Jeff Ray
It feels good to be on the upswing, and 13 years into a career that began when he was just a teenager, country favorite Scotty McCreery is enjoying such a moment.
The multi-Platinum singer-songwriter is set to release his fifth studio album Rise and Fall on May 10, and while his latest single “Cab In a Solo” proved he can still drive a hit up the country radio charts, that’s just one of his many recent achievements. He also just finished a headlining tour, and late last month became the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry, where he was welcomed by one of his all-time heroes and earliest supporters, Josh Turner. Beyond that, his days are spent as a dedicated family man, seeming very much at ease in his role as a husband to his wife, Gabi, and dad to one-and- a-half year-old son, Avery.
But just because he’s living the good life, doesn’t mean McCreery has lost his edge.
“If you told me 10 years ago, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on for you in 2024: You’ve got your own headline tour, a song in the Top 10 on radio, and your son and your wife,’ I’d have taken that deal in a heartbeat,” says McCreery. “But me as a competitor, I always want to raise the bar higher for myself.”
With Rise and Fall, fans get a clear view of those competing impulses, making for a rich and energetic example of country’s new modern- timeless contingent. Embracing the good place McCreery finds himself in, while also leaning on a full-spectrum view of life’s rises, falls, romance, and regrets, it’s a set steeped in the ‘90s-era sound that inspired him early on. And McCreery says it’s possibly his most biographic project to date.
“If folks are looking for a country album that kind of takes them back in time a little bit, or they really want to find out who I am as a guy, this record does all of that,” he says. “I know every artist always says, ‘This is my favorite album yet,’ but I really do believe that with this one.”
Part of the reason he feels that way is because McCreery didn’t make Rise and Fall on a schedule. Instead, the songs came together organically, mostly over a few extended writing retreats and some lazy days in the North Carolina mountains near his home. He and co-writers like Brent Anderson, Derek George, and longtime collaborator Frank Rogers (who split production duties with Aaron Eshuis and Derek Wells), spent unhurried time soaking up the peace and quiet, writing tunes, and swapping stories, often gathered around a crackling fire.
In all, McCreery co-wrote 12 of the 13 songs on Rise and Fall, including the hit “Cab In a Solo,” which he calls, “a good ol’ country song.” Built around an updated, more mature twist on a pure-country heartbreaker, the song finds a guy drowning his sorrows with a bottle of cabernet (instead of whiskey or beer). With a twangy, two-stepping rhythm and vocals as bold as the vintage in his hand, the wine in the song was intended as a gift. After that plan goes awry, McCreery finds a solo cup to make sure it won’t go to waste. He says fans are loving the new flavor of an age-old drinking tune.
“Every night, people are singing along to it, and they’ve got their own solo cups, and it has kind of become its own thing out there,” says McCreery. “It’s fun. I think when people first see the title of this song, the title alone doesn’t really make sense. You have to listen to it, which is fun for me as a songwriter.”
In fact, McCreery’s idea of fun shows his song-crafting skill – even if that skill has often gone underappreciated. That’s mostly because there were always other things for fans to focus on, like that luxurious Southern baritone and the young-guy-who-loves-classic-country angle. But McCreery counts writing as his favorite aspect of music, and has always known what he wanted to say. He’s a mainstream artist who quietly co-wrote four of his five Number Ones, and over his last three albums, helped pen all but three of 36 songs. Still, he’s fine with it going relatively unnoticed.
“It has never bothered me,” McCreery says. “I’ve definitely been a writer that writes, for the most part, for myself and writes from personal experience. I feel like some other artists that you might think of as songwriters, they have songs [recorded by] a bunch of different artists, but I’m not sure my songs would even fit other artists. It’s my favorite thing to do musically, period. Just sitting down on the guitar with a blank sheet of paper and once you finish up, you’ve got a little piece of art.”
In April, he got to showcase that drive at Nashville’s Tin Pan South songwriting festival. Taking the stage for an acoustic behind-the- music style show, McCreery mixed old favorites like the 3X Platinum Number One, “Five More Minutes,” with diverse Rise and Fall tracks like the barn-burning “Can’t Pass the Bar,” the all-I-need romantic throwback “Slow Dance,” and big- picture modern anthems like “Fall of Summer,” (the track that gave Rise and Fall its name).
One of the stronger track lists of McCreery’s career, any of those tunes could be his next single, and all would feel at home on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Which is good, since McCreery became the newest member of the Opry family on April 20. It was a full circle moment he still smiles thinking about.
“I’m an old soul,” McCreery admits. “I’m only 30, but I’ve got a deep appreciation for the Opry and the artists that have played the Opry, and even more for what the Opry did for country music history and getting more ears on the sound. [Membership] means the world to me, and for Garth [Brooks] to be the one to invite me and for Josh [Turner] to be the guy who inducted me, I couldn’t have drawn it up any better.”
To McCreery, they’ll always be heroes; not only heroes inspiring his country career, but also examples of staying down to earth. Both Brooks and Turner had to shift their lives around to be a part of McCreery’s Opry induction, and that commitment to being a regular, good-at-the-core person shows up multiple times on Rise and Fall; especially on the final track, “Porch.” A down-home tribute to one of McCreery’s favorite places to be, “Porch” is a rootsy, feel-good message of love to his wife and son. Five albums in and still feeling on top, McCreery knows a simple life often means more.
“I’ve been able to do a lot of cool things in my life,” says McCreery. “Going on some of the biggest tours, singing at Super Bowl parties for my favorite teams, and singing the National Anthem at the World Series, there have been a lot of really crazy moments like, ‘Is this real life or not?’ But at the end of the day, my favorite time is getting back home with my family and seeing my little boy light up.”
“You only get to live this life once and I just want to be there for them as much as I can, but still get to do a really cool thing for a living,” he adds. “I think people have a pretty good idea of who I am, what I stand for, what I love, but [on this album], I hope they hear a different take on my story.”