Scotty McCreery Eyes More Christmas Albums in His Future

Usually, an artist will wait a few years before putting out a Christmas album. But not Scotty McCreery, who has just released the Yuletide platter "Christmas With Scotty McCreery." In a new interview with Billboard, the singer said he's "pumped" to have the album out. "A lot of artists have to wait until later in their career before they release one. I'm excited."

He admits he came close to recording the album in 2011 -- on the heels of his "American Idol" win. "We had talked about doing this last year, when we released the first album. It got put on the back burner, and started talking about it again for this year. The label was behind it, I was behind it. It's my favorite time of the year, and my favorite holiday, so it just seemed right. Doing it this early in my career also gives us some options. If I wanted to put out volume two or volume three ten years later, we could."

McCreery found inspiration in many holiday albums, but admits there is one particular classic that holds a special place in his heart. "My favorite Christmas album growing up was Elvis's Christmas Album," he said, singling out "Blue Christmas" as his favorite. "When that song comes on, it's Christmas time. Also, 'Santa Claus Is Back In Town.' That was my second favorite song, and we were able to put that on our album. It was pretty cool to be able to channel the 'King' as we recorded it."

One cut on the disc that has a deep personal meaning to the singer is "Christmas In Heaven," which brought to mind someone very special.

"That's by far my favorite song on the record. I was actually writing a song a little bit like that about my grandfather before that song got sent to me. When you find the right song, you just have to go with it. I heard it, and I didn't have to listen to the first verse before I said 'This one's going on the record. It's just a powerful song that's got a great message to it. It touched me when I heard it, and hopefully - if people are missing someone at Christmas, it will touch them as well."

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Already hard at work on his next studio album, he says he is trying to get more involved in the writing process. "I'm actually trying to to put my own stamp out there, so people can see what I'm about," he said. "I think the first album was a good representation of me, and I'm proud of it. But, I think it was definitely rushed."

As an "Idol" winner, he laughs when asked how he feels when fans want to discuss the FOX hit with him. "I embrace it," he said. "I think as an artist, it's important for me to grow and move on from that, to get focused on Nashville, and the industry, but I would never shy away from where I came from or how I got here. I think it's cool. I think it will be interesting to see Keith Urban out there in the middle of Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey. It will be interesting to see how he handles that."

On the business end, the North Carolina native has just inked a commercial endorsement deal with the Bojangles fried chicken chain. He admits he didn't need a lot of convincing. "I've been endorsing Bojangles since I was a young kid. They just don't know it. I've been going there, and eating their chicken for many years now. I'm excited to be a part of their team and to get to support and promote them. Hopefully, we can get them to go nationwide, because they are only on the east coast. When I'm touring out west, I miss it. It's a great company with great people, and they have great fried chicken. I'm glad to be a part of them."