AMERICAN IDOL’s Scotty McCreery on His Meteoric Rise

By Movieguide® Contributor

Country musician Scotty McCreery explained how his career took off after winning AMERICAN IDOL and the newest highs he recently hit with an induction into the Grand Ole Opry.

“I think if somebody would have told me back at 16 when I auditioned for the show like, hey, 13 years later you’ll still be doing it, writing country songs, touring the country – the world – having fun, I would have shook their hand in a heartbeat and said, ‘I’ll take that deal,’” McCreery told Jennifer Hudson.

“I mean, one day I was bagging groceries back home in North Carolina and the next it’s like, lights, camera, action, 30 million people are watching, here you go,” he added.

With half a dozen albums and a country boy heart, McCreery has established himself as a staple of the genre. He was recently bestowed the same honors his childhood heroes achieved when he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.

“That was a lifelong dream. My mama went to the Opry in 1978 and, you know, told us stories and for a country musician, a country singer, the Grand Ole Opry is the pinnacle of country music. All of my heroes have been there as members,” McCreery said.

“I had no idea it was coming but Garth Brooks walked on stage and invited me to become the newest member and it’s just – Randy Travis and Josh Turner inducted me – and it’s just, I’ve been on cloud 900 since then,” he continued.

During his acceptance speech, he reiterated how important the induction was to him as he has strived every day since becoming a full-time musician to be worthy of the honor.

“If you’ve listened to any of my interviews over the last 15 years of doing this, they’d say, ‘What is your biggest goal?’ and I’d always say, ‘One day I wanna be a member of the Grand Ole Opry,’” McCreery said while accepting the honor. “I gotta go home and start writing a new bucket list.

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New Album

The country star has continued to live up to his newest achievement with a new album that was released this year, which he believes brought him back to his country roots in a way his previous projects had failed to.

“This album was so fun because typically in Nashville, you know, at 11 you go to the office with your buddies and you write a song but for this one I brought all my buddies from Nashville to the mountains of North Carolina and we sat around a fireplace with guitars and wrote country music,” he explained. “It felt like the old days, you know, and creatively I think it took me to a different place, you know, we might have said things we wouldn’t have said at 11 or thought of ideas we wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. So I really love this album and I hope people out there are enjoying it.”

Movieguide® previously reported:

AMERICAN IDOL winner Scotty McCreery and his wife Gabi have just welcomed their first child, Merrick “Avery” McCreery.

Their son was born October 24, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In a joint Instagram statement, the couple wrote, “Never known a love like this. Merrick ‘Avery’ McCreery joined us 11 days early on October 24th at 4:34am! 7 lbs 13oz of nothin but love.”

The couple thanked everyone for their prayers, before writing, “Healthy baby and a healthy mama! Praise God.”

McCreery also posted a selfie of the family, with the caption, “Welcome home, Avery!”

McCreery and Gabi are high school sweethearts who’ve known each other since kindergarten. They got married in 2018.