Scotty McCreery and Wife Gabi Welcome First Child: ‘We Have Begun a Grand New Adventure’

Scotty McCreery and his wife, Gabi, have welcomed their first child, son Merrick Avery McCreery, who was born Oct. 24 at 4:34 a.m. ET in Raleigh, N.C.

The couple’s son is named after Gabi’s father, Merrick (Tre) Dugal III, and will be called Avery.

“Next to his mother, he is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” North Carolina native McCreery said via a statement. “We have been waiting and preparing all year, and now we are so excited to have our little man here with us. We have begun a grand new adventure that will continue for the rest of our lives.”
 
“Gabi was a total rock star during Avery’s birth. I could not be more proud of her,” he added. “She has already taken to motherhood like a champ. Part of my joy as his Dad is watching Gabi already crush it as his Mom.”

McCreery is off the road until his next concert on Nov. 30 in Las Vegas at the Downtown Hoedown on Fremont Street. His current single, “It Matters to Her,” which McCreery co-wrote with Rhett Akins and Lee Thomas Miller, is at No. 48 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.

McCreery previously added a fifth chart-leader to his arsenal with the three-week Billboard Country Airplay No. 1, “Damn Strait.”

“My first country music concert was George Strait, and along with my love for Elvis [Presley], he inspired me to become a country music singer myself,” McCreery told Billboard when the song first went No. 1. “When I did American Idol, George called me and requested I sing his [1995] hit ‘Check Yes or No,’ and I still sing it from time to time in concert. Now, having my fifth straight No. 1 on a song that pays tribute to George, while at the same time being a classic country heartbreaker such as he might have sung, is such a full-circle moment that means the world to me. Trent Tomlinson and Jim Collins wrote a clever song that reaches beyond name-dropping Strait hits to tell a meaningful story.”

McCreery’s upcoming Same Truck: The Deluxe Album is set to release Nov. 18, featuring six additional new songs that were not included on his original Same Truck album, which released last year.