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Tucker Wetmore with Katie Neal
Tucker Wetmore is on the ride of his life after entering the Country music world with his debut single, “Wind Up Missin’ You” which is currently top 15 and climbing.
While it may look like it’s all success right now, Wetmore recently opened up to Audacy’s Katie Neal revealing his music career is the result of a life-changing injury that kept him from seeing his dreams of becoming a professional athlete.
“I was in Montana, I played a year of football there and I’m gettin’ scout player of the year — they’re like, ‘Hey you’re the number one guy for the next four years — you’re the number one receiver, let’s roll.’ I was like, ‘Alright, let’s do it,’ but it just didn’t feel right for a couple months towards the end.”
The Washington native continued to recall, “I remember sitting down after coming home from practice and… I locked myself in the bathroom and I just started bawling. Like, weeping crying.” In the midst of his meltdown, Wetmore tapped into his church-based upbringing for guidance and confided in God, asking for “a sign.”
“I was just like, I need a sign,” he shared. “The next day, I went to practice like I would any other day and very first play, run a post over the middle and snap my leg in three places.”
A career-ending injury for the now 25-year-old was a tough pill to swallow at the time, but looking back, he says’ it’s “exactly what I needed.” While the sign to part ways from football was clear, the next step wasn’t necessarily revealing itself. That is, until Wetmore’s mom encouraged him to spend time at the piano - a habit that he used to have in his younger years to decompress after school, before homework.
“She was like, ‘just go sit at your piano — that used to ease your mind back in the day,’” he shared before remembering how much music helped him through his childhood after learning to play “by ear” and YouTube tutorials.
“I started to teach myself when I was 11, never had a lesson on anything,” he shared. “I would just sit down and play for hours. Literally every single day I'd come home from practice and before I could wrap my head around homework, I'd have to decompress on piano.”
Mama Wetmore’s advice following’s Tucker’s injury is just what he needed to propel himself to the next step. Later that very night, Wetmore wrote his very first song and a few months after that, he packed up and moved to Nashville to chase his new-found dream of being a Country artist.
“Five months later, I was like, ‘Mom, I want to do this, I believe I can do this.' And then she was like, 'I never doubted you for a second, go do it,'” he said.
It was a big move for Wetmore, who prides himself on being a big family man and moved to a town where he didn’t know a single soul. That didn’t stop him from integrating himself into the town quickly. Twenty years old at the time, and in the midst of a global pandemic, Tucker defied the odds and started seeing things take shape. He was quickly signed to a publishing deal which was later followed by a record deal that he signed Summer 2023.
Just over a year later, Wetmore is celebrating his debut single at Country radio, “Wind Up Missin’ You,” in the top 15 as well as the recent release of his album, 'Waves On A Sunset,' available now.
“First and foremost, I wanted to portray who I am as a person and as an artist,” Wetmore said of his intentions with the project before simply stating he needed more songs to fill his already sold-out shows. Fans will also be excited to know there’s a lot more where this album came from as he shares it is a direct lead into his next project which will dive deep into some of his biggest, present-day challenges and most tumultuous relationships.
While there’s lots to look forward to, Wetmore does his best to take things one day at a time, and recently, that means getting ready to hit the road with Thomas Rhett for the 'Better in Boots Tour' in 2025. Th ...
