"Man, this song is weird," country singer-songwriter Tucker Wetmore said.
The 26-year-old sat at a Broadcast Music Inc. roundtable ahead of celebrating "Brunette" becoming his third No. 1 single, following "Wind Up Missin' You" and "3, 2, 1." But unlike his first two chart-toppers, which he co-wrote, this one arrived in his inbox already finished.
That distinction mattered. His first two singles had established Wetmore as both an artist and songwriter. "Brunette" required him to recognize the right song when someone else wrote it.
"That just shows that with Tucker, the best song wins," BMI's Leslie Roberts, the assistant vice president of creative, said during the celebration. "Even if he didn't write it, he knows his fans, he knows what connects
with them, and 'Brunette' definitely connected."
The country singer sat with a blue shirt halfway unbuttoned and a cross around his neck, a combination that has become his signature look to match his playful personality. His ball cap was pulled low as he spoke about how far "Brunette" had traveled, from first hearing the song while preparing to board a flight in "the middle of nowhere, Ohio" to celebrating it as a chart topper.
"I immediately listened to it. I was like, dude, this is weird," Wetmore said. "There's something so weird but cool about this song."
He instantly wanted it.
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The song was written by Chase McGill, Josh Miller and Blake Pendergrass and produced by Chris LaCorte. LaCorte missed the celebration after travel complications kept him overseas.
The writers built "Brunette" around breaking their own rules.
"Our one rule is always kind of just like, let's break some kind of rule," McGill said. "And so that day it was kind of like, I wonder if we could have a hit on a 220 BPM bluegrass song."
Miller remembered cycling through roughly 50 ideas before returning to "Brunette." Then McGill found the riff.
"We're all like, what is that? Could that be brunette?" Miller said. "And then luckily, these guys are the best and willing to go anywhere. So we just chased it."
Pendergrass said it was the fastest song he'd ever written. Once the idea took hold, the writing itself moved nearly as quickly.
"It was fun to write," Pendergrass said. "We wrote it real quick, too. It was like a quick song when it started falling out. It didn't take very long."
That unique up-tempo twist combined with bluegrass twang attracted Wetmore.
"I've never heard anything like it," Wetmore said.
During the party, Miller recalled the demo circulating around Nashville without finding an artist willing to record it.
"I think the rest of the town was just scared to take a big swing," he said. "But not Tucker."
The gamble continued a rapid ascent for Wetmore, who released his debut single in 2024. He was named ACM new male artist of the year and is now headlining his Brunette World Tour. His first three singles have all reached No. 1, a run Roberts called a "three-peat."
The song also added to substantial No. 1 totals for its writers. "Brunette" marked McGill's 15th, Miller's ninth, Pendergrass' seventh and LaCorte's sixth, according to remarks from the stage. The three have built country music catalogs with artists including Morgan Wallen, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Anne Wilson and Russell Dickerson.
Wetmore's parents were among the family members gathered at BMI to watch him celebrate. Since he signed with EMI Records Nashville in 2024, the singer's popularity has exploded to include millions of followers on Instagram and TikTok, plus roughly 10.6 millionmonthly streams on Spotify.
The "Brunette" singer will bring his breezy, good-vibes tunes to a concert at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Sept. 12.
"I moved here in 2020," Wetmore said. "I didn't know anybody, I didn't know anything and the fact I'm sitting on stage with this amount of talent ... call you guys friends. It's just a blessing."
Bryan West is a music reporter at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tucker Wetmore bet on a 'weird' song. 'Brunette' became his third No. 1.
