by Mike McKenney, Rock At Night New England Correspondent
Album Review: Scotty McCreery’s Seasons Change–Release date March 16, 2018–Tiger Records
It’s been five years since he his last album, the now-24-year-old, Scotty McCreery has grown up, left college, performed around the world, lost one record deal and gained another, released a book, and moved to Nashville. In September, he proposed to his long-time girlfriend Gabi Dugal in the mountains of North Carolina. All of these experiences serve as the foundation of his latest release Seasons Change.
“In the last five years, I have grown from a teenager to a man, moved out on my own, lost my grandfather, proposed to the love of my life, and learned more about myself than I could have imagined,” said McCreery. “This all shows up in the 11 songs on Seasons Change, and I cannot wait to share this music with my fans after such a long time between releases.”
“For the first time, I wrote all the songs on my album,” McCreery continued. “It’s kind of my journal of the last few years: the ups and the downs. Whenever I think things are not going well, I’ve learned to just wait it out because the seasons change. If you want to know who I am and where I’m at right now, listen to this album. I feel like I’m having a conversation with everyone that listens. It’s that personal.”
“Seasons Change”, dropped March 16 on Triple Tigers Records. Notching his first No. 1 single “Five More Minutes,” (a song written by McCreery after losing his grandfather), Seasons Change, arrived at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart, marking his fourth full album to enter at No. 1 on a Billboard album chart, selling more than 40,000 units in its release week, one of the strongest first weeks for a country music album in the last year.
McCreery made history in 2011 as both the first country artist and the youngest male artist of any genre to debut his first studio album, the Platinum-certified Clear as Day, at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. All three of his albums have debuted at No. 1 on a Billboard Albums chart, with current combined sales nearing 3 million copies. He’s earned one Gold single and three Platinum singles and achieved two Top Ten hits with “Feelin’ It” and “See You Tonight.” The latter song earned McCreery both his first BMI Award for writing one of the Top 50 Country Songs of 2015 and his first Music Row No. 1 Challenge Coin. He won the 10th season of “American Idol” in 2011; was named the ACM New Artist of the Year in 2011; won the CMT Music Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year (“The Trouble with Girls”) in 2012; and American Country Awards for new Artist of the Year in 2011 and Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2013. In 2016, McCreery released his first book, Go Big or Go Home: The Journey Toward the Dream, and won the rare Country Grand Ole Opry Moment of the Year Award for his live performance of “Five More Minutes”.
While McCreery had a hand in writing each song, his deft use of co-writers for “Seasons Change”, Jessi Alexander (Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton), Monty Criswell (Eric Church, Darius Rucker, George Strait), Jason Gantt (Brooks & Dunn, Faith Hill, Alison Krauss, Tim McGraw), David Lee Murphy (Gary Allan, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton) readily shine through on songs, “Home On My Mind”, “Still” and “Boys From Back Home”.
As “5 More Minutes” has jumped out to number one, closing in would have to be the catchy “Barefootin” along with the title track “Seasons Change”. While five years between albums is an eternity in the music business, “Seasons Change” proves to be worth waiting for.
Scotty McCreery’s “Seasons Change” is available on Triple Tigers Records everywhere.
1. Seasons Change
2. Wherever You Are
3. Boys From Back Home
4. Five More Minutes
5. In Between
6. This Is It
7. Wrong Again
8. Move It On Out
9. Barefootin
10. Still
11. Home In My Mind
Mike McKenney is an award winning professional photographer and current New England Correspondent for Rock At Night magazine.
With his years of experience and passion for Concert Photography, Mike has photographed many of the famous acts in the world today.
Rock Icons such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews, and Fleetwood Mac along with Country artist Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney,and Jason Aldean have all appeared before Mike’s camera.
"My goal is always to present the experience truthfully so fans can feel the energy and emotions the Artists convey. It’s a tremendous honor and responsibility to be allowed to create art while blending my two passions, music and photography”
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