Tucker Wetmore has a big night coming up. On Nov. 18, the 27-year-old singer is up for New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards, and he is on the list of performers too. The show airs at 8 p.m. ET on ABC from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with Lainey Wilson as host.
Long before the arenas, Tucker was a kid from Kalama, Washington, a small town on the Columbia River. He played college football until he broke his leg for the third time. His mom, Sia, sent him back to the piano he had played since he was 11. “Go sit in front of the piano, go pick up your guitar,” he remembered her telling him, in a 2024 interview with Holler.
His family has been close by at every step since. One of the sweetest moments came back home in Kalama in August 2024.
Tucker was visiting at his grandma’s house. His grandpa had passed away, and Tucker’s team said at the time that his grandpa played a pivotal role in his dream of making music.
Grandma started with something of his. She handed Tucker his grandpa’s jacket. ABC Audio, describing the video Tucker shared, said it was his grandpa’s motorcycle jacket.
She wasn’t finished. “There’s something else grandpa would’ve been very proud to hand to you,” she told him, as ABC Audio reported.
Then she showed him a box. Tucker seemed to sense something big was coming. “Am I going to cry, Grandma?” he asked.
Inside was an envelope. He pulled it out, started reading and could hardly believe it. “Are you serious right now? Are you guys kidding?” he said.
It was an invitation from the Grand Ole Opry. “The Opry is delighted to formally invite you to step into the circle for your debut on September 10th 2024,” the letter read, according to Country Now. Tucker hugged his grandma again as he read it out loud.
That letter meant more than most people knew. In 2020, Tucker made his first trip to Nashville with his mom. They sat out front of the Opry House, and he made her a promise. “I’m going to play that one day,” he recalled telling her, in an ABC Audio interview after his debut. Sia remembered that day too. On the Got It From My Momma podcast, she said she told him she knew he would.
In a statement at the time, Tucker said, “The Opry was one of the reasons why I moved to this town to chase this dream.” Sharing it with his family, he added, “brings me to tears.”
The Opry later picked him for its Opry NextStage class of 2025 and made a short film about his life, with a title that nods to his grandpa’s jacket.
The Opry’s own film about Tucker and his grandpa’s jacket
On Sept. 10, 2024, he kept his promise. He sang “Silverado Blue,” “What Not To” and “Wind Up Missin’ You,” and he got a standing ovation. His label bosses surprised him on the spot with Gold plaques for “Wine Into Whiskey” and “Wind Up Missin’ You,” Music Row reported.
He has been back many times since. Here he is in the Opry circle singing “Wind Up Missin’ You” after it became his first No. 1.
Tucker sings “Wind Up Missin’ You” at the Opry
His mom is still right there with him. At the ACM Awards in May, Sia joined host Shania Twain to bring her son out to sing.
Tucker’s mom introduces him at the ACM Awards
Next comes the CMA Awards, with a nomination of his own. The kid who once sat outside the Opry House with his mom will sing on ABC on Nov. 18, and his family back in Kalama will have one more night to be proud of.