WALLINGFORD — Country music star Scotty McCreery’s career has taken a serious upward trajectory in recent weeks. And fans will have a chance to celebrate with him when he rolls into Connecticut on December 4.

McCreery, who conducted the second half of a promised two-part interview with The Newtown Bee on November 18, said he was pumped to share the news about picking up three RIAA Platinum certifications with his songs, “I Love You This Big” and “The Trouble With Girls” off his No. 1 debuting first studio album Clear As Day, and “See You Tonight,” the title track and Top 10 lead single off his second consecutive No. 1 album.

Co-written by McCreery, “See You Tonight” marks his first Platinum-selling single as a writer/performer, making it particularly special. Since his 2011 debut, McCreery has sold more than 2 million albums, and his latest single, “Feelin’ It,” is currently climbing country radio’s Top 15.

As a tribute to the men and women in the military, he posted his video of “The Dash” on all his socials on Veterans Day, along with adding it to his regular concert set list. It relates the story of Marine Lance Corporal Andrew Carpenter who died during his second tour of Afghanistan. Carpenter’s wife is the cousin of McCreery’s bass player.

McCreery said he can’t wait to entertain his many friends in Newtown, the home base for The 12.14 Foundation, for which he serves as The 12.14 Foundation’s Goodwill Ambassador, as well as his legion of Connecticut fans at his upcoming Oakdale show. That set is sure to feature not only a variety of hits spanning his relatively short career, but a sampling of holiday tunes as well.

While virtually every song McCreery performs or has recorded sounds like it was custom fit for his warm, appealing style, he told The Bee that on occasion he has to lobby hard to get material he really believes his fans will enjoy onto his records.

“There are plenty of different circumstances whether it’s the song, whether it’s picking a song to sing in concert, you have to stick to your guns. At the end of the day it’s me who has to put my face and my name up there, so I want to be proud of what we’re doing,” McCreery said. “I’m willing to take almost anyone’s opinion. I’ve only been doing this for three or four years and a lot of them have been doing this for 30 or 40 years. So I definitely listen to what folks have to say, but if it’s something I believe in, something I really truly feel strongly about, I’ll stick to my guns.

“I think folks have already seen that in Nashville and around the business, and they respect that,” he added.

As he was coming up in the business, McCreery said he was honored and thrilled to be the beneficiary of both the talent and guidance of some of Nashville’s greatest studio musicians, who provided backing support on his first few projects.

“It’s pretty wild when you get into Nashville and you get to work with so many of these guys who are the best in the business,” McCreery said. “Guitar-wise, I’ve gotten to work with one of the best — Brent Mason — if you look on all the major country records, you’ll usually see his name on a bunch of tracks. There’s also a great bunch of new guys like Derek Wells and drummer Shannon Forrest.”

McCreery said if he was to single out one individual in the world of country music that he looks to as his mentor, it would have to be Brad Paisley.

“We were on the road together for the better part of a year together, from January through October,” McCreery said. “It was pretty eye opening to learn from someone like that who has been on the road for so long. He’s not only showed me how important it is to have fun, and to not take yourself too seriously [but also] how to treat folks on the tour, from your guitar player who may be your best friend, to the tour guy who’s loading your stuff at one of your concerts.”

McCreery said of all the horror stories he’s heard from his peers about issues on the road, he’s grateful that one of his first large-scale tour initiations alongside Paisley was such a positive experience.

“He is definitely a class act,” McCreery said of Paisley.

When it comes to creating his own material, McCreery said it usually just comes down to affording himself a few quiet moments with his guitar.

“It kind of all evolves from the guitar. I’m just kind of jamming and a melody pops into your head, then the lyrics, or vice versa, that’s how the songs usually begin for me,” McCreery said. As an individual with strong faith, McCreery also tipped his hand saying he’d love to produce a gospel album some day soon.

“Elvis did a gospel album, but I think I may have to get along a little further in my career before I have the stability to do a gospel record,” he said. “I’d love to sing a couple of my favorite hymns with some new stuff that I’ve written. I think that would be an awesome project for me.”

Speaking of awesome, McCreery said while he has enjoyed the success of a couple of gold records, the recent trifecta with the RIAA platinum has put him over the top.

“That was quite the day — pretty exciting — to make all three of those [songs]platinum was just incredible,” he said.

Anyone heading to the Oakdale on December 4 will see a performance of a young artist who is arguably at his current creative peak.

“Yeah, the tour has been going well. Theand’s been loving it and the fans have been loving it,” he said. “Since we only have two records and we’re working on the third one, it’s been exciting trying out new material on the road. It’s one thing to hear an audience singing back to your hit single, but when you’re singing unreleased songs that are just on the CD and people are singing those, it shows you people are really listening to the whole thing, not just the songs on the radio.”

McCreery said while some artists may be sensitive about fans recording and posting brand new material being road tested in concert that hasn’t been recorded yet, he sees it as a positive.

“I grew up with the Internet, so I don’t have too much issue with it,” McCreery said. “It’s a cool way to get your music out there. These days with so much competition, you want to have as much going on out there as possible, so if somebody is putting a new song out there that hasn’t been recorded yet, and the audience is singing along when you do it in concert, it actually gives you an added sense of confidence when you go into record it. You know the fans already dig it.”

McCreery wrapped up his second chat with The Bee confirming that he will be in front of some very big and potentially new audiences next summer when he goes out supporting the monster country act Rascal Flatts.

During a press conference announcing the band’s residency at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Cafe, singer Gary Le Vox said: “Got a big summer tour planned, and we’re gonna have a blast,” he reveals. “Scotty McCreery is coming with us, so it’s gonna be a bombastic riot summer.”

McCreery seemed equally excited at the prospect.

“That will be quite the fun little summer for us,” he said. “Those Flatts guys know how to have a good time. This is definitely one of those things that is a great career move for me. I could play headline shows in 2,000 to 5,000 seaters depending on the market. But when you out there in front of 15,000 to 20,000 folks — even if they’re going to see Rascal Flatts — but hopefully they’ll become a fan of my music when they see me live.”

Tickets for the Scotty McCreery Oakdale show are still available at the venue box office, or by clicking here.

Check out a video of McCreery covering Garth Brooks's "The Dance" at The Grand 'Ole Opry.

See McCreery perform at the Bing Lounge.an unplugged version of his hit "Being There"