Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Scotty McCreery at his Grand Ole Opry induction with his wife Gabi and his son Merrick Avery, who was born in October 2022.

Last Saturday, Scott, now 30, was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Taking part in the induction ceremony was none other than Josh Turner.

“Last night was truly a dream come true,” Scotty wrote on social media the next day. “I’ve always revered the @opry for its deep history, tradition, and what it’s meant to country music.

“I hoped one day, through a lot of hard work, I would one day be considered worthy of joining their amazing family. Last night, that dream became reality.”

The full circle moment is just one of the achievements Scotty can celebrate as he returns to American Idol to perform on the Top 10 show Sunday night.

Consider:

* He’ll be performing his latest hit, “Cab in a Solo.” The song is number two on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, the seventh straight single from Scotty to reach at least number three on that chart.

* He released his latest single, “Lonely,” on Friday. And he’s preparing for the May 10 release of his fifth album, “Rise and Fall.”

* His songs have been streamed more than 600 million times on Spotify alone.

Not bad for a guy who’s career seemed to be in decline in early 2017 and went five years between albums at one point.

The turning point came when he teamed up with Frank Rogers and Monty Criswell to pen a song called “Five More Minutes” just two weeks after his granddad died.

The song finds Scotty yearning for just a bit more time to share with his grandfather. It received a rousing reaction when he performed it at the Grand Ole Opry in the summer of 2016, and that performance went viral on YouTube.

Scotty wound up releasing the song in the spring of the following year, and it became his biggest hit. It’s responsible for 200 million of those Spotify streams.

It’s also the song that kicked off a string of five straight number one singles for Scotty, a string that alos included “This Is It,” “In Between,” “You Time” and “Damn Strait.”

In addition to the new single and upcoming album, Scotty’s also on tour. You can check out upcoming dates on his website.