Scotty McCreery is heading back to the show that made him famous this week as "American Idol" crowns its newest winner.
Scotty, the Garner High School student who won Season 10 of the popular singing show a year ago, will perform on Tuesday night's show and then be on hand for the blowout "Idol" finale on Wednesday night.
On that show, either Phillip Phillips of Leesburg, Ga., or Jessica Sanchez of San Diego will be named the winner of Season 11. (Even without hearing their final songs, we'd bet the ranch on Phillip.)
"I am so excited about going back to 'American Idol' and seeing everyone again," Scotty said in a statement. "I hope to spend some time with the finalists ... and share some of my experiences with them."
On Tuesday's performance show -- the last time Jessica and Phillip will compete -- Scotty is scheduled to sing "Please Remember Me." That's the song that has played all season as finalists have been voted off each week.
Both the Tuesday and Wednesday shows begin at 8 p.m. on Fox.
Scotty, who is back on tour with country singer Brad Paisley, was just nominated for two Teen Choice Awards -- for Male Reality Star and Male Country Artist. Those awards will be handed out July 22 live on Fox.
He's received New Artist of the Year awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the American Country Awards. He was nominated for two Billboard Music Awards on Sunday but did not win. Scotty also is a nominee on the CMT Music Awards, to be presented June 6, and the MusicRow Awards, to be handed out on June 20.
Scotty, who has a platinum album and two gold singles, will graduate from Garner High next month and plans to attend N.C. State University in the fall.
Thad Ogburn is The N&O's Metro Editor, overseeing most local news reporting. His previous jobs have included editor of North Raleigh News and Features Editor, during which he learned that comics attract more reader response than just about anything else we do. His guilty pleasure is reality TV, which he finds not very real at all. That's assuming, of course, there is room on his DVR amid all the episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" that his wife and daughter record.