Scotty McCreery was officially welcomed into the Grand Ole Opry family on Saturday night (April 20) by Opry member Josh Turner who was joined by a surprise guest, Country Music Hall of Famer and Opry member Randy Travis.
McCreery performed his current single, “Cab in a Solo,” “Fall of Summer” from his upcoming album Rise and Fall and Travis’ iconic “Three Wooden Crosses” before being joined onstage by Turner and Travis.
“I stand here tonight proud of the fact that I bridged the gap between the generation of Randy Travis and Scotty McCreery,” shared Turner. “Only time will tell who will be inspired by Scotty.”
After sharing the chorus of the George Jones classic “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes,” Turner continued, “Scotty is not only a fine singer and a songwriter but he’s a great man, husband, and now father. I’m proud of him and I’m proud that he is filling the shoes of the artists before him. With artists like him, country music is in great shape.”
Turner then presented the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry with his official Opry Member Award and passed the mic for remarks and reflections from the night’s honoree.
“If you’ve listened to any of my interviews over the last 15 years of doing this, they’d say, ‘what is your biggest goal?’ and I’d always say, ‘One day I wanna be a member of the Grand Ole Opry,’” shared McCreery. “I gotta go home and start writing a new bucket list.”
Pointing to his 18-month-old son Avery in the audience, McCreery added, “He might not understand tonight but one day I’ll be able to tell him, ‘Hey buddy, this was your daddy’s dream and it came true.’”
McCreery capped the poignant night with a tender performance of his first No. 1 hit, “Five More Mintues”, which he debuted on the Opry stage in 2016.
While performing on an Opry Country Christmas show in December, McCreery was surprised onstage by Opry member Garth Brooks who wished him “Merry Christmas” and went on to officially invite him to be the newest member of the Opry family.
McCreery’s Opry induction and performance will air as a Saturday night Opry Live later this spring on the Opry Facebook and YouTube channels, streaming free on the Circle Now app, and via Circle Country digital streaming partners.
The Platinum selling artist will release his new album Rise and Fall on May 10th. He wrote 12 of the 13 songs on the album, including his current hit “Cab in a Solo,” the fastest moving single of his career which garnered his most first-week adds at country radio (120) and is currently Top 6 in Mediabase.
On May 11, McCreery will return to perform at the Opry just one day after he releases his new album Rise and Fall and later this summer will return to Northeast Ohio for his performance at the Stark County Fair on August 29th. Tickets for that show went on sale on Friday (April 19) and are available at the Stark County Fair website.
