Scotty McCreery on Being Married: 'It's the Biggest Joy of My Life'

Scotty McCreery just celebrated his one-year anniversary to his wife, Gabi, on June 16, and already he has learned plenty of life lessons, mostly about himself.

"It's never just about yourself," McCreery told PopCulture.com. "Before you're worried about your own problems, what you have to do, what you have to do next week, but now it's like it takes two to tango. It's a team effort. For me I'm worrying about my wife and what she's gotta do, her work schedule and how I can help out here, help out there, and she's doing the same for me. It's a team and that's a little different for me."

The American Idol alum was warned ahead of time about some of the potential downsides of marriage, but for him, the experience has been nothing but positive, at least so far.

"I feel like people talk about how scary it is before you get married," McCreery recalled. "Like, 'Oh my gosh, you're about to get married,' and 'How you feeling?' But really, it's been the biggest joy of my life. I'm having so much fun and it's been so exciting. So maybe that, just because of what you see in the movies or whatever, about how it's scary, because it wasn't that at all, it was really awesome."

The couple divide their time between Nashville and their native North Carolina, where Gabi works as a nurse.

"Nashville's our second home," McCreery maintained. "We have a place right down the street and we love it here, we're here all the time. But Carolina's where we grew up, it's where our family is, it's where our friends are. She works there, at Duke Hospital, so that's our first home, but we're splitting our time between the two."

McCreery is back at radio with his new single, "In Between," from his latest Seasons Change album, and is working on a new set of tunes. With his busy schedule, the 25-year-old admits he likes it best that he isn't in Music City full-time.

"I feel like for me, it helps me recharge my batteries a little, just kind of get in a fresh state of mind," McCreery said. "Everybody works different. There's different strokes for different folks, but for me I feel like it's nice to be able to just recharge the batteries sometimes and get away from the craziness. 'Cause Nashville, there's something going on every week. There's always stuff going on, which is awesome.

"This town in booming," he added. "And I love it, but Carolina just kind of lets me escape for a couple days and then I'm right back at it."

Photo Credit: Getty images/Jason Kempin/ACMA2019