaks all the time, too. Flat tires? We purchased over 100 tires! People always look at you and say, 'It’s so cool you get to play music.' Yes, it is, but there’s so much more to touring than the actual music!”

They Had Quite a Disagreement with Billboard

The release of the band’s fourth album, Fifteen, brought both good and bad news to the band. Topping Billboard’s folk chart was obviously a pleasant experience, yet nobody expected Billboard to decline the band an opportunity to enter the Country Albums Chart. “The current state of country music is so eclectic,” Jenkins comments. “A beautiful thing about art is that art doesn’t live in one place. You can create a country record, but it can live in different places, and that’s how we feel about our music. A lot of the people we look up to are currently marketed the same way. Country music is part of who we are. You can’t listen to our record and deny that there are country roots. Ultimately, the fans decide and a lot of the love for this record came from the country fans.”

They Opened For Bon Jovi Once

And they say it was “their most rockstar moment.” Behavior-wise, they like to keep it calm though. “We’re a pretty tame band,” Jenkins admits. “I don’t think we’ve ever done anything super rock ’n’ roll.” Did they ever set a hotel room on fire at least? “I wish we could, but we don’t have enough money!”

They Have Some Secret Talents

Instead of ruining stuff, they actually like to create. Hunker, for example, makes bags in his spare time. “I make leather and canvas bags when I’m not on the road.” Send us one, please?!

You’ve Probably Heard and Seen Them on TV

“We played The Young and the Restless one time, which was pretty hilarious. We were also on a show called Hart of Dixie, and it was a bar scene, so we were actually on the set," Jenkins reminisces. Apart from TV shows, they want to do more late night shows. “We’ve done a few local late night shows, but we’re looking at a few bigger opportunities and that would be a lot of fun.” 

There are 11 Songs on 'Fifteen'

“We’ll probably release some b-sided at some point, but we didn’t even think about making it a 15-track record,” Jenkins explains. “We should’ve been smart and round up the whole number thing!” Hunker agrees. So the number stands for the band’s anniversary. “And we really met when we were 15,” Jenkins adds. “This record is a combination of everything we’ve done so far. Our first record on Capitol was very rock ’n’ roll, and over the years our sound has gotten more Southern. Fifteen is a bridge between these two”. Talking about favorites, Hunker picks one, “It’s 'Keep Your Cool'—such a fun song for us to play live. The fans seem to really like 'Keep My Heart Open,' too.”

They Had Trouble Getting Off the Stage Once

“We played a show in New York at Webster Hall. After our show we started getting our gear off the stage and the DJ was starting to set up his stuff at the same time, and before we even got off the stage he was already spinning," Hunker remembers. "There was a massive crowd of dancing people. It was a huge mess of us, big boxes of gear and people who were dancing to some electronic music. It was a great soundtrack for us to load out on though.”

They’ve Got Their Own Whiskey King

It’s Joshua, the guitarist. “He always has a whiskey bottle in his backpack on the road. It’s fairly large. It’s always Kentucky Deluxe or something like this,” Hunker reveals. Do they have whiskey on the rider? “YES!”