Scotty McCreery‘s new single, “Bottle Rockets,” paints a picture of young love in the summertime, and the chorus turns on a nostalgic recreation of Hootie & the Blowfish‘s “Hold My Hand” from 1994.
But McCreery admits he had to summon his courage to take it to his friend Darius Rucker.
“We wrote a song with them in mind, and we weren’t sure, you know, if they would love it or not. I was hoping they would,” Scotty tells ABC Audio. “I was nervous to ask D., like, ‘Hey man, what do you think?’ But they loved the song.”
“It turned out better than I could have ever dreamed up. I’m pumped,” he adds.
Darius and his Hootie bandmates were down to collaborate, rerecording their hit themselves for the track.
“We’ve got a lot in common,” Scotty points out. “We’re just right down the road from each other, and a lot of their people are some of my friends. We just have a lot of folks in our circles that are friendly. So I’m glad this all worked out.”
“Bottle Rockets” is the first new music from Scotty since he put out his sixth studio album, Rise & Fall, in May 2024.
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