Season 10′s American Idol, Scotty McCreery, will release a new album,Christmas with Scotty McCreery, on Oct. 16 that features many of the holiday songs that have played an important role in his life, as well as two exciting new originals that he hopes will have a place in many Christmases to come.

“Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year,” he says. “And what is Christmas without music? We start listening to Christmas songs early in the McCreery household, so it felt right. I’ve always wanted to record a Christmas album since I’ve had my music career.

“It’s a special thing for me,” he says. “As a family, we were all really excited about making a Christmas album. Now we can add my CD to the collection we listen to.”

Scotty quickly emerged as the most successful new country artist of the last year. He won New Artist of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards in April, the same award he received at the American Country Awards in December. He also won the USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year for “The Trouble With Girls” at the 2012 CMT Music Awards. He was ranked No. 1 onBillboard‘s list of Top New Country Artists for 2011 and has been touring as part of Brad Paisley’s “Virtual Reality Tour 2012.”

Christmas with Scotty McCreery, an 11-song collection produced by Mark Bright, follows his history-making debut album,Clear As Day, which was certified platinum for sales of more than 1 million units in just … read more