‘Catch of the Day’ – Scotty McCreery – “Five More Minutes” [AUDIO]

Today we turn our focus to an artist whose parents originally planned on naming him Evan, but changed their minds at the last minute. An artist who may have been just as happy pitching for his beloved Boston Red Sox as he is as a performer.

When Scotty McCreery was just six years old, his grandmother stirred his musical interest, when she gave him a book about Elvis Presley. By the time he was nine, he had begun playing guitar and singing in his elementary schools choirs and by high school, he was named Freshman Singer of The Year at Garner Magnet School (he sang tenor then). Soon after he switched to singing bass in his church choir, while also performing in school plays. He then joined a traveling group called Die Meistersingers, performing across the country.

In 2009, at age 16, McCreery won a local singing contest sponsored by radio station WQDR-FM. After winning, McCreery performed on several shows with the Radio Station, helping to raise money for local charities. After winning several local contests and performing on local charity shows, including one that featured headliner Jason  Michael Carroll, McCreery decided to audition for the tenth season of American Idol.

McCreery originally planned on traveling to Nashville to audition for the show, but changed his mind at the last minute due to conflicts with his schedule. He eventually flew to Milwaukee for his audition, where he sang Josh Turner's "Your Man" and Travis Tritt's "Put Some Drive In Your Country" as his audition pieces. After passing his audition, consistently finished in the top 2 every week, making it through to the finals, where he would come up against fellow country singer Lauren Alaina. At age 17, McCreery would become the youngest male performer to win during the show's 15 seasons; overall he would become the second youngest winner, behind Jordan Sparks, the season six winner, who was also 17 but just a few days younger than McCreery. The match-up of McCreery and Alaina, who was 16, would be the youngest finals pairing in the shows run.

After the show, McCreery would sign with Mercury Nashville, and release his coronation song "I Love You This Big" as his debut single. His debut album, Clear As Day, was released in October of 2011 and sold nearly 200,000 copies its first week,

making McCreery the first country artist to debut at the top of the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart with their debut studio album, as well as the youngest male artist to land at the top of that chart with a debut album. But, McCreery had his senior year in High School to finish up, so he returned to North Carolina. After graduation, McCreery enrolled at North Carolina State University, where he would become a walk-on on the school's baseball squad.

McCreery left NC State in 2012, releasing a Christmas album, Christmas With Scotty McCreery, and his second album, See You Tonight in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The title track from the studio album was released as the lead single, and would become his first top-10 single in 2013, and while the album didn't debut nearly as strong as his debut album, it has been certified gold by the RIAA. A second single from the album, "Feelin' It" would also go top-10. A third album, Southern Belle, was scheduled to be released in 2015, but was scrapped after the lead single failed to crack the top-40 and sold less than 8,000 copies. McCreery would soon part ways with Mercury Nashville.

Near the end of 2016, McCreery re-entered the studio, without a recording contract. No word of a new album or record deal, but we do have a brand new single from Scotty in our spotlight today. Brought to you by All American Super Car Wash of Lawton, Scotty McCreery and "Five More Minutes" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.

Like, share or comment on our Catch of the Day, and you will be entered into our drawing for a $25 gift card from All American Super Car Wash of Lawton.