Country singer Tucker Wetmore reflected on how his faith guides him through the ups and downs of life.
The 24-year-old musician, who released his debut album “Waves on a Sunset” and launched his first headlining tour on Friday, is a rising star in the country music scene. During an interview with Fox News Digital, Wetmore explained how staying committed to his faith helps him stay on the path that he believes God has planned for him.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for faith,” Wetmore said.
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“Spiritually and musically and my faith that I have within my work and in the music and stuff,” Wetmore continued. “I pray every single day for just like random stuff.”
“It’s hard in the line of work that I do to not slip up and not kind of fall off a little bit,” Wetmore added. “And I catch myself and I do that, and then I lean on my people and like, ‘Hey, I’m struggling really bad right now,’ and stuff like that.’ But then He always keeps me centered. He always brings me right back and be like, ‘No, this is the path that I have for you.’ And I’ve never doubted that.”
“But it is tough. It is tough at times. And I would be lying if I said it wasn’t. But then I sit back, and I’m like, ‘No, this is it. This is His path for me.’ And I just got to sit back and trust and listen.”
WATCH: COUNTRY SINGER TUCKER WETMORE HAS ‘NEVER DOUBTED’ GOD’S PATH FOR HIM, BUT ADMITS IT’S ‘TOUGH’
Wetmore’s plan for his life took a turn in college when his dreams of an NFL career were shattered after he broke his leg while playing football at Montana Tech in Butte, Montana.
“Football was my only goal for as long as I can remember,” Wetmore recalled. “My goal was just to try to make it in the draft and do what I could in college and hopefully make it to the league someday.”
“I had terrible grades,” he added with a laugh. “So, that was a struggle. But my main focus was football, and getting injured for the third time really made me sit back and be like, ‘I need to leave.’ And so I dropped out of college, and then I was super lost.”
Wetmore returned to his hometown of Kalama, Washington, and began working at a coffee shop to make money. He told Fox News Digital that he had a conversation with his mother about feeling aimless during which she reminded him of his love for music and how it had helped him through a tough time in his childhood.
“I sat my mom down, and I was like, ‘Mom, I’m so lost right now. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life,'” he recalled.
Wetmore continued, “I was like, ‘I had so much purpose, and now I’m doing nothing.’ She was like, ‘Go sit in front of your piano, go play guitar.’ And she was like, ‘That was your therapy. You know, when you were 11, you were going through a bunch of stuff family-wise.'”
In a 2021 interview with Music Update Central, Wetmore said he started playing piano and guitar at age 11 when his father left their family.
“I was young, but I wasn’t naive,” he told Fox News Digital. “I wasn’t stupid. I knew what was going on in my family. That bothered me. So, I just emotionally flowed that all into the piano or whatever it was. She’s like, ‘Just go do that.’ And then I wrote my first song that night and I didn’t look back. I was like, ‘I can’t believe I put down music this long.’ You know, I needed to realize – to come to a realization. That’s what I wanted to do. But I didn’t look back. I started writing every day. And then eight, nine months down the road, I was like, ‘Mom, I want to do this.’ She was like, ‘Go do it. Go do it.’ I was like, ‘I’m moving to Nashville then.’ So, that’s why I’m here.”
Wetmore moved to Nashville in 2020 and independently released the singles “Kiss My A$$,” “Another Shot” and “She’s Trouble” in 2021. In a March 2024 interview with Billboard, he said that he began uploading videos of himself performing covers and his original songs to social media, where he caught the eye of Back Blocks Music founder Rakiyah Marshall. Wetmore signed with Back Blocks and later entered a partnership with UMG Nashville.
In February, Wetmore released his first commercial single, “Wine Into Whiskey,” which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Hot Country charts. He followed up with “Wind Up Missin’ You,'” which peaked at No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 11 on the Billboard Hot Country chart.
WATCH: COUNTRY SINGER TUCKER WETMORE SAYS ‘SMALL TOWN LIVING IS THE ONLY WAY OF LIVING’
Though Wetmore found success by moving to country music’s biggest city, he told Fox News Digital that growing up in the small town of Kalama was the “best thing ever.”
“Small town living is the only way of living, in my opinion,” he said. “I grew up in a town with 2,500 people, and probably 1,500 of those people were retired. So it was like an older community and it was right on the river. So it was just a lot of fishing, hunting every once in a while.”
Wetmore continued, “I grew up fishing and stuff like that. And then having just the support group that I have out there — I was super blessed with just really good, beautiful people on the inside and out, being surrounded by them. And you know, you can’t really get that in a big city.”
