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Scotty McCreery talks new album and his beloved pickup truck

Country music star and Garner native Scotty McCreery is celebrating the release of his fifth studio album with two appearances in his hometown on Friday.

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By
Kathy Hanrahan
, WRAL lifestyle editor
RALEIGH, N.C. — Country music star and Garner native Scotty McCreery has driven the same truck for the past 10 years.

McCreery got the truck in 2011 as a part of winning "American Idol." He named the brown, Ford F-150 pick-up "Loretta," after singer Loretta Lynn.

The truck also helped inspire the title track from his new album, Same Truck, which was released Friday.

"That's where the conversation for same truck started, we were talking about how I drive the same truck and then it evolved into the larger picture of we're on the same team here. Let's just build each other up," McCreery said Friday.

McCreery performed a few songs and met with fans Friday afternoon at Aversboro Restaurant and Sports Bar in Garner. He will be at the "Greatness of Garner" event at South Garner High School from 5 to 7 p.m. Fans can stop by McCreery's booth to meet him and buy a copy of the new album. McCreery will also be performing a few songs from the new release.

Following the event, McCreery's alma mater Garner Magnet High School will play football against South Garner High School.

On Wednesday, Sept. 22, McCreery will be at School Kids Records in Raleigh from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. He will be signing copies of his album purchased from the store. Everyone must wear a mask to enter the venue.

McCreery wrote 10 of the 12 tracks on Same Truck. He describes the album as "deeply personal."

The first single from the album, "You Time," was partly inspired by McCreery's wife.

McCreery married his longtime girlfriend, Gabi Dugal, in 2018 in the North Carolina mountains. Dugal, who graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, works as a pediatric cardiac nurse at Duke University Hospital.

McCreery said he wrote "You Time" with co-writers Frank Rogers and Aaron Eshuis at a time when he had been traveling more than usual. When he got home only to see his wife leave for her shift at the hospital, he wished for more time with her.

McCreery said the song, "Matters to Her," is basically "everything I've learned in the three years of being married."

"It's like the little things ... helping out around the house and making life easy on her," McCreery said. "It's the little things that kind of all add up."

The second single from the new album will be "Damn Strait," which was written by Trent Tomlinson and Jim Collins. The song pays tribute to the great country singer George Strait by referencing several of his songs.

"It's an ode to George Strait. It's a tribute to George, but it's also your classic country heartbreak song, all wrapped into one song. It's so cleverly written, so cool," McCreery said. "I'm a massive George Strait fan. First, he was my first country concert."

As a songwriter, McCreery feels he has evolved through the years.

"It took me awhile to get into that, but now it's such a passion of mine," he said. "The songs I'm writing, I love talking about my life."

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