Fans of American Idol winner Scotty McCreery will be receiving an early Christmas gift in October. McCreery will release his new album, Christmas with Scotty McCreery, on October 16th which will feature traditional holiday songs as well as two new original tracks.
"Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year," he says. "And what is Christmas without music? We start listening to Christmas songs early in the McCreery household, so it felt right. I've always wanted to record a Christmas album since I've had my music career.
"It's a special thing for me," he says. "As a family, we were all really excited about making a Christmas album. Now we can add my CD to the collection we listen to."
Christmas with Scotty McCreery, an 11-song collection produced by Mark Bright, follows his debut album, Clear As Day.
McCreery's goal for his Christmas album was to create a body of work that makes people feel good and celebrate the birth of Jesus. "I just wanted it to be holly and jolly and really lift people's spirits in the Christmas season because it's supposed to be a really happy time. But I also wanted to get across the real reason for the season. 'Christmas in Heaven' is my favorite song on the album and it really speaks to that."
Of course, the album embraces the traditional country sound for which McCreery has become known, but he also stretches his boundaries a bit to showcase songs with a more rocking feel, like "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Santa Claus Is Back in Town," and even create a musical atmosphere reminiscent of the Rat Pack on some songs.
"There will be some songs that sound like a different Scotty – not different as far as not country, but a different sound than they heard on the first album. Hopefully, they will be pleasantly surprised."
He says deciding which songs to record was the most difficult part of the process because there are so many great Christmas standards. "I knew of a few that I just had to do, like 'Mary, Did You Know?' and 'The First Noel.' Then we heard some originals that blew me away and it was a no-brainer to put them on the album. When I heard 'Christmas in Heaven,' I listened to the first verse and automatically said, 'You can stop it. That is on the album.'
"The other new song is called 'Christmas Is Coming Around,'" he says. "That's just a great story about Christmas time and really just lifting people's spirits. Times may be tough, but during Christmas, it needs to be a happy time."
Standards on the album include "Winter Wonderland," "Jingle Bells," "Let It Snow," "The Christmas Song" and "O Holy Night." "With me being such a huge Elvis fan, I had to have one Elvis song, so I chose 'Santa Claus Is Back in Town.'"
