Tucker Wetmore Talks Career Beginnings, Reveals Reaction to Debut Single 'Wine Into Whiskey' Being a Viral Hit (Exclusive)

If you've spent any time on social media in the past few weeks, you've almost certainly heard "Wine Into Whiskey," the debut single from singer-songwriter Tucker Wetmore. The lovelorn track is infectiously catchy and painfully relatable, making it a prime song for social media users on TikTok and Instagram to snag for their videos.

Recently, PopCulture.com had a chance to chat with Wetmore about his music, and he offered some insight into where his passion for writing and performing began. I started playing piano when I was 11," he shared. "I just sat down at one and didn't really get up for a really long time. Just all self-taught. Piano, guitar, trumpet and band and stuff like that."

"It started when I was 11," Wetmore continued, "all throughout... I want to say sophomore year of high school. I was playing pretty heavy and then I put everything down. I wasn't ever playing for anyone." However, he explained that at one point, he "pretty much everything down" and "focused on sports."

While Wetmore was set on advancing his sports career, that plan ended up getting shut down before it really even took off. "I went to Montana, after high school, played football there, played a year of it there. I ended up breaking my leg during spring ball," he revealed, "so towards the end of the year, for the third time. Twice on my left and then once on my right. I was like, 'Yeah, I think it's about time to hang [it] up.'"

This led him back to his hometown in Washington state, where he eventually mapped out a new direction for his life. "I moved back home and got a job at a coffee shop. Didn't really know what I was doing with my life at all. I had sat my mom down and I told her, I was like, 'I'm lost. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm not working towards anything.' Then she goes, 'Why don't you just go sit in front of your piano?' I was like, 'That's a crazy idea. I'm going to go do that.'"

With his mom's advice giving him the push he needed, Wetmore says that he sat down and "wrote my first song ever" that night, then joking, "It was a terrible song, but I wrote it." He continued, "I started writing a bunch and then I was like, 'Mom, I want to pursue this. I think this is my calling.' She goes, 'I've been trying to tell you this for 10 plus years.' I moved to Nashville and that's where it took off."

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What do yall think of this one? #originalmusic #countrymusic

♬ Wine Into Whiskey – Tuck

After making it to Nashville, Wetmore began doing writing sessions, and one fateful day he and his "best friend in the world, Jacob Hackworth," and their good friend Justin Ebach crafted "Wine Into Wiskey," and the rest is history. "I remember sitting there in the room after we wrote it and he pressed play and we listened [back]," Wetmore recalled. "We just sat back ... I sat back on the couch and we all looked around the room, waiting for somebody to say something. We were pretty much all simultaneously ... like a choir, we were like, 'This is a smash.'"

"We knew we were onto something for sure," Wetmore added, then admitting that, even though he knew the songs was a hit, he never imagined it would have the impact that has. "Did I think that it was going to resonate this well with everybody? Absolutely not. You can't really predict something like that. But by the grace of God, it did. It's all Him. It took off and it's still continuing to take off and it's super cool."

In the wake of 'Wine Into Water" going viral, Wetmore says he's received a lot of messages from new fans who have been touched by the song. "I get DMs every day about just like, 'Hey, man, this song changed my life.' Or, 'This song made me look at my relationship in a better way,' which was our entire goal of creating this song."

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Offering some context, Wetmore explained, "I might not be able to relate to everything in the song. I'm not saying I'm perfect. Nobody is. But, I grew up with four sisters and seeing the relationships that they went through and stuff like that, and my mother as well, she went through the same stuff... I sat back and I asked myself, I was like, well, what if I put myself in them guy's shoes? And if he were to hear what he's doing, would he still do it?"

"I feel like that's a lot of the problem nowadays is nobody wants to take blame," he continued. "Nobody wants to take ownership of things, but if they're told in a melodic way I guess what they're doing and how they're acting and ... they're like ... I don't know. It's resonated with a lot of people. I get it all day every day, and it's like, that was my whole goal."

Click here for links to follow Wetmore on social media, and click here for his official website, including a full list of concerts and tour dates. Keep it locked to PopCulture.com for more from our conversation with Wetmore!