Scotty McCreery brings country to Coliseum
Scotty McCreery brings country to ColiseumWhen the "Idols Live" tour kicked off July 6, season 10 champ Scotty McCreery and some of his fellow contestants found the perfect way to chill before performing for the crowd in Salt Lake City. "The very first night we pranked Jacob Lusk. We poured a bucket of ice on him in the shower," McCreery said by phone from Milwaukee, coincidentally the city of his "Idol" audition. "It just got us laughing so hard." Who knows what sort of ice breaker McCreery and
the rest of the top 11 have in mind when the tour hits
Nassau Coliseum Tuesday and Wednesday nights? (Perhaps a shoutout to semifinalist Robbie Rosen of
Merrick, who'll be in Tuesday's audience.) For the country crooner from Garner, N.C., the whole "Idols Live" experience has been "pretty crazy," but in a good way. "Coming off of the show, I don't think any of us knew what to expect, but it's definitely a lot more fun, a lot more free," he said. "On the show, you're always worried about what the judges are going to say afterward. What the people are thinking back home watching the show. And now you're just
up on stage having fun and you're just going out there to entertain, and that's what we want to do. It's cool for us." And it seems to be selling tickets, too. According to
Billboard's Boxscore chart, "Idols Live" tickets sales have averaged 97 percent this year, with sellouts in at least eight venues, a sharp boost from last year's soft sales which resulted in seven tour dates being canceled. Audiences seem to be responding to this year's top 11, and headliner McCreery, in particular, who performs a mix of
up-tempo and slow, sentimental songs, including his coronation anthem "I Love You This Big." ("I thought it was a really good song for the 'Idol' moment," he says.) And he's also gotten to perform "When You Say Nothing at All" with runner-up Lauren Alaina, a frequent duet partner on "Idol." But, McCreery says, the two aren't making beautiful music together offstage. "We're just good friends. People always speculated because they wanted to make something out of it in the teen magazines, but we've never been anything more than friends and I don't think we ever will be," he said.
Songs a mother could love
With his hectic schedule, McCreery wouldn't have much time for romance anyway. Besides the tour, he's been a fixture in the recording studio working on his debut album, which should drop in time for the holiday-shopping season, "Now we're getting the master mixes and getting it to where it's exactly to what we want it to sound like on the album," he says. "People can just expect a nice, fun album. There'll be some songs that will make you dance and get up and move around, and there'll be some songs where you'll just sit back and ponder life and think about things."
And then there are those tunes that passed what McCreery calls "the Mama cryin' test." While choosing which songs to put on the album, McCreery's producers would email demo versions of many tunes, which McCreery would listen to with his family.
"There were a couple of times that Mama would cry, and I'd respond, 'Well it passed the Mama cryin' test, so it must be a good one," he said.
But fans shouldn't expect to hear McCreery's own songs on his disc. "Hopefully the next one I do, if I continue to stick around, I'll be able to get more of my own stuff on there," he said.
It's all still a big leap for a 17-year-old kid from Garner, N.C., who last year was bagging groceries and was a star player for his school's baseball team when he decided to audition for "Idol." He was understandably nervous that his brand of old-school country might not fit in with "Idol's" emphasis on finding a pop star. "I always knew I was going to do country if I made it and then I'd sing Frank Sinatra afterward. When I got done with my first song, the lady looked at me and she said, 'This is not "Nashville Star." You've got to be able to sing something different.' I said, 'I know, I'm country, but I can sing different stuff.' I just wanted to stay true to me and hope that worked out for me."
It did and he got his golden ticket to Hollywood, where he immediately became the one to beat on "Idol," especially after the early elimination of power belter Pia Toscano. McCreery is still at a loss to explain why he connected with viewers. "I just think Middle America could relate to me. I was just a high school baseball player, bagging groceries. I was just a normal kid who tried out for a show."
He remembers Gaga
His experience on "Idol" was anything but normal, from performing before millions of people each week to filming those Ford music videos. And then there was Gaga.
"Scotty McCreery. Lady Gaga. I couldn't think of a better fit," joked "Idol" mentor Jimmy Iovine the week that the flamboyant superstar took the finalists under her wing. McCreery seemed on the verge of blushing when Gaga suggested he make love to the microphone.
"She was definitely interesting," says McCreery in a diplomatic tone worthy of Henry Kissinger. "She's very unique and that's what makes her her. I think me and her are very different as far as style and it made for some good TV."
McCreery had a hard time following Gaga's advice, but listened up when the "Idol" judges spoke. "Pretty much everybody would tell me just stay true to yourself and you'll be all right," McCreery said. "Randy and Jennifer told me a couple of times to just stay in my lane. That was the phrase they used. I think I did that and I'm going to continue to do that and hope that it works out for me."
