Scotty McCreery Concert Review

If you’re an OG fan, like me, you probably became a fan of country singer, Scotty McCreery, the second his deep voice sang “Baby lock them doors and turn the lights down low” (Josh Turner’s “Your Man”) for his American Idol audition way back in 2011 (season 10). He followed with Travis Tritt’s “Put Some Drive in Your Country.” His audition led to Steven Tyler’s infamous reaction of “Well, hell fire. Save matches. F**k a duck and see what hatches.” I remember tweeting that he was the next Josh Turner. McCreery got the three yeses sending him to Hollywood, then later went on to win the whole shebang. He was only 16 at the time of the audition and 17 when he won.

Fast forward seven years, Scotty’s about to turn 25 and he’s living his best life. After four major albums (one being a Christmas album) topping the charts, McCreery finally got his first number one single with “Five More Minutes” earlier this year. The album, “Seasons Change”, that the song came from, debuted at number one on the country charts. Then, to top it all off, Scotty married his long-time girlfriend in June. To quote him from his concert, it’s his “best year to date.” Can’t really argue that.

Now, I’ve been fortunate enough to see McCreery live in concert a handful of times over the last seven years. None of which have been disappointing. He knows how to entertain the crowd, and that deep voice we fell in love with on Idol sounds even better in person. If you ever have the chance to see him perform live, I highly recommend you take advantage of it.

On September 13, 2018 I was able to see him in concert again. This time at the Tennessee Valley Fair in Knoxville, Tn. Let me start off by saying this: McCreery isn’t your typical bro-country artist that seems to be populating the country airwaves these days. If you’re a fan of his, or have heard either of his latest singles, “Five More Minutes” and “This is It”, you probably already know that. Sure, he has a couple songs that dive into that realm – i.e. “Boys From Back Home”, “Move It On Out”, and “Barefootin’” to name a few – but even those don’t scream bro-country. Instead, Scotty sticks close to his North Carolina roots and the blueprint that makes people fall in love with country music – the storytelling.

His concert sticks closely to that blueprint as well.

McCreery kicks off the show with a thunderous performance of his latest album’s title track, “Seasons Change.” Then he jokingly introduces himself as Luke Bryan, which isn’t the last laughs he gets from the crowd. As the show goes on, he keeps things fun with performances of “Wherever You Are”, “Boys From Back Home”, “In Between”, “Wrong Again” and “Move It On Out.” Don’t worry, he also throws in some fan favorites like “The Trouble With Girls”, “I Love You This Big”, “Water Tower Town”, “Forget To Forget You”, “Feelin’ It” and “See You Tonight.”

Like I stated above, McCreery knows how to, and enjoys, sticking close to country roots. During his shows, he likes to pay homage to the greats that he grew up on. Maybe halfway through his set, Scotty covers the classics of Conway Twitty, Randy Travis, Johnny Cash and a few others. While it’s not country, he even does a solid cover of The Fray’s “Over My Head (Cable Car)”. Each of these covers kept the crowd of various ages excited and singing along. He also went back to his Idol audition for the encore with Josh Turner’s “Your Man.”

However, my favorite moments of the night came when Scotty would slow things down and tell the stories that inspired some of his songs. “Home In My Mind” speaks to being on the road, but dreaming of being back home in North Carolina with family. Before beginning his latest single, “This Is It,” McCreery tells the story of his relationship with his new wife, Gabi, which is just adorable.  It’s the stories he recalls of his late grandfather in the middle of “Five More Minutes”, though, that really pulls at your emotions and heartstrings. I’m not kidding when I say I teared up (and laughed a few times).

I’ve gotta admit, I had such a proud fan moment when the show was over. When he started singing that encore, I couldn’t help but think of how much he’s grown, not only as a person, but as an artist. When he first started out, he was just a 16-year-old from the small town of Garner, North Carolina who held his mic funny and came off a little shy – yet still spirited – on stage. Now, he’s more confident, more mature. He’s honed his craft – song wise, performance wise, stage presence wise. He does what every artist/musician strives to do: connects with the audience.

That is the point of being a songwriter/performer, anyways, right? To make your audience feel something. Singing along and jamming to the songs is fun and all, but you can do that anywhere -granted, not live with the artists and thousands of people. I want a little more. To me, some of the most memorable parts of a concert are when the musician wears their heart on their sleeve for a moment or two to delve deeper into the stories behind my favorite songs. There are these moments of connection. Like yeah, I’ve experienced something similar with losing a grandparent I was close to. Or aww, how sweet that they met on the first day of kindergarten and are now married. Or a laugh out loud moment of needing that king-sized bed to have the space and get your eight hours of sleep.

Scotty McCreery does this. He reminds us that he’s not just a country singer who won American Idol and has a number one song. He’s still a simple and humble guy from North Carolina who loves his family, friends and his home, but also gets to travel the world doing what he loves, connecting with complete strangers.

So, as I stated earlier, if you ever get the chance to see Scotty McCreery live, do it.