Scotty McCreery celebrates ‘Five More Minutes’ No. 1

Co-writers Frank Rogers, Monty Criswell join the party

Scotty McCreery celebrated at a party this afternoon at CMA’s Nashville HQ, co-hosted by ASCAP and BMI. And he had quite a lot to celebrate.  Firstly, it was his upcoming June marriage to Gabi Dugal with whom he became engaged in September last year while hiking on North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain. Secondly, he has a new record label, Triple Tigers, that, in March, released ‘Seasons Change,’ his first album in five years.

But the main reason for this particular celebration was a Number One party for Scotty’s hugely popular ‘Five More Minutes,’ that he co-wrote with Frank Rogers (who also produced the song) and Monty Criswell.  The song topped Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for March 04, 2018, racking up more than 40.2 million audience impressions. ‘Five More Minutes’ is Scotty’s first Country Airplay No. 1 and the ninth charting Country Airplay track for the 10th season winner of American Idol.

Song draws Opry standing ovation

The song was written in 2015, inspired by Scotty’s feelings after the passing of his beloved grandfather. However, it wasn’t until he performed  the heart-touching song in June of 2016 at the Grand Ole Opry that he realized how much it connected with audiences.

Unfortunately, he could not release the song at that time as it had been recorded as a track for an album when he was under contract to Universal Music Group Nashville. However, UMGN dropped Scotty as an artist and opted not to release the album. While he was in dispute with his former label, he independently released ‘Five More Minutes’ to radio. It went on to become the first independently-released country song to reach the MediaBase Top 50 in the chart’s history.

‘Five More Minutes’ is the first single release from ‘Seasons Change.’ Scotty credits Triple Tigers GM Norbert Nix for seeing the hit potential in ‘Five More Minutes,’ and wanting to put together a full album.  Scotty said that the songs on the album are like a musical journal, relating to his life experiences over the past five years, including, of course, his love for his fiancée Gabi.

Fiancée ‘has been my rock’

“She has been my rock for the last few years,” said Scotty at the Number One party with a huge smile. “We met in kindergarten, and then we reconnected when I was a senior in high school. This is our first Number One party as an engaged couple. Maybe we will have another Number One party as a married couple.”

More about Scotty McCreery here where you can also see the official ‘Five More Minutes’ video and check out tour updates and ticket info.