Tucker Wetmore talks with Katie Neal in the 'Katie & Company' studio.
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00:00He just dropped his highly anticipated EP Waves on a Sunset.
00:04He's got a top 20 single.
00:05Hanging out with us for the first time,
00:07Tyra Wetmore, how are you?
00:08I'm good, how are you doing?
00:09Thanks for having me.
00:10I'm great, I'm so happy that you're here.
00:11This is like our first time sitting down
00:14and getting to know each other.
00:15So we'll talk all about the EP, the single, everything.
00:18But first, I know your bullet points.
00:20Like I know you're from Pacific Northwest.
00:22I know you went to school, played football.
00:24Football injury led to music.
00:26But kind of like walk me through childhood,
00:29getting into music and getting to this point.
00:31Yeah, so growing up,
00:33I lived on the Eastern side of Washington.
00:35And my grandfather was a pastor.
00:37So like my entire growing up,
00:39childhood up until I was like 10 or 11,
00:42I was in a church and literally every single day.
00:45And it serves as a daycare during the day.
00:46So we were always there and all my cousins,
00:50you know, lived with us as well.
00:51And it was like a huge thing.
00:53So like that was a lot of my growing up and then sports.
00:57Sports led to college.
01:01And then college led to a lot of hurt, broken bones.
01:07I would say, what was the injury
01:08that like ended things for you?
01:10It was, so I blown up my left knee twice.
01:13And then my third one was my right leg slash ankle
01:17was a complete blowout of everything.
01:20And it did not feel good.
01:22I was gonna say, that's a lot of time to be like
01:24in recovery and then like, oh, that sucks.
01:27It was a couple months, at least.
01:28And then, so when did you start playing music?
01:30I think like piano, I read is first thing you learned to play.
01:33Piano was the first thing.
01:34I started to teach myself when I was 11.
01:36Never had a lesson on anything,
01:38but I would just sit down and play for hours.
01:40Literally every single day I'd come home from practice.
01:42And before I could like wrap my head around homework,
01:45I'd have to like decompress on the piano.
01:47And that's, my mom knew that.
01:48And she understood that.
01:49And she just let me go play for like two hours
01:51and then I'd do my homework.
01:52How did you learn then?
01:53By ear, I'd listen to songs on YouTube, helped a lot too.
01:59You can learn to do anything on YouTube.
02:01Exactly, yeah.
02:02You need to learn how to rebuild a 65 Chevy.
02:05It's on YouTube.
02:07Are you doing that?
02:07No, but it's just like anything.
02:10All right, so then at what point
02:12do you decide to like pursue music?
02:14This is like after school or you leave school,
02:17what happens?
02:18Yeah, so I was in Montana.
02:20I played a year of football there
02:22and I'm getting scout player of the year.
02:24They're like, hey, you're the number one guy
02:26for the next four years.
02:27You're the number one receiver.
02:28Let's roll.
02:29I was like, all right, let's do it.
02:30And you know, I just didn't feel right
02:33for a couple months towards the end.
02:34I remember sitting down, come home from practice
02:37after a lot of stuff was going on in life.
02:41I sat down, locked myself in the bathroom
02:43and I just started bawling, like weeping, crying.
02:47I was like, hey man, I know it's been a while.
02:49I just need a sign.
02:50I need, and I'm talking to God.
02:53And I was like, I need a sign.
02:54And so like the next day I went to practice
02:56like I would any other day.
02:58First, very first play, ran a post over the middle,
03:00snapped my leg in three places.
03:02I was completely blown.
03:02You could have used a less painful sign.
03:05But I needed it.
03:06I needed it.
03:07And the moment it sucked.
03:08But then I moved home and I sat my mom down
03:12a couple months later.
03:13I was like, I'm still so lost, mom.
03:14And me and her are tight, like super close.
03:18I was like, mom, I'm still super lost.
03:22She was like, just go sit in front of your piano.
03:25That used to ease your mind.
03:27Back in the day, I was like, all right.
03:28And so I wrote my first song that night on a limb.
03:30Didn't know how to do it, but I did it.
03:33And I never looked back.
03:35What was the song called?
