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Exclusive Scotty McCreery: New Album, New Take on Life

Originally posted on Men's Journal | By Laura Lambert | Last updated 5/9/24

After winning American Idol in 2011, Scotty McCreery was on top of the world. With a new record deal in hand, the artist was ready to take over the world. Then, slow times hit and his record deal was lost. He had to start over and his new album reflects the highs and lows of his life.

Men's Journal Country Music had the opportunity to sit down and talk about the. new album, Rise and Fall, along with the highs and lows of life and the things he was tired of and changed.

Enjoy.

MJ: You have an 18-month old and that makes you kind of a new dad, how is that going?

McCreery: It’s been awesome. By far the coolest things I have ever done. Just being a dad, watching him grow up, watching my wife be a mom, it’s just a blast. It’s hard work, you know, but it definitely pays off to see him smile and see him come into his own at 18 months. It’s pretty awesome.

MJ: Let's talk a little bit about your new album coming out. I am told that it reflects the highs and lows of your career. To start, you won American Idol as a 17-year-old, which I assume was the first high of your career?

McCreery: Yeah, it started out pretty high for sure. It was never the plan, Idol, but you know the fact that it all worked out at an early age. At that point Idol was still the biggest show on TV by a longshot, it was bananas for sure.

MJ: What was your plan before that?

McCreery: The plan was to go to Nashville for college, to either Belmont or Middle Tennessee State and study the music business and then after college get into the Honky Tonks and see where that took me. Like the classic way all the other folks do it.

I always watched it (American Idol) growing up and had seen the commercial where they lowered the age limit or something and I was like oh, I can audition this year. I said “well, what the heck, the worst thing they can do is say no,” and the rest is history.

MJ: They didn’t say no, did they?

McCreery: No, they didn’t say no. Luckily they kept me around. It was a great experience though, it was like an entertainment business, I learned a lot.

MJ: So, you win Idol, then what happens after that?

McCreery: It was great. We went on tours with Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts, got to make a couple albums. I started song writing a little bit. We had some success. We never really had any major hits at that point, but I got to do what I love -- making a living, making records and tour. It was pretty fun.

MJ: Along the way you somehow lost a record deal?

McCreery: Yeah, I lost my deal with the biggest label in Nashville. I was still at a pretty young age, and everything had been going pretty well, but obviously not well enough. That was definitely the low point career wise, but also personally. You kind of become defiant a little bit about what you do, then everyone hears you’ve been dropped and it’s embarrassing, and people are asking questions. I didn’t have a label, I had lost my management team, I had nobody really around me, but a few key people that stuck by my side and believed in me. So, little by little we started building back brick by brick. It took a while. It was a full year of talking with attorneys basically every day. It was not fun going through all of that.

MJ: At the time and looking back, what do you attribute losing the record deal to?

McCreery: I think it was a combination of things. Obviously, we are all trying for big number one hits and if that’s not happening, it’s not happening. I had just come off of two top tens, which was the highest I had been up until that point, but we put a new song out called, Southern Belle, that really flopped. There were some personality things too, things we weren’t seeing eye to eye on too, whether that be creatively or personally. It was like an arranged marriage, you know? It’s not like they signed me as seeing me as an artist, like you win American Idol, and you get a deal. So I get that there were plenty of things to make that deal.

MJ: Now you have a new deal. Who are you with now?

McCreery: We put “Five More Minutes” out independently. Typically, that is the kiss of death, but it ended up working out. I signed on with Triple Tigers Records, who is through Sony. They took “Five More Minutes” on which turned out to be my first number one. We’ve had seven chart toppers basically. One of them only got to number two because Morgan Wallen was camping out at number one, but we’ve had six number ones now, so it’s been a fun ride. We had to go through a lot to get here.

MJ: Talk about the lessons that you’ve gathered from that ride. Surely, you’d say you’re better now because of all you have been through?

McCreery: Yes. I think it taught me a lot. It taught me about life, and life ain’t fair. You get kicked down and you can either stay there and feel sorry for yourself, or you can work harder and smarter and take that as a learning experience, and just put that towards your next goal. That’s what I did. I started gathering a great team around me, folks that believed in me and the music. It takes a village and I love my village right now. I have great folks and I trust everybody. But, yes, I learned a lot. A lot about life, about myself as a man. I can look back now and say I do have what it takes to get through hard times. Next time something like that happens, because it will, I will know the game plan and where to go.

MJ: Let’s talk about your new album, “Rise and Fall.” It comes out May 10^th. What can we expect to hear?

