Category Archives: Scotty McCreery

After winning the tenth season of American Idol at the age of 16, country crooner Scotty McCreery forged an impressive career throughout the 2010s. Beginning with his chart-topping 2011 debut, Clear as Day, the North Carolinian followed in the footsteps of fellow Idol winners Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson to become one of the more consistently successful artists to emerge from the show. Later releases like 2013’s See You Tonight and 2018’s Seasons Change increasingly featured more of McCreery‘s own songwriting and continued to dominate on the Billboard country charts. In 2020, almost a decade into his career, he issued the single “You Time.”

McCreery began singing as a child in Garner, North Carolina. School performances eventually gave way to local competitions, and McCreery won a singing contest in the nearby town of Clayton before trying out for American Idol as a 16-year-old. Auditioning with Josh Turner‘s “Your Man,” he made good use of his country twang and deep baritone vocals, prompting the judges to compare him to Randy Travis. McCreery passed the audition, became an audience favorite, and eventually won the competition in May 2011. Lauren Alaina, another teenage country singer and a close friend of McCreery‘s, took home the second place title.

Christmas with Scotty McCreery

McCreery‘s coronation song was “I Love You This Big,” a country ballad that sold nearly 175,000 copies during its first week of release. The song also cracked the country charts at number 32, making it the highest-charting debut single in country history, and helped stir up anticipation for his full-length album, which he recorded while preparing for American Idol’s summer tour. Clear as Day appeared in the fall of 2011 from Mercury Nashville, debuting at number one on the Billboard Top 200 the week of its release. It went on to be one of the better-selling latter-day Idol-related records, earning a platinum certification and producing another hit single in “The Trouble with Girls.” The following year, McCreery released the seasonal Christmas with Scotty McCreery in time for the 2012 holiday season.

In October 2013, he returned with his second official studio album, See You Tonight. Produced by veteran producer Frank Rogers, the album moved McCreery into bright contemporary country-pop. It was a commercial and critical success, debuting at number one on Billboard’s Country Albums chart and earning widespread acclaim, including McCreery‘s win of the Breakthrough Artist Award at the 2013 American Country Awards. In 2015 he issued a new single, “Southern Belle,” and toured with Rascal Flatts. The year 2017 saw the release of the poignant “Five More Minutes,” the first single from his third LP, Seasons Change. A trio of additional singles arrived in early 2018 in advance of Seasons Change, which was released by Triple Tigers/Sony Music in March of that year. Another chart-topper in the U.S., it also fared well in Canada and the U.K. The heartfelt single “You Time” arrived in late 2020 followed the next year by “Why You Gotta Be Like That.”

Artist Biography by Andrew Leahey

Scotty McCreery’s New Single

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Scotty McCreery’s Debut Single Succeeds On Charts. Hot on the heels of his American Idol win last week, Scotty McCreery got some good news about his debut single. The song, “I Love You This Big“, was originally debuted on Idol before his win, and it hit the radio on May 24th. So far it is No. 32 on Billboard’s Nielsen BDS-based Hot Country Songs chart which is the highest debut for a new artist’s first single since the chart began using BDS data the week of Jan. 20, 1990. “I am humbled and shocked by this news. I can’t tell you what it means to me to be on the same charts as my musical heroes. I want to thank my fans and especially country radio for their support.” -Scotty McCreery Additionally, the single hit No. 1 on iTunes, and also reached No. 3 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart with 171,404 units sold. Also doing quite well is a compilation album featuring 14 of his performances from America Idol, entitled American Idol Season 10: Scotty McCreery which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Top 200 all-genre albums chart and No. 3 on the country albums chart with 23,196 units sold. It is clear that Scotty has a large and devoted fan base! Scotty will be appearing alongside Lauren Alaina at the CMT Music Awards on June 8th, and both will have multiple appearances through CMA Music Festival. Following up next week’s festivities, fans can look forward to Scotty’s forthcoming album which he will start working on in Nashville soon. So, since the powers that be seem to be keeping the two together for most events, I wonder when we will hear more about Lauren’s impending album?

Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina At Opry

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Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina Career Debuts at Grand Ole Opry. Well, we already know American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, and runner-up Lauren Alaina are headed to Nashville for next week for the CMT Music Awards and CMA Music Festival. Now, it seems they are packing even more into their already busy schedule of appearances and performances. Both are interested in pursuing a country music career, and it looks like they will be making their debuts in one of the most iconic ways possible, through the Grand Ole Opry. The two have been added to the Friday, June 10th concert at the Opry, joining the ranks of Randy Travis and Billy Ray Cyrus who are also scheduled to perform that night. As if that wasn’t enough, Scotty and Lauren will also be heading out Saturday with Vince Gill, Dierks Bentley, David Nail and others for the 21st annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge to raise money for the City of Hope’s life-saving research, treatment and education programs in the fight against cancer. Scotty’s and Lauren’s schedules are wearing me out! Next week is going to be intense for them, but what an amazing opportunity for the two to be able to sing at the Grand Ole Opry especially so soon after wrapping up Idol. Not to mention how amazing it must seem for the two of them to be sharing the stage and getting involved with some of country music’s most popular alumni.

Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina Head to CMA Fest

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CMA Music Festival Welcomes Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina! American Idol winner Scotty McCreery and runner-up Lauren Alaina are wasting no time, and are jumping straight into the country music industry head first. As Idol winner and runner-up, the pair put the national music spotlight directly on country music right in time for the 2011 CMA Music Festival in Nashville next week. Details are still being ironed out, but it seems fans can expect to see both Scotty and Lauren at this year’s CMA Music Festival. “I think we’re gonna try and get me and Lauren out there to (Fan Fair) this year. They’re trying to work out the specifics right now about where we’re gonna be playing, the booth signings and maybe playing at the Grand Ole Opry. They’re working all this out as we speak. But we’re gonna be down there for sure, I think.” -Scotty McCreery No doubt both the finalists lives have been turned upside down by their explosive entrance into fame, but they seem to be making the best of the insanity and getting right down to business. The 2011 CMA Music Festival, formerly known as Fan Fair, will be taking place at Nashville’s LP Field next week, June 9-12.

CMT Music Awards Adds Presenters

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CMT Music Awards Adds Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina and Others to Presenter Line-Up. As the date of the 2011 CMT Music Awards grows closer, the list of presenters keeps expanding! In a bit of a no-brainer, show officials have added both this year’s American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, and runner-up Lauren Alaina as presenters. Other additional presenters include actress Melissa Peterman, CMT original movie “To The Mat” stars Laura Bell Bundy and Ricky Schroder, Shania Twain, Sara Evans, Luke Bryan and Sheryl Crow. The new additions also include several non-country oriented stars like Kristin Chenoweth, Mary Steenburgen, Train, and Green Bay Packers’ Clay Matthews. Sheryl Crow will also be filling the shoes of this year’s CMT One Country spokesperson. The show premiers live out of Nashville on Wednesday, June 8th at 8pm ET on CMT and CMT.com. Fan voting is still open, so click here to weigh in!

Scotty McCreery Wins American Idol

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Scotty McCreery Is America’s Next Idol. It is official. Scotty McCreery is the winner of American Idol‘s 10th Season. The live finale show aired Wednesday, May 25th from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, and was quite the spectacle. Per tradition, the show paired the two finalists, Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery, with all-star performers. This year as country music dominated, Lauren was paired with Carrie Underwood singing “Before He Cheats“ and Scotty sang along with Tim McGraw on “Live Like You Were Dying“. I guess since Josh Turner already sang a duet with Scotty, he was out of the running. Also, it would just be unnecessary for the show’s producers to yet again bring attention to the fact that Scotty is a seventeen year old just trying to sound like Josh Turner. It absolutely amazes me that Scotty could win over Lauren. The two finale performances prove once again that Lauren is clearly not only the more talented of the two, but actually has depth and an amazing stage presence. It’s true that the start to Lauren’s performance is just a little bit rocky. However, I want to point out that Lauren began her duet with Carrie walking out on stage after she had already sung the intro. Tim sang for a solid 30-seconds before Scotty even arrived on the stage. In essence, Tim was a distraction from Scotty’s shallow talent while Carrie was a supplement to Lauren’s abundant talent. Also, there is the whole issue of stage presence. America is familiar enough with the concept of show-biz at this point to know it takes more than good vocal chords to make a star. At the end of the day, Lauren was born with what it takes, and I hope for Scotty’s sake that at same point he gets a clue. During Lauren’s performance she interacts with Carrie and really gets into the song making it truly fun to watch. Her nerves are obvious at the beginning, but she powers through and really draws in the audience. On the other hand, Scotty is painfully awkward on stage. The most we get out of him is a dramatic closing of his eyes when he hits a long note or the occasional kneeling mid-song to (I am assuming, it’s honestly hard to tell) flirt with the girls near the stage. The most frustrating quirk is that through the entire performance Scotty looks like he’s holding his stomach like he might be about to throw up. Sure, he should be nervous, its a big moment. Yet, he should work through that and put a little more effort into the performance for his fans’ sake. Despite Scotty’s win, I remain skeptical. I think what little energy is evident in his performance is fueled by his ego, which is no doubt swelling thanks to America’s votes. There is, perhaps, potential in Scotty, that Idol will no doubt take great pains to nurture seeing as he is now bound to them by a rock solid Continue reading Scotty McCreery Wins American Idol→

Josh Turner Surprises Scotty McCreery

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Josh Turner Stops By For Duet with Scotty McCreery. Josh Turner paid a special visit to American Idol contestant Scotty McCreery during his finalist celebration. Taking place in McCreery’s hometown of Garner, N.C., this included a special concert in front of over 30,000 fans. McCreery’s “gold ticket” audition song which carried him through much of the American Idol competition was Josh Turner’s “Your Man“, and just as McCreery was beginning to perform the song for his fans, Josh Tuner appeared on stage very nearly giving McCreery a heart attack. Josh and Scotty then performed “Your Man” together on stage to the delight of all the fans present. McCreery has received much attention throughout the competition, and honestly, his performances, at least as far as his stage presence is concerned, have improved. However, it remains that Scotty simply is not an original talent. He is a copy, either intentionally or by accident, of Josh Turner. The surprise visit by Josh was incredibly generous, and it is nice to see a country star put his weight behind a newcomer. Yet, it is painfully obvious just how similar Scotty’s voice is to Josh’s when you hear them sing together. It is actually difficult to tell that their are two people, not one, singing. Originality is important, and Scotty, up to this point, just has not proved he has it in him. It seems America is a fan of Scotty McCreery, and that he will continue to have success on or off idol. I will probably just go straight to the source though, and stick with Josh Turner. The episode of American Idol featuring footage of the duet will air Thursday, May 19th, and you can see what I mean then.