In their own style, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina are the newest duo on the country scene. Just a week following the season finale of "American Idol," the teenagers are together doing press like a team — and this team doesn't roll alone: They're equipped with publicists, security guards, managers, record label extras and their real bosses — their mothers.
McCreery beat Alaina to become the season 10 champ, but the fact that they are both young country singers with similar goals puts them on the same career track.
Ahead of their "Idol" Top 11 tour — which starts next month — they will visit Nashville to begin prep on their debut albums. "We're going to work with the record people down there and get some songs straightened out and hopefully I'll get to listen to them, get to learn them," McCreery said.
"American Idol" — the No. 1 rated show on TV — can make you a star, but not all of the show's winners actually come out on top. Remember Taylor Hicks? What about Ruben Studdard?
Alaina, 16, thinks country music fans are what kept her and McCreery in the running. "Well, country fans are really loyal, so I think that's why Scotty and I did so good," she said. "We're young and so we appeal to a younger crowd, and I think that the combination of those two things really helped us out."
McCreery, a 17-year-old from Garner, N.C., said growing up his friends listened to Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, while he jammed to Elvis and Johnny Cash.
"I guess you could say I was the weird one. But, no, I was the one who listened to good music," he said. McCreery said that uniqueness — along with his baritone-style voice — is what led to his victory.