GARNER — Less than 12 hours before his graduation from Garner High School, country music singer Scotty McCreery was in Nashville picking up a major award Wednesday night.
And the fact that it was for a music video shot at his beloved high school made it even sweeter.
“This award is special to me because I got to film this at my home high school,” McCreery said as he accepted the Breakthrough Video of the Year Award at the CMT Music Awards.
After the ceremony at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, McCreery and his family – parents Mike and Judy McCreery and sister Ashley – were scheduled to catch a midnight flight back to the Triangle.
McCreery, the 2011 “American Idol” winner, will graduate from Garner High at 8 a.m. Thursday at the Raleigh Convention Center.
The high school was the backdrop for his video for the single “The Trouble With Girls,” and about 70 of his classmates and friends got to take part. It was shot on a Saturday last October.
“It’s kind of a high school story about boys and girls and first love – kind of innocent glances,” director Roman White said on the day of filming.
McCreery especially thanked White in his acceptance speech Wednesday night, calling him “a funny guy.” White also has helmed videos for Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.
McCreery also performed a bit of his new single, “Water Tower Town,” on Wednesday night’s show.
This is his third country music award in the past year. He received top new artist awards at both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the American Country Awards.
McCreery has hit one milestone after another since winning “Idol” a year ago. His first album, “Clear As Day,” has gone platinum and he has two gold singles — “I Love You This Big” and “The Trouble With Girls.” He’s performed everywhere from the World Series to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
In between it all, he even found time to pitch on the Garner High Trojans baseball team.
He will be on tour with fellow country singer Brad Paisley this summer, and plans to enroll as a freshman at N.C. State University in the fall.
Staff writer Sarah Nagem contributed to this report.
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