How Tucker Wetmore’s ‘Who Told You That’ Came From a Last Minute ‘Hail Mary’ Demo

Tucker Wetmore earned his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay with the fast-paced, Western-tinged “Brunette,” which topped out on the list dated May 30.

Even before that song had run its course, Wetmore already had a follow-up ready to go, a similarly fast-paced number with a different sound that he debuted in concert on April 28 in London. “Who Told You That” revolves around a wicked guitar riff, creating extra tension for band member Carver Partin when he played it live for the first time.

“I don’t think he moved from his one spot the entire song,” Wetmore says with a laugh. “He was pretty locked in.”

“Who Told You That” is somewhat daring for country music. The tempo, the spiky rhythm guitar and the register in which Wetmore’s vocal is cast puts it in Maroon 5 “Moves Like Jagger” territory, but with a smoky, Carlos Santana tone on the song’s speedy riff, instead of the whistle that inhabits “Jagger.”

“That’s actually pretty accurate,” Wetmore says.

“It’s not like a song of the year,” he adds. “It’s not like we’re changing the game with it. We’re just having fun.”

That’s an extension of the atmosphere in which “Who Told You That” was written on March 4.

“We were all feeling it that day,” says Jordan M. Schmidt (“Kid Myself,” “Watermelon Moonshine”), who hosted the writing session at his home. “It was a dance party with four guys in my studio.”

The original schedule called for a three-way write with Michael Tyler (“Somewhere on a Beach,” “Girl Dad”) and Hunter Phelps (“wait in the truck,” “Bar None”). But Ashley Gorley (“Don’t We,” “Woman”) had a hole in his calendar, and Tape Room Music chief creative officer/president Alicia Pruitt got him booked on that session. Tyler and Phelps arrived early, and they had Wetmore in their sights.

“We knew he was cutting the next day, so it was kind of the goal, you know, to get one last-minute,” Phelps says. “We always try that, and it rarely ever happens. I’ve never had it happen the next day like that.”

Tyler had pitched the title unsuccessfully at a Russell Dickerson writing session, though his angle was different. He envisioned it as a song about a woman who doesn’t believe she’s attractive. “Who Told You That” poses a reasonable question. When Gorley arrived, he offered an alternate plot: A guy tries to persuade a woman that he’s a romantic — not the player she thinks. “Who Told You That” plays a different way in that context.

“The hit-song way,” Tyler enthuses.

Gorley kicked into short, choppy chords on the keyboard, and Schmidt picked up on the groove, building a track around a stabbing electric guitar playing mostly complex chords: some sevenths, maybe some ninths.

“It’s actually half minor [chords], but it doesn’t sound dark or depressing,” Schmidt says. “It just sounds fun.”

Gorley grabbed a microphone and freestyled a chorus melody over the track, mostly using short phrases that mimicked the length of the hook. He sang the phrase “who told you that” in the three spots where that hook belonged, but otherwise just served up nonsense syllables as placeholders.

“A hook on a gibberish sandwich,” Tyler quips. “That was the first time I’d seen somebody do that [so fast]. I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s why this dude is a Hall of Famer.’”

At the half-way mark in the chorus, the topline changed. Instead of short, energetic phrases, it shifted into easy-going, long notes, then into a shout-out about the grapevine — “They love to lie!” — before settling back into the original melody. They essentially created a series of hooks in a single stanza.

“I love to have those layers and be like, ‘Hey, let’s give ‘em one more thing,” Gorley says. “But I especially love to mix up some of the rapid-fire stuff with some smoother notes like that.”

When they replaced the gibberish, they turned to romantic images — “breakfast in bed,” “mimosas up in your glass” — as the singer insists he can be a romantic. Given the social-media rumors that fly around artists, they figured that Wetmore would appreciate the message.

Wetmore “is a good-looking dude, so [people] probably assume that he’s a player,” Tyler says. “But from what I know of him, he is not. I figured Tucker would like that idea.”

With the chorus’ busy melody established, they placed space between the phrases in the verses to create further contrast.

“The chorus is really busy,” Phelps says, “so leaving some space in a verse like that really makes the scene change.”

Before it was over, they wedged in a bridge that provided another melodic change of pace. More importantly, it examined the “Who Told You That” title in a new way.

“I think we felt like we needed to address who could possibly be saying these things and kind of do it in a fun, playful way,” Schmidt says.

Tyler sang the vocals for the Schmidt-produced demo, tossing in another “who told you” post-chorus hook in three-part harmony. Schmidt copied that into the intro as he produced the demo that night, and it got great reviews.

“It sounded amazing,” Gorley says. “I probably listened to it 20 times that night.”

Tyler was rocking his son to sleep when the demo arrived, and after he listened to it on headphones, he passed it along to Westmore with a text: ““Had to hail Mary this one because it’s heat.”

Wetmore took one listen and texted back within five minutes: “Instant hold.”

“I’d be stupid not to cut this song,” Wetmore says. “It was literally perfect from top to bottom.”

The next morning, Wetmore texted the chord chart, full of sevenths and ninths, to the writers as he co-produced “Who Told You That” with Chris LaCorte (Dickerson, Sam Hunt). After providing a scratch vocal track, Wetmore spent most of his time in the control room, looking to coax as many good-timing effects as the track could bear. Bassist Jimmie Lee Sloas dressed it up with more “ghost notes” — small pops and leading tones — than the demo had offered. Kris Donegan took on the spiky rhythm guitar parts, while Nathan Keeterle tackled the...

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Billboard. Open at source →