KANSAS CITY, Mo. — From taking college classes — to touring — to trying to put the finishing touches on his second album — Scotty McCreery is a busy man.
“I’m trying to keep up,” McCreery said just hours before he took to the stage at the Uptown Saturday night.
The young singer says he will never forget how he got his start and how his fans made it all happen.
“It’s been pretty wild, non-stop crazy, traveling half way around the world,” said McCreery. “But it’s been a lot of fun.”
The 19-year-old amazed the “American Idol” judges with his deep voice and ability to sing not only country music, but songs from many other artists. He won season 10 of the nationally televised singing competition only years ago.
Since then, his debut studio album, “Clear As Day,” has been certified platinum for one million copies sold.
McCreery is now doing all of the things he had dreamed of doing. He told FOX 4 News that he’s still trying to keep up with the show and the new judges.
“It’s a new flavor to the show having Nicki (Minaj) there and Mariah (Carey) there, and Keith (Urban) there as well,” he said.
In fact, he wished Urban had been a judge when he was performing on the show.
“Country music is such a tight nit family or community. It is tough to really get in if you are outside of it. They didn’t give me bad advice, but I think Keith could have honed in on it,” he said.
A freshman at North Carolina State, McCreery said it’s a balancing act between trying to finish his second album, his tour and college.
“We do Monday – Wednesday classes. Tuesday is the in between days, which I am either making up work or going to Nashville. It’s definitely a lot. It’s a load, but its fun,” he explained.
McCreery is also trying his hand at something new.
“Webisodes — we are just starting those up at Scott TV. We have a camera guy on the road with us, catching behind the scenes action of me and my band. We have a big sense of humor. You have to be able to take a joke to be in this band and the camera is kind of catching that side of things,” he said.
With dreams of singing for the rest of his life, McCreery says he will never forget how he got to where is now in his career.
“A lot of artists get to come up here and say, ‘It’s all because of the fans. You are the reason I am here.’ But for me it’s literal. They put me thru Idol and they have stayed by my side thru these last two years. I will never lose my appreciation for them,” he said.
MCCreery told FOX 4 News that he arrived in Kansas City only a couple of hours before his show, so he didn’t have a lot of time to look around town. But he did get to sample some famous KC barbecue. He said he loved it and even went back for more. However, he has no idea from what establishment it came from.
Last week, “American Idol” announced the final 10 singers in the competition.
“Once you got to the top 10 it was game on. You had to bring it,” said McCreery recalling the days when he was in the same situation.
This season’s “American Idol” is back with the top ten this Wednesday night at 7:00 on FOX 4, followed by FOX 4 News at 9:00.
