A new project is coming from Scotty McCreery! The country music singer announces the release of a new EP, Scooter & Friends, out on July 18. The record includes McCreery’s “Bottle Rockets” collaboration with Hootie & the Blowfish, along with a song with Lee Brice, and one with Charlie Wilson, lead singer of The Gap Band.
McCreery announces the exciting news on social media.
“It’s a collection of songs with features from some of my friends,” McCreery writes, revealing the guest artists. The American Idol alum also reveals that “Once Upon a Bottle of Wine” with Wilson will be out tonight at midnight.”
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McCreery has been teasing a new song on social media, which we now know is “Once Upon a Bottle of Wine.” The song comes as McCreery has a Top 20 hit with “Bottle Rockets,” only a few weeks after it was released.
“Bottle Rockets” was written on a writing retreat with McCreery and some of his favorite songwriters, as he works on his new album.
“We had a lot of songs started going into that retreat, but this song came out of a conversation,” McCreery reveals on Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen.. “This was us reminiscing on previous summers, like ‘I remember my last summer of no job, no responsibilities and school was out. That was such a fun summer.’ And for me in the Carolinas, and I think for everybody worldwide, Hootie & the Blowfish were huge. It was just talking about those soundtracks of summer. I forget who played into it first, but the chords were kind of matching, and we were like, ‘Man, that’s kind of cool,’ so we just ran with it.”
McCreery grew up a fan of Rucker and Hootie & the Blowfish. He never imagined he would one day get to record a song with the legendary band.
“We’re in the same fantasy league together,” McCreery says. “I love the guy. But, I was kind of nervous to ask him to do it, because I was like, ‘This has gotta be one of their babies. I don’t know if they’ll even want to touch this.’ But they loved it, and they were so gracious and supportive of it. So having them on, just game-changer.”
McCreery has more to look forward to than new music. He and his wife Gabi recently announced they are expecting their second child this fall, making their two-year-old son Avery a big brother.
“It’s the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me for sure,” McCreery tells Us Weekly, speaking of being a father. “[Avery’s] already two and a half and running around and he’s talking a mile a minute. It’s just so fun watching him grow. Having two is gonna be insane. … The coolest, best thing I’ve ever done is being a dad.”
McCreery’s “Five More Minutes” will be part of the CMA Fest TV special, airing on Thursday, June 26. The show airs at 8:00 PM ET on ABC, and streams the next day on Hulu.
Pre-order “Once Upon a Bottle of Wine” with Wilson here. McCreery just released Seasons Change: Platinum Edition earlier this month. Find all of McCreery’s music and upcoming shows at ScottyMcCreery.com.
Photo Credit: Getty Images for CMA / John Shearer