Some kids learn their ABCs first. Avery McCreery, the son of Scotty McCreery, learned George Strait. At two years old, he had a favorite song he couldn’t quite name properly, so he gave it his own title: the “Excuse Me” song. Grown-ups know it as “The Chair,” the 1985 No. 1 hit that opens with one of the most famously polite pickup lines in country music. And when his daddy asked who sang it, Avery didn’t hesitate.
The Clip That Melted Country Fans
On March 13, 2025, Scotty McCreery posted a short video on Instagram. In it, Avery sings the opening line of “The Chair” in his small, sweet voice, the line where a man politely tells a woman at the bar that she’s sitting in his seat.
Then Scotty asks the question every country dad wants to hear answered right: “Who sings that song?”
“George Strait,” Avery says.
That was it. One short clip. But the comments filled up fast, with fans calling it precious and the cutest thing they’d seen, and country outlets picked it up within a day.
“Daddy, Can You Sing the ‘Excuse Me’ Song?”
What made the moment even better is that it wasn’t a fluke. Not long before, Scotty McCreery had talked about it on the God’s Country podcast. “The Chair,” he explained, had become his son’s song. Avery would ask his dad to sing the “Excuse Me” song, named after the first words he heard in it.
“I’m teaching him, like, ‘Who sings this song?’ ‘George Strait.’ I’m starting him young.”
So when Avery answered on camera, he was showing off a lesson his father had been working on at home. Anyone who has ever taught a grandchild to say “Hank Williams” or “Loretta Lynn” knows exactly how proud that moment feels.
A Little Boy Who Knows Whose Song Is Whose
Around the same time, Scotty McCreery told ABC Audio that Avery had developed a habit of matching songs to people. Everyone in the family, and even some of the band, had a song that belonged to them, and Avery kept track.
Daddy’s song was Scotty’s own “Cab in a Solo.” Papa’s song was “Sweet Caroline.” The drummer’s song was “Free Fallin’.” Avery would sing each person their song right back to them.
“He’s very observant about who likes what songs.”
Scotty said it made his heart happy. That same instinct is what showed up in the “Excuse Me” video: Avery didn’t just know the tune. He knew whose voice it belonged to.
Why George Strait, of All Singers
For Scotty McCreery, this one runs deep. The first country concert he ever chose to go to was a triple bill of George Strait, Reba McEntire and Lee Ann Womack at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina. He has said that after that show, he told himself he was going to do that one day.
He did. During his run on American Idol in 2011, George Strait called him and requested that he sing “Check Yes or No.” Later, the first time the two met in person, Strait tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Hey Scotty.” Scotty McCreery has admitted he was speechless for about two minutes. In 2022, his song “Damn Strait,” built around Strait song titles, became his fifth straight No. 1 at country radio.
So when Avery says “George Strait” without missing a beat, it isn’t just a cute answer. It’s a family tradition, handed down from a man who first saw the King of Country from the crowd and decided right there what he wanted to do with his life.
Avery Today
Merrick Avery McCreery was born on October 24, 2022, and named in part after his mother Gabi’s father. He has since become a big brother. And the boy who sang the “Excuse Me” song has only gotten bolder. In 2026, Scotty McCreery said Avery asks to come out on stage before every show. If it were up to Avery, he’d be up there every single night.
“He loves it. He’s a ham.”
Who taught you your first country song, and do you remember which one it was?