“Well, you can, but not in the sense where it’s like, ‘We ain’t got no one else but each other, man.’ And you know that’s all small town living is. We just love each other, and we know everything about each other, even if you don’t want people to know it. And that’s just how it is. But I mean, I’m a huge fan of small towns.”
Wetmore told Fox News Digital that he was raised in a home next door to the Highway Tabernacle Church of God, where his grandfather was a pastor. He recalled that much of his childhood was spent at the church, where he routinely attended Sunday services, played basketball and hide and seek and had sleepovers with his cousins and family members on the altar.
The hitmaker said he was inspired by watching his grandfather lead services every week.
“I grew up in the church and I grew up seeing him preach,” Wetmore said. “I always say like I would give – with all the success and all the things that are going on, it’s really cool and it’s my dream. But I would honestly some days just give it all up just to see him preach one more time.”
“I can’t really put words into seeing your grandpa there,” he added. “Doing something that’s bigger than himself, and I miss it.”
During his interview with Fox News Digital, Wetmore recalled growing up listening to multiple genres of music, including heavy metal, reggae and country. The music of Jerry Lee Lewis inspired him to learn piano and Wetmore said he counts Alan Jackson and David Allan Coe among his influences.
However, Wetmore explained that he aspires to create a musical style that is all his own.
“I make different music than I enjoy listening to, if that makes sense, he said. “I make what I love to make, and I make what makes the most sense for me in that sense.”
Wetmore continued, “I don’t really let my influences persuade my writing or persuade the production sound. It’s kind of just I’m trying to build my own lane and my whole thought behind it is — and especially with this EP coming out — my whole thought behind it was: Let’s make something that sounds new, that sounds fresh, but it makes you feel like you’re familiar with it at the same time.”
“That’s that’s my whole process and that’s my whole thought behind, you know, the creative aspect of everything.”
Ahead of the release of his EP “Waves on a Sunset,” Wetmore made his debut at Nashville’s famed Grand Ole Opry. The singer took the stage on Sept. 20, where he performed a three-song set and received a standing ovation from the audience.
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Following his performance, UMG Nashville Chair & CEO Cindy Mabe and Mitchell surprised Wetmore by presenting him with two RIAA Gold plaques, certifying his hits “Wine Into Whiskey” and “Wind Up Missin’ You.”
Though Wetmore is setting out on his first solo tour, the musician is no stranger to the road. This year, he opened for Luke Bryan on the country star’s Farm Tour, and he will hit the road with Thomas Rhett next year on the five-time Grammy Award nominee’s Better Than Boots tour.
Wetmore told Fox News Digital that he’s a “huge fan” of both Bryan and Rhett.
“Getting these opportunities to meet these people and being able to play with them is cool because I do look up to them, and they run their ship the way I want to run my ship,” he said. “It’s just being a sponge out on the road, and it’s really cool.”
WATCH: COUNTRY SINGER TUCKER WETMORE SHARES WHAT EXCITES HIM ABOUT HIS FIRST HEADLINING TOUR
While speaking with Fox News Digital, Wetmore shared his excitement over hitting the road on his Waves on a Sunset Tour.
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“There’s so many things to look forward to,” he said. “Just being on the road is a blessing within itself, you know? And then what makes the headline so cool is that it is sold out.”
Wetmore continued, “Almost sold out — I think it’s like 97% right now, but that’s my first one. So, it’s like all of these people not just coming to the shows because I’m opening up for someone.”
“All just going to be my fans and the people that want to come watch me perform and sing these songs and sing them with me. I think that’s what I’m most excited about is really getting to connect with my fans and getting the opportunity to do so.”
Wetmore also shared his reaction to being billed as one of country music’s 2024 breakout stars.
“I’m just here, man,” he said. I’m just happy to be here, you know?”
“That is very flattering, and I’m very blessed to be in the positions and the opportunities that I am,” Wetmore added. “But at the end of the day, I’m doing what I love. And that’s more than anything money can buy.”
“And my mom always told me, she was like, ‘You do something.’ And this is super cliché, but she’s like, ‘You do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,'” he added. “And I live by that. I wake up every morning, I get to do stuff like this where I get to talk to someone new and about cool things that are going on. Or I get to go on stage and I get to open for Luke Bryan or Thomas Rhett.”
“I get to do these cool things where it’s like, I never thought it would be possible, but it’s all a blessing. And I’ll never take it for granted.”
