Scotty McCreery is quickly emerging as one of the best country music artists to see live. The 31-year-old recently shared a clip of him performing “Can’t Pass The Bar,” a song from his latest Rise & Fall album, while on his headlining Fall of Summer Tour.
“This is a fun one to perform live…should I keep it on the setlist for 2025?” McCreery captioned the video.
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“Can’t Pass The Bar” was written by McCreery, along with Brent Anderson, Cale Dodds and Frank Rogers, and inspired by McCreery’s love of ’90s country music.
“I grew up loving ’90s country music, specifically the barn-burning country music songs,” McCreery said when the song was released, citing John Michael Montgomery‘s “Sold” and Garth Brooks‘ “Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up).” “So I wanted to write myself a barn-burning country music song for this next album.”
McCreery currently has a Top 40 single with “Fall of Summer.” The song is the second single from Rise & Fall, after “Cab In A Solo” became his sixth No. 1 hit.
“Every album until this one, I’ve just picked a song title that I thought represented kind of where we’re at or the lead single,” McCreery said earlier this year. “But this one, something felt different, and I didn’t think there was a song title that totally captured the feeling that I had for the whole project. And I’m old school; I know it’s a single-driven world nowadays, but I want my album to tell a story, start to finish.
“I want it to be a cohesive unit,” he added. “And I didn’t feel like there was one title that did that. So I was just listening down to the songs, probably on a plane to California or something. I was listening to ‘Fall of Summer’ and I heard, ‘Here’s to the rise and fall of summer,’ and I thought, ‘Rise and Fall.’”
“Fall of Summer” is about a summer romance that changes once the season ends. Although McCreery and his wife, Gabi, fell in love in high school, and stayed together until their marriage in 2018, the American Idol alum does reveal their story could have ended differently, if he hadn’t changed his ways.
Gabi and I don’t have a Fall of Summer love story, but we almost did 😅 pic.twitter.com/QaWCywWZwu
— Scotty McCreery (@ScottyMcCreery) November 7, 2024
“If me and Gabi had a ‘Fall of Summer’ love story, like one moment that was big for us, I was making records and writing songs and out on tour,” McCreery recalled in a video shared on social media. “She was thinking about breaking up with me, because I wasn’t making time for her. She brought that to my attention, and it was an eye-opener for me. I realized if she’s the most important thing in your world, you’ve gotta treat her like that. From that day forward, that’s been my goal every day.”
McCreery will have plenty of chances to perform “Can’t Pass The Bar” next year. He will spend part of 2025 on the road with Kane Brown, serving as the opening act on Brown’s The High Road Tour, along with Ashley Cooke, Mitchell Tenpenny and Dasha. The High Road Tour will include McCreery’s first time ever playing at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. He is also headlining his own overseas tour in the UK as well next year.
Find all of McCreery’s music and concert dates at ScottyMcCreery.com.