"This Was the Hardest Song that I've Ever Been Apart of": Tucker Wetmore Unveils Unreleased Song, 'What Not To', During CRS 2025

This year's Country Radio Seminar marked Tucker Wetmore's first. It also just so happened to be the rising sensation's debut appearance at the iconic Ryman Auditorium.

Such a momentous moment deserved an equally significant song, and that's exactly what Wetmore delivered to the convention's attendees.

"Not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous, just because the history that this place holds," he told the crowd at the start, adding, "I'm honored to be a part of today."

Seated alone onstage in front of a keyboard, Wetmore mentioned being out of his comfort zone, but explained that that's how it all began: with just him and his piano.

He shared, "When I was 11 years old, I fell in love with music, and the way I did that was playing the piano every single day for hours, just by myself. My friends thought I was weird, but I knew I'd be sitting at the Ryman one day, so I kept doing it."

Just before introducing the song he would be performing, he told the crowd his full-length debut, the follow-up to his acclaimed 2024 EP, Waves on a Sunset, was scheduled to drop on Apr. 25. He chose to play a song from the upcoming release, called 'What Not To.'

"This was the hardest song that I've ever been a part of," he added. "It's talking about things that I don't really talk about a lot. I think a lot of you will be able to – or some of you, hopefully – will be able to relate to this in one way or another. But that's why I write songs, so we don't have to talk about things."

'What Not To' appears to be a deeply personal number as Wetmore ponders the life he dreams of having – with the wife, the babies, the white picket fences. He examines all of that through the lens of his own upbringing, wondering how a future like that can be achieved when he, himself, had to miss out on having such a picturesque existence. He seems to look for some example, but finds only a disappointing parental figure in its place.

In the song, he sings, "I gotta admit, I don't know what to do / But, thanks to you, I know what not to."

For more on Tucker Wetmore, see below: