How Scotty McCreery won 'American Idol' (AP)

By DERRIK J. LANG, AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang, Ap Entertainment Writer – Thu May 26, 7:31 am ET

LOS ANGELES – From that initial moment when Scotty McCreery stepped in front of the "American Idol" judges and bellowed "lock the doors and turn the lights down low" in his deep-beyond-his-years register, the fresh-faced country crooner captured everyone's attention and he never let it go.

McCreery, a 17-year-old high school student from Garner, N.C., won the "American Idol" title on Wednesday night after performing nearly flawlessly throughout the 10th season of the Fox talent competition.

And he did it with an unwavering commitment to country music — even when challenged with other genres. During the show's installment of Elton John tunes, McCreery uncovered John's "Country Comfort" and made it his own.

"You have amazing instincts about performing and about what's right for you," judge Jennifer Lopez told him afterward.

Armed with an unflappable aw-shucks attitude and genuinely goofy grin, McCreery managed to outlast an array of more seasoned and outgoing finalists, such as eccentric 20-year-old jazz lover Casey Abrams of Idyllwild, Calif., wailing 22-year-old rocker James Durbin of Santa Cruz, Calif., and sultry 20-year-old vocalist Haley Reinhart of Wheeling, Ill.

In the end, McCreery's biggest adversary among the top 13 singers was the one most like him: 16-year-old fellow country darling Lauren Alaina of Rossville, Ga. Despite her vocal cord injury that needed medical treatment before their sing-off on Tuesday's finale, the judges proclaimed that Alaina overpowered McCreery with her soaring vocal spectrum.

The viewers, who cast more than 122 million votes, didn't agree. McCreery built a stronger connection with the audience than Alaina, who sometimes wilted under the lights — and pressure — of the "Idol" stage, while McCreery always sizzled. Sitting across from his parents in his dressing room after the finale, McCreery had one clue why viewers picked him.

"It's because I'm one of them," he said. "I was just a kid who was bagging groceries three months ago."

The matchup between McCreery and Alaina, who individually performed with country icon Tim McGraw and fourth season "Idol" winner Carrie Underwood on Wednesday, marked the youngest finale duel in "Idol" history. Producers lowered the minimum age requirement to 15 years old this season, which allowed Alaina the opportunity to audition last year.

McCreery's victory over Alaina was hardly a surprise to "Idol" devotees. Several online outfits predicted that McCreery would take home the top prize: the "Idol" title and a record contract. DialIdol.com, which tracks busy signals on the separate phone lines dedicated to each contestant, correctly projected him as the show's winner Wednesday morning.

The outcome punctuates the inaugural season of Lopez and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler as judges. The pair, who joined veteran Randy Jackson on the panel, brought a gentler attitude to the show after the departure of biting judge Simon Cowell, who left at the end of last season to transplant his British talent contest "The X Factor" to the U.S.

The new panel initially energized the 10th season of "Idol," which still reigns as No. 1 but has steadily dipped in weekly viewership and seen its audience age. Yet many "Idol" fans complained that the judges' final-round critiques quickly became repetitive. Ultimately, though, a pop diva, loudmouth rocker and old-school producer found America's next country star.

"I left Garner as Scotty, and I'm still Scotty as the `American Idol' winner," McCreery said on Wednesday.

McCreery follows in the footsteps of four previous "Idol" champions who are also charming, humble young men. And his win could be attributed to the biggest bloc of "Idol" voters, namely the howlers looking for their next heartthrob. But McCreery's unmatched commitment to country music likely garnered votes that weren't based solely on his looks.

Before he records his debut album, McCreery will tour with the top 11 finalists. He said he wants his album to be filled with "good songs. It's all about the songs from here on out. If you don't have hit songs, you don't have a career."

But there's something McCreery will have to attend to first: He said he needs just one more class to graduate from high school.

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Lauren Alaina, Scotty McCreery set for 'Idol' duel (AP)

By DERRIK J. LANG, AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang, Ap Entertainment Writer – Tue May 24, 10:38 am ET

LOS ANGELES – Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina are each hoping for an "American Idol" homerun.

McCreery, the 17-year-old baseball-playing high school student of Garner, N.C., will face off against Lauren Alaina, the 16-year-old cheerleading high school student of Rossville, Ga., on the Fox talent competition's finale beginning Tuesday evening at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The teenage matchup marks the youngest in "Idol" history.

Producers lowered the minimum age requirement before the 10th season launched, allowing Alaina and other 15-year-old singers the opportunity to audition for the first time last year. McCreery and Alaina will perform a series of tunes Tuesday, and after viewer votes are counted, one of the young country crooners will be crowned "Idol" on Wednesday.

The pair have both delivered consistently smooth performances since their attention-grabbing auditions when McCreery wowed with his deep register on Josh Turner's "Your Man" and Alaina impressed with her soaring range on Faith Hill's "Like We Never Loved At All." McCreery never appeared as one of the low vote-getters, and Alaina did only once three weeks ago.

The duo have managed to outlast more seasoned and experimental finalists, such as 22-year-old songstress Pia Toscano of Howard Beach, N.Y., 22-year-old rocker James Durbin of Santa Cruz, Calif., and 20-year-old singer Haley Reinhart of Wheeling, Ill. Reinhart, who was eliminated last week, isn't sure whether McCreery or Alaina will win the grand prize.

"It's so close because they're in such a close lane together, as far as country goes," Reinhart said.

Throughout the competition, McCreery has maintained his old-school country style with renditions of such songs as Travis Tritt's "Can I Trust You with My Heart" and Garth Brooks' "The River," while Alaina has presented herself as a potential pop-country princess with performances of Shania Twain's "Any Man of Mine" and Miley Cyrus' "The Climb."

The show's judges — Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler — have equally heaped praise on the upstarts. However, without ever facing elimination this season, McCreery is expected to strike Alaina out after Tuesday's installment with a bigger base of voting fans, joining the likes of past "Idol" winners like David Cook, Kris Allen and Lee DeWyze.

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'Idol' finalist Scotty dominates Garner (AP)

GARNER, N.C. – Aversboro Coffee is the kind of place that opens its doors early if customers are waiting; if the chairs are down, folks are welcome to come in.

And it's become a gathering spot for people wanting to talk about all things Scotty McCreery, a finalist on Fox's "American Idol" who faces Lauren Alaina Suddeth of Rossville, Ga., Tuesday night in a last performance before a winner is crowned on Wednesday.

""Every morning, it's always about Scotty: `Do you think he's going to win? What's he going to sing?'" says Renee Brady, 28, a barista. The chatter might diverge onto another topic for a few minutes, she says, "but somehow, it always gets back to Scotty. It's always about him."

One of the reasons is that members of First Baptist Church, where Scotty sings in the choir, frequent Aversboro Coffee, where essays about Christianity, written by children from a private, religious school, hang on the walls, along with a chalkboard sign urging people to pray for the troops.

But it's also just pure local pride in a 17-year-old with a surprisingly deep voice who friends say hasn't lost himself — not in the swirl of fame or during a singing lesson with Lady Gaga, clad in shoes with penis-shaped heels.

"I think everybody knows Scotty a lot better than we did a while ago," said principal Drew Cook, explaining how many in Garner now claim some connection. "I think the same thing that everyone else sees: What you see on TV is the reality. This is one of the rare cases when the public persona and the person on stage is the person you know in the halls of Garner High School. He's an honest, sincere person and a genuinely nice kid."

You cannot get away from Scotty, even along the highways that border Garner, a town of about 28,000 located south of Raleigh. A hair salon sign "hearts" him, and school signs wish him luck.

Aversboro Coffee has the Scotty Special, a frozen coffee drink with chocolate, caramel and banana flavors. Lowe's Foods, where Scotty worked as a bagger and cashier until "Idol" intervened, has Scotty cupcakes with tiny plastic guitars for decoration and a stack of 12-packs of Coca-Cola products that spell out "Vote for Scotty." Even receipts from Lowe's grocery stores in three states say "Vote for Scotty McCreery. Our Home Town American Idol!" — a suggestion from Lowe's manager Terry Mascaro that the Hickory-based store embraced.

McCreery's success has brought some relief to Garner, where the Conagra plant that produced Slim Jims closed Friday. An explosion at the plant, which once employed 750 people, killed four people in June 2009.

"It's good news and bad news," Mayor Ronnie Williams said. "We just lift Scotty up and praise Scotty. As I've told people all day, Garner is good for Scotty and Scotty is good for Garner. But it doesn't do anything good knowing we're coming up on the second anniversary of Conagra and couple with that, the people laid off."

Scotty sang in the school chorus, as would be expected, but also pitched for the baseball team. He's a better singer than pitcher, says one of his coaches, Kurtis Pake. "He's a very good high school baseball player, but he's shown to be world class with his vocal chords. He wasn't quite world class with his right arm."

Among those friends taking the most pride in Scotty's success is Bud Moffett, a 62-year-old photographer and a former musician who said he has performed with singers including Gregg Allman, Delbert McClinton and Hank Williams Jr.

In fall 2009, Moffett was a judge at a talent show and said he was impressed even before Scotty won. He took Scotty under his wing and taught him a few more songs. As "Idol" approached, Scotty's mom, Judy, asked Moffett to work with her son for the show.

He recommended Josh Turner's song, "Your Man," which has become Scotty's signature, along with "Letters From Home" and "Long Black Train," Moffett said. "I told him he couldn't lose if he did `Your Man,'" said Moffett, who opened for Scotty at a homecoming concert last week in Garner. "And he blew the doors off the place."

He chokes up talking about how he saw Scotty at the homecoming concert. He was about to leave without speaking to Scotty, who was surrounded by crew and reporters. "I heard this voice say, `Bud Moffett.' I just stopped and turned. He parted all his buddies like it was the Red Sea and gave me a hug. We both got choked up. I told him it was the musical highlight of my life."

Scotty's character and his singing have turned 65-year-old Georgia Treece of Fuquay-Varina into an obsessed Scotty fan. "I love his value system," said Treece, the former owner of the coffee shop. "He's putting others first and using God as a standard."

Those beliefs are not new to Scotty, who wears a prominent cross around his neck, says Ron Fowler, youth minister at First Baptist. Scotty has studied the Bible while competing and has used his beliefs to make wise decisions, even in song choice, he says.

"Scotty has been careful to sing things that don't contradict his own convictions," Fowler says.

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