McCreery: It’s my favorite. I know every artist always says that, but it is my favorite by far. I just think the song writing and the story telling is the best stuff I’ve done yet. It was a lot of fun to write. We wrote most of it in the mountains of North Carolina, around the fireplace with guitars. Just me and my buddies, phones off, just enjoying the time like the old days when music used to be written. It’s very neat. I have songs for my wife, songs for my baby, I have heartbreak songs. I love a good heartbreak song, even though I’m madly in love and far from that right now. Sometimes playing the role and telling those stories is what country music is about. A song for everybody.

MJ: Talking about the writing, did you write or co-write all the songs on the album?

McCreery: Twelve of thirteen. The thirteenth was a song I fell in love with, I swear, in like 2015. The song was sent to me, and I just didn’t feel like it fit the records. So, on this album we finished early in the studio, which never happens, so we cut the song “Hey Rose” and it was fun how we got to do that one.

MJ: If you had a favorite on this album, what is it?

McCreery: That’s tough. The favorite on the album for me, I’d probably go with “Slow Dance.” It just feels like the country music I grew up on with the steel guitar and the fiddle. It just has a special feel and puts a smile on my face. So that one would be my favorite.

MJ: You just had another large event in your life, you were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Tell me about that?

McCreery: It was a lifelong dream come true. I have so much respect for what the Grand Old Opry is, what they’ve done over the years. All of my heroes have played there, many of them were members there. My Mom went to the Opry back in the seventy’s and told us stories about it and I just always loved and respected it. So, to be worthy of joining that family is the greatest honor I’ve had yet, by far in my career and I’ve been on cloud nine ever since then.

MJ: Are you on tour right now?

McCreery: I’m on tour pretty much every January through December every year. We just finished my headlining and solo tour the first couple months of this year. Now we are just basically going around doing dates around the country.

MJ: Do you know how many shows you will play this year?

McCreery: Last year we did 115, I think. That was a bit much having a family, so I think this year we’re going to stick to about 90.

MJ: So, having been on tour, is there anyone you can give me good stories about? Who did you have the most fun with while you’re on tour?

McCreery: You can go back to my first tour with Brad Paisley, he did it right. He showed me the ropes and took me under his wing and gave me advice at dinner when we were together. He would rent out movie theatres like when the Avengers came out. After the show was done, he would rent out a theatre for the entire tour to go use. One time he rented out an outdoor fun place with go-karts, putt putt and everything. He just rolled out the red carpet for all of us. He showed us how to run a tour, how to be respectful, how to run a tight ship. He was a good first tour for me.

MJ: I have also been told you are on a new fitness routine.

McCreery: Yeah, I guess so. I don’t like to talk about myself like that, but I just try to eat better and actually work out. I used to do it every day playing baseball, but once that stopped I kind of stopped. I got tired of being tired so, I kicked it into gear.

MJ: Is there a specific type of workout you like to do or just move?

McCreery: I hit the Peloton regularly. My knees aren’t made for running, so the bike is what I do the most. I do weightlifting as well, mainly dumb bells and different things like that. I just try to be consistent. I did eighty days in a row leading up to a vacation we had. Now I’m doing like every other day right now.

MJ: Anything you’d like your fans to know or share?

McCreery: I’m just excited for this album. I’m excited for them to hear it and hopefully they enjoy it. It really is fun top to bottom. I’m certainly proud of this one and I hope they get something out of it for them.

McCreery's new album releases May 10.

Rise and Fall track listing
(Songwriters in parentheses)

Little More Gone (Scotty McCreery, Brent Anderson, Derek George, Frank Rogers, Bobby Hamrick, Jeremy Bussey, Monty Criswell)
Cab in a Solo (Scotty McCreery, Brent Anderson, Frank Rogers)
Lonely (Scotty McCreery, Brent Anderson, Derek George, Frank Rogers, Bobby Hamrick, Jeremy Bussey, Monty Criswell)
Can’t Pass the Bar (Scotty McCreery, Brent Anderson, Cale Dodds, Frank Rogers)
Hey Rose (Jay Brunswick, Jeremy Bussey, Bobby Hamrick)
Fall of Summer (Scotty McCreery, Brent Anderson, Derek George, Frank Rogers, Monty Criswell)
Love Like This (Scotty McCreery, Frank Rogers, Aaron Eshuis)
Slow Dance (Scotty McCreery, Brent Anderson, Derek George, Monty Criswell)
No Country for Old Men (Scotty McCreery, Brent Anderson, Derek George, Frank Rogers, Monty Criswell)
And Countin’ (Scotty McCreery, Frank Rogers, Bobby Hamrick, Jeremy Bussey)
Stuck Behind a Tractor (Scotty McCreery, Chase McGill, Rhett Akins)
Red Letter Blueprint (Scotty McCreery, Derek George, Brent Anderson, Jeremy Bussey, Monty Criswell)
Porch (Scotty McCreery, Greylan James, Heather Morgan)