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Tucker Wetmore was “killing’ it” when he covered one of Chris Stapleton’s deep cuts on a recent episode of God’s Country, brothers and hosting duo Dan and Reid Isbell said as they listened to the rapidly-rising country star.
Wetmore, 25, delivered a rendition of “Whiskey and You.” The song is one of 14 tracks that appeared on Stapleton’s debut record, Traveller, in 2015. That album also included the title track, “Tennessee Whiskey,” “Parachute,” “Nobody To Blame,” and more. The Isbell brothers applauded Wetmore’s performance on God’s Country, which dropped days before Wetmore released his own debut album, What Not To, on Friday (April 25).
“One's a devil, one keeps drivin' me insane/ At times, I wonder if they ain't both the same/ But one's a liar that helps to hide me from my pain/ And one's the long gone bitter truth/ That's the difference between whiskey and you”
Wetmore said when he released the 19-track record on Friday that the project “holds the lessons I have learned, am still learning, and knowing me…a few I’ll need to re-learn along the way. I’ve spent my whole life learning what not to do, and — thanks to you — I’ve had the opportunity to turn some of those experiences into songs. thanks for being on this wild ride with me. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.”
“This week Reid and Dan host ACM New Artist of the Year nominee, Tucker Wetmore, out in God's Country. Tucker shares what his journey to Nashville has looked like and describes what seems like an absolute rocket ship his career has been the last year. He shares a specific life moment that involved him hanging up his collegiate football cleats and how he turned to a piano for comfort in that time. The guys compare river fishing in a PNW to bass fishing in the south and Tucker shares what his experience has been like hunting whitetail for the first time since relocating to Middle Tennessee. The three of them bond of being mama's boys and Tucker shares a top GCP story about his mom going out for a bounty hunt when she was 6 months pregnant with him. The episode ends with your shedding a tear into your whiskey and seeing where you can see Tucker in concert, in a city near you.”
Wetmore will take the stage at the free Daytime Village at the 2025 iHeartCountry Festival, taking over the Dell Technologies Plaza from 12:30 p.m. 4:30 p.m. CT. That lineup also includes Nate Smith, Megan Moroney, Matt Stell and Dasha. The iHeartCountry Festival, hosted by iHeartRadio’s Bobby Bones on Saturday, May 3, in Austin, Texas, will include Brooks & Dunn, Cole Swindell, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts, Sam Hunt, Megan Moroney, Bailey Zimmerman and Nate Smith on the main stage. Dasha will also appear on the main stage at Moody Center, iHeartCountry revealed last week.
Hulu will be the Official Streaming Destination of the festival, with performances livestreamed exclusively to all Hulu subscribers at no additional cost. Additional information about the livestream will be posted across Hulu’s platform and social media channels. Fans can tune in to the 2025 iHeartCountry Festival to catch all of the action live on May 3 at 8pm ET/5pm PT (7pm CT) across iHeartCountry stations nationwide and on the free iHeartRadio app via iHeartRadio's iHeartCountry station. Tickets to the 2025 iHeartCountry Festival are available now via Ticketmaster.com.
Dan and Reid — who have written music for Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Scotty McCreery, Jon Pardi, Lainey Wilson and others — started their weekly podcast in early January 2024. Some of the first guests to appear on the show include HARDY, Dustin Lynch, Colbie Caillat and others.
“One of our favorite things about country music has always been how intertwined it is with the outdoors,” Dan and Reid Isbell said in a statement when God’s Country launched. They hope to “bring the outdoor enthusiast or country music lover an up close and personal look into the minds of some of the best songwriters and artists of the genre — a place where they can be honest about struggles, relationships, their connection to the outdoors, the music business, family, whatever they feel comfortable talking about. We can’t wait to see where this partnership will lead and who this podcast will reach.”
The iHeartPodcasts/MeatEater show is available anywhere you listen to podcasts, including in the iHeartRadio app. Select country stations will broadcast the show between 7-11:30 p.m. local time on Sunday evenings. Find God's Country here.