03:37I can't remember.
03:38It was awful though.
03:39It was terrible.
03:39Everyone's first one is awful, of course.
03:41But I think that that's so special that your mom,
03:44number one, that you and your mom are tight,
03:46but number two, that she would kind of like
03:48encourage you to find this healthy outlet.
03:50I think there's probably a lot of guys at your age
03:52in that position that probably would have
03:54turned to less great options.
03:58I know a couple.
03:59That's the truth behind it, but music saved my life.
04:03So then at what point do you move to Nashville?
04:07About nine or 10 months later.
04:09After you write your first song.
04:12That's wild.
04:13Because I just started writing a bunch by myself
04:14and learning cover songs and posting on TikTok
04:16or whatever, like covers or snippets of originals.
04:20I would never finish a song, but what I wrote,
04:23I'd throw it up on there.
04:24And I was like, mom, I sat her down
04:26probably five months later.
04:27I was like, mom, I wanna do this.
04:30I believe that I can do this.
04:32And then she's like, I never doubted you for a second.
04:34Go do it.
04:35That's really special, Decker.
04:36That's when I moved to Nashville without knowing anybody.
04:38Not knowing anything.
04:39I'm still super green, but back then I was like, wow.
04:42I don't know a single thing.
04:44So when you got here, you don't know anyone.
04:45What are early days in Nashville like for you then?
04:48Because it's hard to move to a new place.
04:49It's even harder when you know no one.
04:51Yeah, and I was 20.
04:52Yeah, so you were not going out making friends.
04:55Well, I was.
04:56And so it was the middle of COVID,
04:58so nothing was really open.
04:59But the places that were, they weren't really checking IDs.
05:03Because they just wanted the business.
05:04And so I scoped those places out.
05:07And I would just go in there and be like, hey, what's up?
05:10You know, I'm Decker, it's nice to meet you.
05:12Where are you from?
05:13Just meeting people.
05:13And I was super blessed, super early on,
05:16to meet a super solid core group of people.
05:20Some of them are my roommates right now.
05:23My neighbors literally right next door.
05:25We're just a family.
05:26And it's cool.
05:27And Jacob Hackworth is one of my best friends.
05:31And he's also my neighbor.
05:32But he's dating one of my best friends, Shelly.
05:36I met her probably month one of living here.
05:38And we're all just a family.
05:40We love each other.
05:41And none of them are really in the music industry
05:43except Jacob.
05:44That's really special.
05:45That's hard to find in Nashville.
05:47People who aren't in music, that's great.
05:49So then you signed a record deal this summer.
05:52So I feel like life for you, I mean,
05:55like how much has changed in a year?
05:57Everything.
05:58Like what were you doing this time last year?
06:00Writing.
06:01Just writing?
06:01Every single day.
06:02So before Wine to Whiskey and Wind Up Missing You happened,
06:06I was literally writing every single day, sometimes even
06:09twice a day.
06:11Just filling that catalog.
06:12And then the time came.
06:14Because my goal was, from the beginning,
06:17was, oh, I want to be an artist.
06:19I want to sell out stadiums.
06:20I want number ones.
06:21I want this.
06:22I want that.
06:23And I'm working towards those.
06:24But that was my goal.
06:25But I didn't have any songs.
06:27So for three years, I just built that catalog,
06:30meeting writers, meeting people in the industry
06:34through my publishing deal, which
06:36was a godsend within itself.
06:38Yeah, because that puts you in the right room.
06:40100%.
06:40Yeah.
06:41And I only had a handful of songs.
06:43But Rekia at Backblock, she just believed in me.
06:45And she was like, I see it.
06:48Let's roll with it.
06:49Let's see where this goes.
06:50And so I signed a publishing slash artist development deal.
06:53And for three years, I was just sitting on a pile of songs.
06:57I feel like nobody has had a wilder or crazier year
07:00than you, probably the greatest amount of change in a year.
07:03How are you doing with that?
07:04Because it's a lot.
07:05I'm tired.
07:07I literally just got back from New York.
07:09And then I leave again tonight.
07:11And this is probably the largest amount of time
07:14I've had in Nashville today.
