Scotty McCreery Returning To American Idol

Scotty is thrilled about the reunion with his American Idol family. "That was my launching pad and what gave me my platform to do what I am doing now," he says. "I am looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and spending some one-on-one time with the contestants. I can't wait to give them some advice and the ins-and-outs of the competition that I learned last season."

The homecoming will be even more special with the performance of "Water Tower Town" because the song reflects his life in Garner, N.C. "'Water Tower Town' is my Garner song on the album, my hometown song," he says. "It reminds me of Garner, which has a big water tower right across from the baseball fields where I grew up playing ball. It has a lot of elements in there that remind me of Garner. The first lyric in the chorus is, 'Friday night football is king,' and that is true in Garner. Everybody stops what they're doing in Garner to go to the game. It was tough on me missing some of the games being out here on the road, but I was able to make it back for a few. The song says, 'Sweet tea goes good with anything,' and that is all we drink back home. All of the lyrics really relate to my hometown."

Scotty, who won Season 10 of American Idol, recently recorded "Please Remember Me" as the "goodbye song" for Idol's Season 11. The song is played after a contestant is eliminated and video highlights of the contestant's experiences on Idol are shown. But this will be Scotty's first appearance on American Idol since winning the competition in May.

He has quickly emerged as one of the most successful country stars of the last year. His debut album, Clear As Day, was certified platinum for sales of more than 1 million units in just three months, and he was named No. 1 on Billboard magazine's list of Top New Country Artists for 2011. He also won New Artist of the Year at the American Country Awards in December.

His debut album on Mercury Nashville/19 Recordings/Interscope, Clear As Day, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and Top Country Albums charts, making him the youngest man in history to open at the top of the all-genre chart with a debut release. It also garnered the highest sales of any country solo album released last year and held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart for six weeks.

The album's first two singles, "I Love You This Big" and "The Trouble With Girls," have been certified gold. He has toured the nation as part of Brad Paisley's "Virtual Reality Tour 2012" presented by Chevrolet. Since mid-January, he has performed in front of nearly 225,000 people.