With Downtown Kingston’s inaugural RoadTrip Music Festival just weeks away, anticipation is building in town. Like its predecessor, the Limestone City Blues Festival, RoadTrip is hosting a curated selection of musicians, ranging from touring artists to a handful of local and regional performers like indie folk singer-songwriter Piner to pop rockers Tiny Horse. 

For a single day festival, RoadTrip packs in a lot of musical diversity.

Within a few blocks you can check out bands playing anything from funk to rock to pop. If country music is your thing, make sure you’re at the Montreal Street stage at 1 p.m. to catch Tyendinaga’s rising country star O Green. 

Singer-songwriter Oronhyathe Green is relatively new to the local music landscape, but you wouldn’t guess it from his music. From his rich, deep voice to his blue-collar storytelling, O Green’s music fits in more closely with the tradition of ‘60s and ‘70s outlaw country he grew up with than the pop radio country of today. 

None of this is accidental. O Green grew up in a musical family, playing guitar alongside his father and grandfather and absorbing the sounds and styles of the country greats that defined the genre. Though his production is clean and modern, you can hear that old soul sound in his three singles, “Nothin’ But A Truck”, “Me And Mine”, and his most recent track, “Country Till’ I Die”.

When we catch O Green, he’s enjoying a bright summer morning in Tyendinaga. He’s fresh off the Owen Riegling concert at the fair in Stirling, a village about 20 minutes north of Belleville. He’s feeling inspired, and we sit down to discuss the influences behind his music and what he has in store for his performance at RoadTrip.

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You've referenced people like Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings as big influences of yours. What about those classic country artists really speaks to you?

O Green: I think there's two major aspects to it. One being that it’s the music that I grew up around, and it's always sort of spoken to me, and it's always been a big part of my life. Old school music like that, I catch myself hearing a song that I haven't heard forever, and I know every word to it just because it's a song I've heard my whole childhood.

The other being the truth and the things they sang about in older music is way more true and realistic. I think people can relate to that a lot more. Rather than, say, a song that's not very true to someone's heart, but it's catchy, you know what I mean? I feel like if you're singing about something you've experienced, it's definitely more relatable.

You've said before that your music is tied to both where you're from and the people that mean the most to you. How does Tyendinaga play into your music?

O Green: It's actually funny. I've been asked this question a couple times, and I always bring it back to this. And as a songwriter, I feel like most could maybe relate to this. But any song that you write, I feel like it's being written long before you ever actually write it and put it down on paper. It's your experiences you've had growing up. It's your experiences you've had back home with people you've met, things you've seen. And so all of those are building blocks to be able to put these songs together. And so obviously the community here would play a huge part in my songwriting, my career, because it's the only place I've ever lived. I've lived in the same spot my whole life. So it’s huge for me.

How are you feeling about joining the bill for the inaugural RoadTrip Music Festival in Kingston?

O Green: I am so excited! It's gonna be great. I love Kingston. Kingston is my favourite city. Such great people. And so to be able to go there and play at a new festival, I'm so excited. And bring in the guys with me too. I know they're excited and we're gonna put on a good show.

How are you feeling about repping country music at RoadTrip Music Festival? 

O Green: It’s pretty cool to come to these things that are genre diverse like that. And I think that's the beauty of music is nothing is really ever the same. There's a thousand different ways to do the same thing. And so that's exciting to see. 

But yeah, as for country, I always try to do justice to those artists that paved the way for modern artists. When you look at the whole outlaw country push, what they were pushing for is for us to be able to do what we wanted in our own way. 

For your RoadTrip Music Festival performance, are you going to play originals or are you going to mix in some covers?

O Green: I like to do a bit of both, yeah. My covers are some older timeless classics, you know. But I do a lot of my originals too, so I like to do a mix. I think that's the best way to do it.

For a country music fan considering checking out RoadTrip Music festival, why should they make sure to catch your set?

O Green: I think they should catch my set because I do show a lot of that older music that has paved the way for modern music to come along. 

O Green: Some younger people don't really know about those older artists, and I think they definitely should. I think that is the building blocks of modern country music, and I feel I kind of show some of that in my original music, as well. Like, that's my style. It's going to be a great festival, and I think they should definitely be there.

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Links to O Green’s social media and streaming music accounts can be found here. Learn more about the RoadTrip Music Festival here.

Posted: Aug 18, 2026