07:16Yeah, which is like 12 hours, basically, right?
07:19Probably like the last five, six months.
07:21That's wild.
07:21We were just talking about how you just got back from New York.
07:24And I saw some of the videos that you
07:26were posting of the billboard in Times Square.
07:28How wild was that?
07:29That was crazy.
07:31That was so nuts.
07:32And we knew that they were going to have it up on the billboard
07:36pretty much all week.
07:37And so we were like, oh, we're already
07:39in New York for the shoot.
07:41So let's just go down to Times Square.
07:43And we sat there, and we looked at it.
07:45And then YouTube had one as well down the street a little bit.
07:48So we looked at that.
07:49And it was funny.
07:50This random lady was sitting next to me with her husband,
07:54I'm guessing.
07:55And I was sitting there, and we were fixing to leave.
07:59And then it came up again.
08:01I'm pretty sure my cameraman got it.
08:02I leaned over to her.
08:03I was like, that man's pretty ugly, ain't he?
08:06She goes, is that you?
08:11Yeah.
08:12But it's just cool.
08:13That's awesome.
08:15That's so, like, what did your mom
08:16say when you were sending her pictures from Times Square?
08:19Like, she's your number one fan.
08:20Every time I talk to her, she cries.
08:22She's just, she's so proud, so happy.
08:25Loves to, hey, mom, you're right.
08:28You know, loves that aspect.
08:29It's got to be hard to be so far away from home, too.
08:32100%.
08:34That's the hardest part, because I
08:35got four sisters as well, and they all have kids.
08:39And, you know, so it's like, I feel
08:40like I'm missing out on a lot.
08:42And my family's, like, everything to me.
08:44Yeah, where are you in the line of four girls?
08:47I got three older sisters, and then one younger.
08:49And then, so it's just the five of you?
08:51Yeah.
08:52Just the five of you.
08:52That's a lot of siblings.
08:53It's a lot.
08:54Especially if they're all women, it feels like 20.
08:56Right there in the middle of girls, yeah.
08:58I can only imagine what childhood
08:59was like for you growing up.
09:01Oh, it was great.
09:01I wouldn't have changed it for the world.
09:03Yeah, that's awesome.
09:04So then I was trying to think about, like,
09:06first time I started hearing about you.
09:09And I had heard your name for a while,
09:10but the moment that stuck with me
09:12was this summer when you actually
09:14played right outside here at the Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville.
09:17And I remember seeing those pictures,
09:18and I was like, holy shit.
09:20We were just talking about that outside.
09:21This is crazy.
09:22I was like, how did we fit 8,000 plus in this area?
09:26In this parking lot?
09:27There was, yeah.
09:28That was such a wild.
09:30Did you have any idea that that's what that was?
09:32Did anybody have any idea?
09:33Nobody knew.
09:34I mean, I remember, like, so we went backstage,
09:38and we had played a couple things around CMA Fest.
09:41If you've never been to CMA Fest,
09:43you know, for the people listening.
09:45It's just a bunch of shows in Nashville.
09:47It's like Comic-Con for country music, is what it's called.
09:49It's Comic-Con for country music, 100%.
09:51And so I was doing a couple of shows,
09:53and I think it was the second day that I played Hard Rock.
10:01I almost said Red Rocks, Hard Rock.
10:03It was the second day,
10:05and I remember being downstairs in this building,
10:07and someone from my team comes up,
10:12or Rakai comes up, my manager.
10:14She goes, hey, there's, and she's,
10:16she tries to play cool a lot of the time,
10:18and she's like, hey, there's quite a few people out there.
10:21I'm just letting you know.
10:22I'm like, all right, that sounds great.
10:24And before she could even finish that sentence,
10:26Autumn, which is another person on my team,
10:28she comes up, grabs Rakai's shoulders, reaches over.
10:32Did you see how many freaking people are outside?
10:36I'm like, no, and then I walked on stage,
10:38and then I saw, and I'm like, oh, my gosh.
10:41Well, I have to post some pictures of it, too,
10:42so people can see exactly what we're talking about,
10:44because it was really like, it was insane.
