Tucker Wetmore fans will have to wait a little longer for the follow-up to the country singer’s breakout album, What Not To.
“I thought I was done with it a month or two ago, and I’m like, ‘Nope, I’m not done. I’m not done yet,’” Wetmore, 26, exclusively told Us Weekly at CMA Fest presented by SoFi in Nashville on Friday, June 5. “We’re pushing it back a little bit, but I’m very, very, very excited about this next chapter that I’m going to be entering, and [it] just feels like me.”
Wetmore shared that he has been working on the record for “a long time now” and cannot wait for fans to hear the finished product.
“I’m in love with it,” he enthused. “I love the songs. I love the songwriting. … It’s pretty much everything I love about music as a whole.”
Wetmore decided to pursue country music after a leg injury abruptly ended his college football career. The Washington native moved to Nashville in 2020 and signed a record deal three years later. He quickly found success with hit singles including “Wind Up Missin’ You” and “Brunette,” both of which were featured on 2025’s What Not To.
Now, Wetmore is feeling the pressure to continue his hot streak.
“As creatives, I feel like we spiral a lot,” he told Us. “We’re constantly overthinking. We’re constantly thinking about, ‘Oh, what’s next?’ or ‘Was that last thing I just did good enough?’ It’s like this OCD kind of thing that a lot of artists and musicians have, and now I’ve definitely fallen into that, especially the past couple months, if I’m being honest, working on this album.”
When he gets in his head and starts to have doubts, Wetmore turns to prayer.
“My grandpa was a pastor, so I grew up literally sleeping on the altar with my cousins, like, having sleepovers every week. I was always in the church,” he recalled. “I think with everything that has happened in the past couple years, I have no choice but to be like, ‘God, it’s yours, man. It’s not mine.’”
Fans have already gotten a taste of Wetmore’s upcoming album thanks to his recent singles “Proving Me Right” and “Sunburn,” but he is not afraid to experiment with other styles and sounds.
“Music is music,” he told Us, citing yacht rock as one of his favorite genres. “If music is making you feel something, it’s doing its job.”
Wetmore helped kick off CMA Fest on Thursday, June 4, with a performance on the main stage in the midst of his Brunette World Tour presented by Nütrl.
“[It was] nerve-racking,” he admitted. “I felt joyful. I felt blessed. I felt excited. Maybe a little too excited. It was crazy.”
Wetmore added, “I try to take a couple seconds throughout each show — doesn’t matter where I’m playing — and just look around the room, try to look everybody in the face and take a moment for me and that 10-year-old me. I did that last night on stage, and I couldn’t look everybody in the face. There [were] a lot of people there.”
