Scotty McCreery Premieres Stripped-Down Acoustic Video for His 2020 Single, “You Time”

North Carolina’s native son, Scotty McCreery, premieres an acoustic video for his 2020 single, “You Time.” The stripped-back visualizer brings his latest single to life and peeks into the artist’s new chapter.

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The video captures McCreery’s heartfelt tribute to his new wife, Gabí. As a road warrior, the artist understands the sacrifices he must make for his career. But this raw performance solidifies the weight he carries from town-to-town, yearning for the intimacy of quality time spent at home. His warmly familiar twang evokes wisdom beyond his 27 years.

Following pandemic protocol, the socially distant set marks a strange moment in time and music.

“It was fun to make, but only the necessary people were there—me, the band, the director, and camera guys,” the artist explains. “It’s definitely different from normal, but I still had fun doing it. It turned out to be a really cool video for a song that I love.”

McCreery wrote “You Time” in 2019 with Frank Rogers and Aaron Eshuis. Rogers, a vetted writer and producer, has served the young artist as a mentor since McCreery’s Music Row arrival, shortly after winning American Idol in 2011. He released his debut record, Clear As Day, that same year.

Penned pre-pandemic, “You Time” foreshadowed an unexpected turn for the McCreerys. Between his arduous tour calendar and his wife’s schedule as a pediatric nurse, the red wine sippin’ in the moonlight his lyrics long for was merely a pipe dream. Now, at home in North Carolina, the newlyweds are reveling in their reacquaintance.

The lyrics overlay a more-modern production than you could typically expect from the traditional country apostle. In his new video, McCreery strips back a bit of the ornamentation to soulfully deliver a ballad about his high school sweetheart-turned wife, Gabí. Weighing the benefits of chasing his dreams “shore-to-shore” with the burden of the road, the artist cuts through the noise to address his highest priority.

“A lot of times, you’ll jam to something for a week, month, or a couple of months, and then you move on from it,” says McCreery. “But I just kept coming back to this one. It was stuck in my head. Writing so much from personal life, this song feels representative of where I am. Regardless of what happened this year, the idea of wanting to spend more time with my wife remains.”

A lot has changed since his 2018 album, both personally and professionally. Aptly titled Seasons Change, the 11-track record captures his multitude of ventures since 2013’s See You Tonight. By 24 years old, McCreery moved out on his own, toured around the country, saw the world, got engaged, and was dropped by his label, Mercury Nashville /Interscope.

When McCreery decided to independently release “Five More Minutes” for digital streaming in 2017, things shifted. The poignant salute to his late grandfather became the first country song in history to chart in the Top 50 of the Mediabase/Country Aircheck Country Singles chart without being released by a record label. McCreery was picked up by Triple Tigers/Sony Music Entertainment just a few months later.

“Five More Minutes,” co-written with Rogers and Monty Criswell, served as the entrance single to Seasons Change—his first Triple Tigers record and third original full-length. Songs like “Barefootin,’” a beach music inspired tune he co-wrote with David Lee Murphy, is a nod to his strong roots as a North Carolinian. “In Between” timestamps the bewildering space of being a 20-something. “This Is it” gets even more personal. The intimate track maps out of a blueprint of his plans to pop the question.

After a canceled run with Chris Young this past year, McCreery acknowledges that his future touring plans are out-of-his hands, but he’s ready whenever they safely say “go.” The artist admits he’s picked up the guitar more this year than the last five combined. The pandemic- allotted time to “sit and take it in” generated new content representing where he is now, as a husband and an artist.

“My last album was looking ahead, looking forward to getting married and thinking of things we might do,” he explains. “Now, my new work is more of a reflection. I’ve been married for over two years now, so I’m looking back at how awesome that’s been and what I’ve learned. Of course, I’m still looking ahead because—Lord willing—we’ve still got a long way to go. So this next album is about gratitude for all of that.”

Watch the exclusive premiere of Scotty McCreery’s new acoustic video for “You Time” below.