Scotty McCreery Picking a ‘Peach’ of a Song for Debut Album

As Scotty McCreery prepares songs to take into the studio to work on his debut country album, he is scouting around Music City for some of the best options. McCreery and his label made a wise choice when they discovered 'You Make That Look Good' -- a tune penned by one of Nashville's hottest writers, Rhett Akins, and Lee Miller.

"It's a song we wrote two years ago," Akins reveals to Taste of Country. "I don’t watch a lot of 'American Idol,' but my mom would called me every week and said, 'Are you watching 'American Idol?'' I’d be like, 'No, I’m not at home right now.' She said, 'You’ve got to watch this young kid on there named Scotty. I think he’s going to win.' So I sent her a text the other day that said, 'Hey, I think I’m getting a Scotty McCreery cut,' and she was more excited about that than my cuts by Blake [Shelton] or Joe Nichols or anybody else!"

Besides Akins' 'You Make That Look Good,' McCreery has also put another song in particular on hold, titled 'Write Your Number on My Hand.' It happens to be written by the hit singer-songwriter's son, Thomas Rhett.

"People become invested in these shows [like 'American Idol']," Akins says. "They invest two hours every week into these people [on the show]. They get emotionally attached to them like my mom did with Scotty. So she thinks it’s even way more cooler now. She was way more excited about me and Thomas Rhett getting on there than any other thing that we’ve gotten because she’s been watching it like 100 million people do every week."

"I never watched ['American Idol']," Akins continues, "but I’ve seen him since singing and heard his song, and I think he’s good! That’s just cool to me that he won, and my mom thinks it’s really cool! Like when I was singing, my grandparents didn’t think I’d done anything until I was on the Grand Ole Opry or 'The Statler Brothers Show,' because they watched all that [laughs]! It’s cool to call your parents and say, 'Hey, I got this,' and they freak out over it."

Akins is one-third of Nashville writing trio the Peach Pickers, alongside Dallas Davidson and Ben Hayslip. Together or apart, the Peach Pickers are responsible for 40 percent of Billboard's current Top 10 country singles chart [Blake Shelton's 'Honey Bee,' Justin Moore's 'If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away,' Lady Antebellum's 'Just a Kiss' and Luke Bryan's 'Country Girl (Shake It for Me)']. Besides their songs in the Top 10, the Peach Pickers also have nine new songs currently being played at country radio, with three more to be released within the next month.

Both Hayslip and Davidson are also hoping to score a song or two on McCreery's upcoming record as well, as the 'Idol' winner has already become familiar with their work.

"That’s definitely a big project to be on," says Hayslip. "The cool thing to me is watching this kid on TV every week, then reading an article where somebody asked him if he was familiar with any songwriters in Nashville, and he said the Peach Pickers. He said that he was flattered that we were pitching our songs to him. I know that we’re flattered that he knows who we are. We’re all hoping to be a part of it."

And so are the friends and family of the Peach Pickers!

"I have people back home asking, 'Hey, do you have anything for Scotty?'" Hayslip says. "It’s like, 'Well I’ve got a couple on hold, but I’ve got Blake Shelton at No. 1 this week.' 'Yeah, but do you have anything on Scotty?' [laughs]."

"He’s obviously real country, and we don’t have any problem with that," adds Davidson. "He’s a tough one to get on because everybody in town’s trying to get on him. We definitely have all been working together or individually to get on his project. We think that’s the project to be on right now. He’s an 'American Idol' winner and a country boy and a good kid, too. We always want to be on good ole boys’ records!"

McCreery's debut single, 'I Love You This Big,' is a tune which hit songwriter Brett James helped pen. Click here for our exclusive interview with James about the story behind writing 'I Love You This Big.'

Watch Scotty McCreery Perform 'I Love You This Big' Live