'American Idol' winner Scotty McCreery's CD goes gold

Yet another thing for Scotty McCreery to be thankful for as he prepares for today's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: The Garner High School senior's first CD has gone gold.

"Clear as Day," the debut of the Season 10 "American Idol" winner, has sold more than 500,000 copies since its Oct. 4 release.

"We just found out yesterday. It's a huge thing," Scotty said Thursday afternoon.

He already has a gold single for the song "I Love You This Big." And "Clear as Day," which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 music chart, has notched several music milestones, including youngest male artist in history to open at No. 1 with a debut release and first country male singer from "Idol" to land atop the charts.

"Now we're shooting for platinum," Scotty said. A platinum single or CD has to sell at least 1 million copies.

A lot has changed for the 18-year-old. Most Thanksgivings, he and his immediate family - dad, Mike; mom, Judy; and sister, Ashley - are either with his paternal grandparents in Pinehurst or his maternal grandmother in Elizabeth City.

But the McCreerys will wake up in New York this morning for his Macy's parade appearance. Scotty will be riding on the "Home Baked Goodness" float, from Morton Salt, which features a stove overflowing with holiday goodies.

When the parade through Manhattan reaches the Macy's flagship store at 34th Street, Scotty will sing a shortened version of his latest hit, "The Trouble with Girls."

After that, the McCreerys will fly to Atlanta, where Scotty will be featured tonight at the annual Macy's Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at Lenox Square.

Only after that, back at the hotel, will the McCreerys get their Thanksgiving dinner.

They won't tarry in Georgia long, though. Scotty wants to be back in Garner by Friday afternoon to get ready to cheer his beloved high school football team as the Trojans take on Fayetteville's Jack Britt High. The winner moves on to the state 4AA championship game the following Saturday.

And though he doesn't want to jinx anything, Scotty already has rescheduled a planned musical appearance next week so that he can support his team if it advances.

So, can the Trojans win the state championship the same year a Garner High student won TV's top-rated reality show? Scotty certainly thinks so.

"It's Garner's year!" he said.