This American Idol is just getting started
by Don Wilcock
From bagging groceries to becoming the youngest man in history to debut a No. 1 album on Billboard's Top 200, Scotty McCreery has had to grow up fast.
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"The biggest surprise I would say, is how much of a business it really is," said the 19 year-old country superstar
Thirty-nine million people watched McCreery win the 10th season of "American Idol" in May 2011. Capturing 122.4 million votes, he became an overnight sensation, much the way Elvis did after his first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1956. In fact while others were listening to the Backstreet Boys, McCreery was totally hooked on Elvis. "Conway (Twitty) and Merle (Haggard), I definitely listened to all of them and had all their records in the house, but Elvis was what I was listening to 24/7 growing up. I guess I just had a feel for that kind of music, that kind of style, I don't know what it was," McCreery said.
"As I was going through 'Idol,' the term that got used for me by all kinds of people was 'old soul.' They said I had an old soul. When I was a kid, I just had that old soul that enjoyed the music and kind of connected to it."
A fan of "American Idol" since its first season, McCreery and his family decided to take a vacation to Milwaukee, Wis.. so he could try out for the show. "We saw a city we'd never seen before, not really expecting much, but they kept me around, and it was a lot more than we expected out of it, but we were extremely happy," McCreery said.
A religious young man who insists that at least one song of faith be included on each of his albums, he said being a pitcher on his high school baseball team prepared him for his meteoric rise. "You control how fast the game is gonna go," McCreery explained. "If you have a good day, then, hopefully, you're holding the team to a few runs. If you're having a bad day, then they're killing ya and your team loses because of you. That's pressure, and being on stage with all eyes on you, that's pressure to deliver, and you gotta deliver the goods every night."
McCreery is working diligently to not let the machinery of the music industry go to his head. He's toured with other 'Idol' winnders and opened for Brad Paisley, but he's calling his first headliner venture "Weekend Road Trip Tour 2013" because he's dividing his time between concert appearances Thursdays through Sundays. Mondays through Wednesdays, he's a freshman at North Carolina State, where he's majoring in communications with a focus on media.
No artists on "American Idol" are allowed to sing their own songs, and all 12 cuts on "Clear As Day" are by Nashville songwriters, but they are true to who McCreery is. Things are going to change on the next album though. "I was writing this morning in Nashville," he said. "So we've cut about seven songs so far, and I think two of them are mine. So it's real cool that I get to do that, and I'm gonna have a hand in this record and put my own stamp on it. So, I'm enjoying it."
He wants this to be his career and hopes to still be singing when he's 50. "The cool thing about me starting out so young is that my music is going to grow with me as a person," McCreery said. "It'll be the same guy in the music, but you'll see, hopefully, a level of maturity throughout these albums. Album one, two, three, four, you'll be able to look back and say, 'Oh there's young Scotty, and here's an older Scotty.' I'll keep the same values and the same storylines and stuff. That's just my way of writing, I guess."
Source : My local newspaper (The Saratogian- Saratoga Springs NY) posted this article about him when he came through town to perform at the Palace Theater in Albany NY.
I typed this all up from the physical copy. Not sure the exact date the corner is ripped off, it is recent though!
♥ I hope you enjoyed this :o)