Scotty Mc-ready

Rising country star hasn’t stopped playing during pandemic, pumped for Ryman livestream

“Live at the Ryman” livestream concert series featuring Scotty McCreery. 9 p.m. Friday (All livestream shows can be viewed up to 48 hours after concert airs). $10 per show. ryman.com.

A tale of two gigs. That’s how country singer Scotty McCreery is viewing his upcoming “Live at the Ryman” livestream concert series appearance.

While famed Nashville venue the Ryman Auditorium recently started streaming concerts, the iconic hall actually was the location of McCreery’s previous show — in March, before the world shut down due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Now the baritone singer finds himself returning to the Music City’s historic stage for a virtual concert on Sept. 4.

“It’s very awesome to be able to go back to the Ryman, the mother church of country music,” said McCreery, calling from North Carolina. “It’s a special place to play anytime you step in there and sing.

“It’s great to go back there, sing and get the band back together. My God, those guys are family — they’ve been with me most of the last decade. I’ve been missing them. It’ll be fun to play some music in an awesome venue.”

To be fair, McCreery — the “American Idol” season 10 winner — has been anything but lazy during the stay-at-home spring that continued into the summer. No joke: The singer as a solo artist has livestreamed more than 80 concerts from his home laptop. The “Somewhere in Quarantine Tour” included performances ranging from Twitch Stream Aid and “Circle Sessions” to “Feed the Front Line Live, Presented by CMT,” as well as Facebook and Instagram Live events.

Honestly, the singer was so eager to play, you probably could have booked him for your weekly family Zoom affairs.

“We were doing all sorts of stuff,” McCreery said. “Whether it was for 15 or a few thousand people, I was out there singing. It was fun and a great way to connect through all of this craziness.”

You can’t blame McCreery for getting antsy. Careerwise, this summer was going to be a special one considering the multi-platinum artist was riding high with three straight No. 1 singles (“In Between,” “Five More Minutes” and “This Is It”) from his latest album, “Seasons Change”.

It’s that kind of success that puts the industry on notice. While he was scheduled to spend the

Show:

When:

Tickets: Info:

summer supporting Chris Young’s national amphitheater tour, which included a show July 9 at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, you kind of get the sense McCreery was on the cusp of jumping to headliner status.

“That’s definitely a goal,” McCreery said. “You gotta have a bunch of those No. 1 hits piled up before you can get to those levels, but even our own shows we were seeing going from one size venue to the next level.

“Even in the last year, we’re definitely trying to raise the bar for us higher each time we go out and play. This was going to be one of those summers that would have helped make us take us to that next level, for sure.”

For now, McCreery — like the rest of the world — is waiting for the pandemic to pass and living in the new normal, which includes livestream concerts such as the Ryman gig.

“This will be the first time getting the band back together since the pandemic,” McCreery said. “The guys have been texting. Everybody is fired up. It’s going to be fun. Hopefully, we’ll remember how to do it. It feels like it’s been forever.”

JOHN SHEARER Scotty McCreery performs during a sold-out show in Nashville.