Country Next: Tucker Wetmore

Tucker Wetmore, a former athlete, is quickly emerging into a country star with his recently released debut single “Wine Into Whiskey.” 

The highly anticipated new single was released on February 23. It climbed the charts, landing at No. 3 on the iTunes chart ahead of Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake and BTS. 

Coinciding with the release, Wetmore debuted his first-ever visualizer designed to spark some self-reflection and some real-life changes. 

“Putting out my debut single is a moment I’ve been waiting for for a very long time. This song felt like the right first release because of how it resonated with people,” Wetmore shared in a statement. “Growing up with four sisters who mean everything to me, I’ve witnessed how they’ve been treated in relationships, and that was the inspiration behind this song.”

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A post shared by Tuck (@tuckerwetmore)

Wetmore continued, “Two of my best friends, Jacob Hackworth and Justin Ebach helped me bring it to life, and I thought it’d be a good way to bring light to situations that others might be going through. Maybe, it might even help a few boys turn into men through a little self-reflection if they are on the wrong side of the narrative. This is just the beginning of what I’ve got in store, and I’m pumped for y’all to finally have it.”

Tucker Wetmore recently caught up with Country Now to discuss his musical background, his life in sports, his recent releases and more. 

Read on to find out more about Tucker Wetmore in this exclusive Q&A below.

How did you begin a career in country music?

I started playing music when I was 11. I just sat down at the piano one day and didn’t really get up. Then I picked up the guitar shortly after that. I wasn’t playing for anyone at the time or playing any shows. It was just kind of like my therapy. I have an ADHD brain and then I had a bunch of other stuff going on in my life, so music was always just my muse. I kind of stepped away from music towards the end of my freshman year and the beginning of my sophomore year to focus on sports because I thought that was what I wanted to do. My main goal was to go to college and play football, which I did. I went to Montana and played a year of football there, but then I ended up breaking my leg for the third time. I thought I should probably start taking care of my body a little bit, so I moved back home. I drove 12 hours with my left foot because my right one was broken. I was home for a little bit and I was pretty lost in what I wanted to do still. I was working at a coffee shop, not really doing anything, and so I sat my mom down one day and I was like, ‘Hey mom, I’m lost. I don’t know what to do.’ She said, ‘Why don’t you just go sit in front of the piano and go pick up a guitar? Go do something that you used as therapy to give you some answers.’ I ended up writing my first song that night. After that first one, I started writing a lot more by myself and then probably four or five months down the road I was like, ‘Hey mom, I really want to do this. I want to chase this music thing.’ She encouraged me to go for it and I thought ‘Well, I guess there’s nothing stopping me.’ So, then I moved to Nashville and I was here for about a year and a half. I signed my first publishing deal, and ever since then, I’ve been writing every day trying to get songs in the catalog. I started teasing songs and people started liking ’em, so that’s kind of where I’m at now. 

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You mentioned that sports were a big part of your life growing up. In what ways did sports prepare you for the music business?

I’ve been playing sports since I could walk. I was swinging a baseball bat before I could walk pretty much. I guess it taught me a lot about working with a team and how you can’t really do anything without a team. It taught me how to be disciplined when it comes to working towards something and having a main goal in mind. Obviously, you have side goals, like however many touchdowns you want or home runs or whatever, you have your side goals that you work to achieve, but then you have that one main goal that you work to achieve with your team. Overall it taught me a lot about hard work and dedication. 

What would you want fans to take away from your music?

Whatever they want. If you need a smile in the rain, then I got some of that stuff coming out, and if you need to frown in the sunshine, I got some of that stuff coming out too. It just goes song by song. Music helped me get through a lot of stuff at a really young age, so if I can just make something that helps at least one person get through something, then that’s what my music is truly all about. It’s a universal language. 

You just released a new single, “Wine Into Whiskey.” What thoughts and emotions were running through your mind leading up to the release of not just any new single, but your very first one?

I was scared. Well, not scared I guess, but just nervous. Obviously, we knew I was doing good on socials, but there was really no hard evidence that this was going to work. There’s still a lot of questions and there’s still a lot of stuff, but it’s streaming through the roof right now, which is phenomenal. Like I said, for the last year and a half to two years, we’ve been writing every day and getting this catalog built up. I’m super blessed and I’m super excited to just finally be at a point where we have this heaping pile of songs that I think we’re ready to start teasing and setting out.

Can you talk a little bit about what it was like to film the “Wine Into Whiskey” visualizer?

Oh, it was so much fun. We rented out this place in West Tennessee. The guy that actually did the video, he’s one of my best friends in the world. His name is Cameron Packee, and then my other really good buddy, Caleb Swanbeck was, I don’t know the actual term for it, but the helper on the set. We stayed out there for two nights, filmed all day, and then I kind of got to hang out with two of my best friends. It was just really cool, because it was like my first experience in front of a camera with the song. I think it was really cool to be comfortable with the people around me and just feed off of each other’s ideas. It was just a good time.

Did you find that acting was hard for you or did you feel like yourself on camera?

At first, it was a little different. I want to say the first couple of hours I was like, this is weird. I got a camera in my face and they’re telling me to do my thing. I’m like, well now I’m on the spot. I can’t do that right now. It took me a little bit to get my feet under me in front of a camera, but we got in the groove of things. We did three different sets and I actually think the last set was the entire visualizer. For the three different sets, we had a kitchen set, a hallway set, and then the bedroom set, which is the one y’all have seen. I think that it came together better than all the other sets. It was just a matter of timing and recognizing that ‘oh yeah, it’s just a camera.’

What was your reaction to the support of “Wine Into Whiskey” on release day including claiming the No.3 spot on the iTunes all-genre chart?

I wasn’t expecting it at all. A  great way to put it is just that I was caught off guard. I was like ‘holy crap, this is real and it’s working.’ I’m still speechless about it. I had the release party here with a bunch of my friends and my whole team and stuff like that, and I remember sitting here at the table around 12:30-1 o’clock in the morning. My manager and publisher, Rakiyah Marshall England, looks at her phone and says ‘Are you ready for something crazy?’ I said sure and then she turned it around to show me [the chart]. It was wild. I remember I didn’t even say anything, I just stood up and walked around the corner. I took a deep breath and I was like, ‘damn, this is wild.’

You are going out on the road with Kameron Marlowe and performing in your home state of Washington. What will these shows be like for you?

I think my mom is going to pick me up with the RV from the airport. I think she’s actually going to tour bus us around that whole weekend, which is going to be awesome. I got all of my hometown friends and my family coming out to the shows. I think we start the weekend off in Spokane, and then we got one in Portland, and then we got one in Seattle. My hometown’s right in between Portland and Seattle. It’s two hours south and then an hour north of Portland, so she’s just going to tour bus us around that entire weekend. At night, I’ll probably stay at her place out there and just hang out with everybody I love, which is going to be so cool.

Can fans expect an EP or an album from you anytime soon?

We just released a single, and then we have one more single coming very soon before the tour. I think right after the tour, we’re going to work on my first project. Hopefully, fans can expect that before the end of the year.

What are some goals that you have for yourself before the end of this year?

Enjoying it. That’s my main goal is to be happy with everything that’s going on and really sitting back and taking the time to just reflect and be like ‘Hey, Tuck, you’re killing it, man.’ Just enjoying the moment and not worrying about the next one because it’s going to come regardless. I think that’s my main goal and my second goal is to tour more, release more music, and just continue to build a fan base. My fan base is just ridiculously cool and it’s growing. It’s the coolest thing in the world.

Fans can keep up with Tucker Wetmore on Instagram @tuckerwetmore.