10:46Like, what a cool moment, because there's so many people
10:48who talk about playing CMA Fest,
10:49and they're like, there was four people there.
10:50Yeah. You know?
10:51Yeah. That's amazing.
10:52All right, so let's talk about EP just came out here
10:54at the beginning of October.
10:56Talk about why these were the songs
10:58that you picked for right now.
11:00There's a couple of factors that went into it.
11:02I wanted, so first and foremost,
11:04I wanted to portray who I am as a person and as an artist.
11:10And, you know, and I have a lot to say,
11:13and I have a lot of songs to do it with.
11:15So it was impossible to fit in just eight songs, you know?
11:19And I said that on my Instagram a couple of days ago,
11:22but it truly was impossible.
11:24And also another factor is we sold out a headline tour
11:29on three songs, which is crazy to me,
11:33but like, we need songs to sing on the road,
11:35and we need to give people songs to like,
11:37be excited about and, you know,
11:39feel good in a room, in a live setting.
11:41Yeah. Sing along to it.
11:42Like, there's only so many covers you can do
11:43before people are like, yeah.
11:44100%. Yeah.
11:45And, you know, playing 60 minutes with, you know,
11:48nine minutes of song is not ideal.
11:51No. Yeah. You got to find a way to fill it.
11:53You got to find a way to fill that catwalk.
11:54And so that was another factor,
11:56and my team really was emphasizing on that,
11:58but I was like, no, I sat them down.
12:00I was like, no, I want to say something with this.
12:02You know, I want to portray like the softer side of me,
12:05the side that people haven't really seen.
12:07And it's really cool with the EP what we decided to do,
12:12because it's like feeding into the next project as well.
12:16And we've already, we're almost done recording it right now.
12:21And it's like this whole storyteller thing
12:25of like relationships that I've been,
12:28it's a lot of it is relationship-based,
12:30if not all of it, honestly.
12:33You know, relationships that have been in the past,
12:34like speak my truth about that,
12:35and like stuff that I'm going through now,
12:40like, because I'm going through some stuff,
12:42relationship stuff right now,
12:43and, you know, just speaking up upon that.
12:46And then it's like, in the future, this is what I want,
12:48this is what I learned through my relationship with my dad.
12:51I have a song on there called What Not To,
12:54that is a, you know, it's a tearjerker for sure.
12:57It's a hard one to write,
12:58but I'm glad we did it because I love the song.
13:00And it shows a story that I have
13:03that I think is going to relate to a lot of people.
13:08But yeah, it's cool.
13:09And I feel like once the album comes out,
13:11people are going to be like,
13:12because it's just been like Easter eggs
13:14in the whole thing.
13:15And I did it so purposefully,
13:17but even some of the stuff on there is like,
13:20oh, I didn't mean to do that, but that's really cool.
13:21And I feel like when the album comes out,
13:23people are going to be like,
13:24oh, look at that, look at that, look at that.
13:25And it's, I'm so excited.
13:27Because I feel like the whole dropping of Easter eggs,
13:30that's like a whole,
13:30that's an insane amount of planning in itself.
13:33100%, like hours and days.
13:36Right?
13:37Well, that's why I'm like, how does Taylor Swift do it?
13:39She's a different breed.
13:40Yeah, but like that level of,
13:42you know what I mean,
13:43now that you've started doing a little bit,
13:43it's like, it takes so much strategy
13:45and planning to get it all right.
13:47And then see if people even pick up on it, which is.
13:48But I love Easter eggs.
13:49Yeah.
13:50And that was like a huge goal that I had at the beginning
13:53that I expressed to my team.
13:54I was like, hey, once we get to the conversation
13:57of like projects and like EPs and albums
14:00and stuff like that,
14:00I want them to have purpose within the purpose,
14:03if that makes sense.
14:04Meaning within the purpose.
14:05And Easter eggs and stuff like that.
14:06I'm a huge fan of it.
14:08That's awesome.
14:08And then you have got a single right now, Top 20.
14:11Yes, ma'am.
14:12Which is super exciting.
14:13How are you feeling about that?
14:14Awesome.
