Scotty McCreery inducted into Grand Ole Opry by Randy Travis, Josh Turner

On April 20, 2024, North Carolina native Scotty McCreery was inducted as the 227th cast member of the Grand Ole Opry.

It was a moment in country music's century-long history that allowed for multi-generational perfection.

It was also the moment when McCreery's career began as a mature steward of the genre's legacy of crooners with voices so tough yet smooth that the bridge between faith-borne humility, family-made joy, and fun of observing the unique, timeless charisma required to allow women's hearts to go aflutter and grown men to cry occurs.

Onstage for his Opry member trophy presentation were two artists and Opry members age-separated by 18 years, 64-year-old Randy Travis and 46-year-old Josh Turner.

A history re-defining moment

Note that McCreery, 30, could've easily been an Opry member two years ago at 28 (a perfect 18-year swing aligned with Travis and Turner) had COVID-19's quarantine not occurred.

However, the timing of his induction couldn't be more ideal.

His current top-five radio hit "Cab in a Solo" could be the best-written song of his career. It's undoubtedly the fastest-moving single he's ever released.

Amid the genre's broadest and deepest pool of diverse chart-toppers ever, his single started with 120 first-week adds at country radio and maintained steady growth for eight months.

Until Saturday night's Opry presentation, McCreery always appeared to be missing something specific, though his voice carried strength and his performances had the earmarks of country's steadfast traditional style.

That specific something arrived by receiving the power of the total, simultaneous co-sign of country music's 100-year history, which his career thoroughly embodies.

A multi-generational legacy

Watching Travis, even still while slowed by the effects of a 2013 stroke and Turner, one of the genre's most outstanding baritone performers ever, stare at McCreery onstage was fascinating.

It was as if they, too, realized the power of the moment they were required to deliver.

Turner even wrote an entire speech, which he pulled out as a typed, thoughtful statement onstage.

Thirteen years ago, it was as if McCreery had been gifted—on some level by divine provenance, yet another by success—the wild confluence of Western charm and Southern grit. It's the genre's oldest and biggest metaphorical shoes to fit.

They're the kind of shoes that a father gives to his son. His son doesn't stuff their toes so they can accompany his prom tuxedo. Instead, he wears them when he requires them as a fully grown man.

Travis never entirely passed down Turner the shoes. To wit, McCreery's "American Idol" performance of Turner's "Your Man" involved McCreery adding a plural to one of the song's key lines, singing, "Lock your doors and turn your lights down low."

Onstage before he performed the 2005 classic, Turner joked, "Scotty, I still don't know how many doors you have in your bedroom, but I just have one."

A legacy, now defined, continues

McCreery became a genre star at 17 after winning American Idol in 2011. Five years later, he sang his tear-jerking ballad ode to his grandfather's legacy, "Five More Minutes," onstage during a 2016 Opry appearance. At that time, the former Idol winner was without a label.

In a two-year swing following that performance, he was signed to Thirty Tigers Records and "Five More Minutes" was a No. 1 hit on country radio.

"I stand here tonight proud of the fact that I bridged the gap between the generation of Randy Travis and Scotty McCreery," shared Turner. "Only time will tell who will be inspired by Scotty."

Turner then mentioned George Jones's "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes."

The song, released in 1985, is a lament that predates the entrenchment of the neo-traditional country movement in the genre, wondering who will replace the likes of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard as artists capable of "standing tall" onstage and singing country classics on barn dance-style stages.

And yes, to continue the earlier mathematical equation, had "The Possum" (who passed in 2013) been at The Opry on April 20, 2024, he would've been 92 years old—28 years older than Randy Travis.

A perception of perfection that felt altogether too real permeated the evening.

"Scotty is not only a fine singer and a songwriter but he's a great man, husband, and now father," Turner continued.

"I'm proud of him and I'm proud that he is filling the shoes of the artists before him. With artists like him, country music is in great shape."

'I gotta go home and start writing a new bucket list'

"If you've listened to any of my interviews over the last 15 years of doing this, they'd say, 'what is your biggest goal?' and I'd always say, 'One day I wanna be a member of the Grand Ole Opry,'" shared McCreery. "I gotta go home and start writing a new bucket list."

Pointing to his 18-month-old son Avery in the audience and holding back tears, McCreery added, "He might not understand tonight but one day I'll be able to tell him, 'Hey buddy, this was your daddy's dream and it came true.'"

McCreery capped the night by moving not just himself but many in the crowd to tears with a performance of the previously-mentioned "Five More Mintues."

On a night that saw 100 years of artists and four decades of iconic country hits' legacies recalled, revived, restored and installed—like an Opry membership nameplate—into the memories of those in attendance, it offered a sense of a critical piece of country's traditions refined for the modern era and beyond.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Scotty McCreery inducted into Grand Ole Opry by Randy Travis, Josh Turner