Scotty McCreery has another hit single, out now. The North Carolina native just released “Bottle Rockets,” a song featuring Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Hold My Hand.” The song became the most-added at country radio, the first week it was released.
“I am thrilled and thankful to country radio for making ‘Bottle Rockets’ the most added song this week,” McCreery says. “It’s a dream come true to sing with Hootie & the Blowfish. They are royalty in the Carolinas where I grew up, and ‘Hold My Hand’ has been one of my favorite summer songs since I first heard it as a kid. What a way to start the week before I travel to the UK!”
“It’s quite a thrill to have a cherished, old song of ours take flight again,” adds the band’s Jim Sonefeld. “Even more special to have a Carolina guy like Scotty reshaping it in such a beautiful way.”
McCreery previously revealed he reached out to Rucker personally to ask if Hootie &. the Blowfish would join him on the song.
“Darius has been a friend now for a long time,” McCreery tells Country Now. “So I was hopeful that maybe they would want to do this, but you never know, especially when the song probably means so much to them. But I nervously texted him and he got back to me and said, ‘We’d love to do it.’ The song turned out better than my wildest dreams.”
Not only did Hootie & the Blowfish agree to join McCreery on “Bottle Rockets,” but they went in and rerecorded “Hold My Hand,” their band’s debut single. The song also became a chance for McCreery and Rucker, now close friends, to work together.
“We’ve got a lot in common,” McCreery tells ABC Audio. “We’re just right down the road from each other, and a lot of their people are some of my friends. We just have a lot of folks in our circles that are friendly. So I’m glad this all worked out.”
When McCreery released “Bottle Rockets,” he explained why the song felt so nostalgic for him.
“This song takes me back to those summers of having fun with no responsibilities with good times and good tunes,” McCreery said at the time. “For me growing up in the Carolinas, Hootie & the Blowfish were just massive and such a huge part of great summers growing up. That’s what this song ‘Bottle Rockets’ is about.”
“Bottle Rockets” is likely from McCreery’s next album. He will release Seasons Change: Platinum Edition on June 20. The new project includes all of the songs on McCreery’s 2018 Seasons Change record, with four bonus acoustic tracks. The bonus acoustic tracks are “In Between,” “Five More Minutes,” “This Is It” and “Still.”
“The Seasons Change album was truly life-changing for me,” says McCreery. “After experiencing both some career highs and lows, I was starting over. For the first time, I co-wrote all the songs and felt like the project was truly me. It has been both gratifying and confidence-building to see how the fans, radio and streaming have embraced the music from this album and me. I’m a guy who loves to look back, and I celebrate the release of this new expanded edition and all the accomplishments we’ve made since the original album came out, while also looking ahead to making new dreams come true.”
McCreery’s headlining own UK Tour begins on May 24 in Belfast, Ireland. He will also head out on the road later this year on the co-headlining Two For The Road Tour with Dustin Lynch. Find “Bottle Rockets” and all of McCreery’s music and upcoming shows at ScottyMcCreery.com.