14:14Yeah.
14:15It's the coolest thing in the world.
14:17And it's really showing at the live shows too.
14:18It's like, I mean,
14:21wound up missing you had a super strong start.
14:23Don't get me wrong.
14:25But it's cool being at these places
14:27that I've never been to in my life.
14:29Like for instance, Pittsburgh, you know.
14:33Yeah.
14:33Very far away from where you grew up.
14:35Or up in like New Jersey.
14:38Sold out a show there a couple months ago.
14:40I've never been there and they're screaming my songs
14:43and I'm like, what is going on?
14:46So I had,
14:48sorry, I feel like I'm rambling, but.
14:49No, you're fine.
14:50I had the first weekend of the headline tour
14:52this last weekend.
14:54We played two shows.
14:56The first one, it was in, oh shoot.
14:59Where was it?
15:01Somebody help me.
15:02Phone a friend.
15:02Statesboro.
15:03Yeah, it was in Statesboro.
15:06It was a smaller room, like 800 cap.
15:09But it was so loud in there
15:12that I couldn't hear with my ears in.
15:14The ears are supposed to block out everything.
15:17Yes, everything.
15:18And I couldn't even hear with my ears.
15:20And I told my IEM guy afterwards,
15:24I was like, I couldn't hear anything.
15:25He goes, there's nothing I could do about it.
15:27Yeah, like what can you do in that situation?
15:28It was just so loud, you know.
15:30Well, the good thing is, is that if you feel like you're off,
15:32nobody hears, because they're all saying, oh my God.
15:35I'll blame it on that guy.
15:36Yeah, exactly.
15:37Oh my God, Tucker, that's so wild.
15:40Wait, I don't want to jump off the single just yet,
15:42because I want to know,
15:43like what was the story behind writing that song?
15:45Yeah, I wrote it with two of my really good buddies,
15:48Thomas Archer and my producer, Chris LaCourte.
15:52And, excuse me,
15:55but it was just one of those ones that it was sunny out.
15:59We were all having a good morning.
16:02I had just written Wine Into Whiskey that Monday,
16:04and I wrote Wine Don't Miss You on that Thursday.
16:07So I knew that I had Wine Into Whiskey,
16:11and I was like, I just wrote this pretty heartfelt song,
16:15kind of just like a darker song.
16:16I want to write something fun.
16:18A little bit lighter.
16:19A little bit lighter.
16:20Let's be light about it.
16:21And we're throwing ideas,
16:22and then he said, Wine Don't Miss You.
16:23I'm like, that's cool, what does it mean?
16:26And then we're like, we don't know.
16:27And so I was like, just play the track,
16:29and I started freestyling.
16:30I was like,
16:31♪ You look like waves on a sunset ♪
16:33And Thomas goes, what does that mean?
16:35I go, I don't know, but I like it.
16:38He goes, I love it, keep it.
16:40Wait, so Waves on a Sunset literally just came out.
16:42100%.
16:43There was no, you wrote this in your phone months ago,
16:45and you're like, I'll use this at some point.
16:46No, it came out,
16:47pretty much that entire song came out in the moment.
16:50What?
16:50Yeah.
16:51That is insane.
16:52Obviously, I pull from stuff that I've gone through
16:56and stuff like that.
16:57Yeah.
16:58But that to me feels like something
16:59that you would have wrote down a day on the boat
17:01or something, you're like, I don't want to forget this,
17:02but it literally just.
17:03No, it was in the moment.
17:04I was looking out the window,
17:06and the track was going, and I was like,
17:09na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na,
17:11and then I done, another ball cap on a bar stool
17:15underneath the PBR line,
17:16and Thomas was like, where'd that come from?
17:17I'm like, I don't know, write it down.
17:19That's so funny.
17:20And then Thomas was doing it too,
17:21and Chris was doing it too.
17:22It was just, it was a special day.
17:24You know who was saying,
17:26I was talking to Thomas Rhett,
17:27and he was talking about how Post Malone does that,
17:30like he listens to melodies over and over again
17:31and just starts saying stuff,
17:33and that's where a lot of those lyrics come from.
17:34I'm very melody driven.
17:35You're on the right track with that.
17:37I try.
17:38So you also, you've got your headline tour right now,
17:40which we'll talk about in a second,
17:41but you've also been out on the road with Luke
17:43on Farm Tour.
17:44How has that been?
17:45Because he's like one of my favorite humans in the world.
17:47That man is insane.
17:49He's a, he's a-
17:50People are always like, what's Luke Bryan actually like?
17:52I'm like, he's exactly what you think he's like.
17:53100%, yeah.
17:55What's Luke Bryan like?
17:56Luke, I guess?
17:57You're literally just giggling the whole time he's around.
17:59The entire time.
17:59He's such a good dude, a heart of gold.
18:03I mean, and on the Farm Tour, it was raining pretty heavy.
18:07We had a show that was canceled
18:09and we were just hanging out, you know,
18:13grilling some steaks, having a couple of beers,
18:15just hanging out.
18:16I look out to the pasture.
18:18Luke's in a tractor, pulling out 18 wheelers,
18:22coming back, pulling them out with a big old cigar
18:24in his mouth, looking over like this.
18:27And then he looks at me, he goes.
18:31Keeps pulling 18 wheelers.
18:32I'm like, damn, this dude's country.
18:34He, no, he really is.
18:36And he's just like one of those people,
18:37like I've never heard someone say a bad thing
18:38about Luke Bryan.
18:39Like everybody in this industry has bad days.
18:41You might be off one day,
18:42but I have never heard someone say,
18:43oh, Luke was, you know,
18:45other than like hilarious and amazing.
18:47He's a great dude.
18:48Yeah.
18:48He just loves to have a good time.
18:49Heart of gold.
18:50Then you're going out on the road with Thomas Rhett next year,
18:51which you gotta be so excited about.
18:53So excited.
18:54And that's another one that TR is just a heart of gold.
18:59He's a great dude, family man, has all of the value.
19:01So I had a couple offers for direct support.
19:06And this was a couple months ago.
19:08I had a couple offers,
19:09but I wanted, not saying that the others don't,
19:13but I wanted to pick someone that had the same values
19:15and someone that I could just be truly a sponge.
19:19Yeah.
19:20You know.
19:21That is the person.
19:22I'm so new.
19:22And you know, he's, he's family man
19:25and just treats everybody like, like royalty, you know?
19:30And that's, that's what I want from not just me,
19:32but my, my band, my crew, my team.
19:36That's what I've been trying to build in our,
19:38we align in that sense.
19:40So I just plan on being a sponge.
19:43That's, I think that's really amazing
19:45and says a lot about you and your character.
19:47Cause I feel like a lot of people
19:48would just take the biggest name or the biggest offer
19:51and like not knowing what they were,
19:52but you being very intentional about like,
19:54I want to learn from the right person how to do this
19:57and to do it that way.
19:58Like, I just think that good for you.
19:59That's going to be great.
20:01He's so awesome.
20:02And then the headlining tour,
20:03I know you said like people are screaming these songs.
20:06Is there like a venue coming up
20:07that you're the most excited to play?
20:09Oh.
20:10Do you even know where you're going?
20:12Kind of, not all the time.
20:14If you're asking me where I'm going to be tomorrow,
20:16I couldn't tell you, but Chicago's going to be cool.
20:20Yeah.
20:21And so the, the whole headline tour sold out pretty fast.
20:24So we had to upgrade some rooms
20:26and then we added a second night in Chicago
20:28and all of it sold out.
20:29What a great problem to have.
20:30Great problem to have.
20:31I'm not mad about it at all.
20:33No.
20:35You know, Chicago's going to be great
20:36because we added a second night
20:37and I think all my family and friends in Chicago,
20:42I'm a big fan of Chicago because they got like great food.
20:45Great food.
20:46I've been there twice now and I'm like,
20:47damn, this is the best food I've ever had in my life.
20:49Did you have good food while you were in New York?
20:52No.
20:53Kind of, I didn't, I didn't know where to go, you know?
20:54Okay, well.
20:55I had good pizza.
20:56I lived there for 10 years.
20:57I will help you out with this.
20:58Okay, yeah.
20:59Nothing breaks my heart more than that.
21:00I'm sure I'll be there in like four days.
21:02Yes, exactly.
21:03You'll be back in no time.
21:04It's so cool to see all of this stuff happening for you.
21:06And I know you said like, you're really tired right now.
21:08Like it's, it's a lot of change really quickly.
21:10I know that it, you're surrounded by people.
21:12It also can feel a little bit isolating, I'm sure.
21:15Has somebody, has there been anybody like in the industry
21:18or country community that you feel like has become
21:20like a really good mentor outlet for you to like call
21:23either commiserate, vent to, ask advice?
21:27No, a hundred percent.
21:28I mean, Jelly Roll is probably the easiest one
21:32because he's, for instance, I, we were headed
21:36to a round of shows.
21:39It was night one.
21:40We were headed to, I can't remember where we were headed to.
21:43Couldn't tell you.
21:43Anyways, halfway down the road, our bus catches on fire.
21:48Cabin fills with smoke.
21:50And we're all like in bed sleeping, you know?
21:53And I wake up and I smell something.
21:55I'm like, oh, that's weird.
21:56Close my eyes for like 25 seconds.
21:59I'm like, no, that's like really bad.
21:59I opened, I couldn't even get, I got a TV in the back room.
22:03Couldn't even see my TV.
22:04All I saw was like a glow.
22:05And I turned on the lights full of smoke
22:08just throughout the entire cabin.
22:09Oh my God.
22:10Yeah, so we, we pull over.
22:13There was a fire in the back or something like that.
22:16I couldn't tell you.
22:17Did it like, was all of your stuff okay?
22:19Like gear and all that?
22:20All our stuff was great.
22:21And not the whole bus caught on fire,
22:22but there was a fire somewhere that was causing all
22:25of the smoke going through like the ventilation system.
22:27So was your bus driver the last person to know?
22:29Cause it was coming.
22:30Oh my God.
22:31Yeah, I walked up there.
22:32He goes, or he knew, but he didn't know like how bad it was.
22:35Cause I sleep in the back
22:37and that's where all of it was coming from.
22:41And he goes, how bad is it?
22:43I go pretty bad.
22:44I couldn't even see my hand three feet in front of me.
22:46And he goes, all right.
22:48So we pulled over, but as we're sitting there,
22:52I get a text from Jelly and he goes, hey man,
22:55just checking up on you.
22:57Want to see how you're doing, you know?
22:59And he goes, hey, I know you're kind of
23:01on a rocket ship right now.
23:02I know how that feels and I know how, you know,
23:04it's great, but at the same time,
23:06I know what comes with it, you know?
23:07And he was like, hey, if you need anything,
23:10just let me know.
23:11And we have texted before, but he was just checking in.
23:13Yeah.
23:14I go, funny you say that, my bus is on fire right now.
23:18But you know, Jelly, Jason Aldean's done it too,
23:22which is super cool.
23:23I've been a huge Jason fan for as long as I can remember.
23:27John Party, same thing.
23:30Me and Bailey are pretty tight.
23:31Me and BZ, we were just texting yesterday, actually.
23:34He feels like a good person right now
23:35because he literally, he's a couple steps in front of you,
23:38but you're on the same trajectory of what's happening.
23:41Absolutely.
23:42And so he understands, I think, more than anybody,
23:48like the stuff that I gotta do and all this stuff,
23:50which is, it's all a blessing.
23:52I'm not sitting here complaining at all.
23:53No, but it is hard.
23:54I'm so blessed.
23:55But it's a little tough at times,
23:57and just being tired, you know?
24:00Just always on the road, not seeing my family,
24:03but I wouldn't change it for the world.
24:05I'm so blessed.
24:06Well, I'm really happy for you.
24:07I love the EP.
24:08It sounds so great.
24:09I'm so excited to see what happens to you a year from now,
24:12just seeing the change from last year.
24:14Me too, but I'm gonna enjoy every step, for sure.
24:16Good, I'm glad.
24:16Tucker Whitmore, thank you so much for coming in.
24:18I appreciate it.