Dylan Scott is 'Livin' My Best Life' by putting family, fans and honesty first

CMT Breakthrough Video of the Year winner Dylan Scott will release his second album, "Livin' My Best Life," on Friday.

However, the admitted "regular family man" who values his wife and two young children above all else achieved greater visibility for doing something quite astonishing last year:

He appeared to strike a match and blow up his Ford F-150 truck filled with an ex-girlfriend's personal effects.

The video for Scott's country radio hit single "New Truck"  is an eye-catcher because it ends with a truck that's filled with vivid memories of an ex-girlfriend (hair ties, lip gloss, feet kicked up on the dashboard) being lit aflame by the vocalist.

"Man, funny story. I'm still paying off the car note on that truck," the 31-year-old Bastrop, Louisiana, native said. "It's absolutely my truck. But they did some CGI magic with an F-150 from a junkyard, so while it looked like it was my truck, it wasn't."

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He adds that he's received some social media flack for burning a vehicle during a time when so many would appreciate having any automobile – even one filled with painful memories of lost love – to call their own. Scott takes on an "aw shucks" tone when thinking about those issues.

"I guess they listen to it, they're listening to the song, so I'll take it," he said. Then he laughed heartily with a growl in his voice matching the baritone that has finally keyed country stardom.

Currently, pop-aimed country music songs pair well with everything from nights on the town, moments before the first pitch at baseball games, streaming playlist soundtracks to long drives or mundane afternoons. Because songs like "New Truck" and much of Scott's catalog are, as noted in a press release, drawn mainly from an upbringing highlighted by "dusty backroads, barstools, and church pews,"  his approachable style and sound have him included in all of those spaces.

Scott's a diligent worker who believes track records create sustainable careers. He began dating his wife, Blair Robinson, when he was 15, and he has also taken a decade to hone his sound.

"I want to get to a point where I don't miss (the top of the charts) and always put out great music," Scott said.  "Having a long career in country music – like someone I look up to, Tim McGraw – is about much more than having huge numbers on TikTok and Instagram. You have to make great songs that speak for themselves."

He says the trait of McGraw's that he's relied on most is the vocalist and actor's ability to delegate authority in the writers' room. To this end, "Livin' My Best Life" features the fruit borne from co-writes with top artists, including Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley, Thomas Rhett and Morgan Wallen.

After a decade in Music City, Scott has achieved multiple No. 1 singles. His childhood dreams have been completed. Now, hitting No. 1 allows him to imagine taking his perpetual touring schedule (he's back out on the road for his "Amen To That Tour" starting Sept. 28) from supporting acts like Luke Bryan at large amphitheaters and stadiums to a top-billed act on his own arena tours.

Scott joked that portraying a blue-collar laborer in the video for his latest single, "Lay Down With You," who dutifully finishes his day and comes home to his other job of being a father and husband, is another way to showcase him living his "regular, but best" life.

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"My family is in (the video) and my kids, they aren't actors, but who they are in real life is really cool, so it made it great," Scott said.

The rest of "Livin' My Best Life" reflects Scott's desire to compose a body of work that reflects "writing what he lives and believes."

He credits the work of producers Matt Alderman (2021 AIMP Nashville Rising Songwriter of the Year) and Will Weatherly (recent songwriting No. 1 for Dustin Lynch and Mackenzie Porter's "Thinking 'Bout You") as important. The album's title song, the Jimmie Allen duet "In Our Blood," recent TikTok-viral ballad "Can't Have Mine (Find You a Girl)," and the religious ballad "Killin' Some Time" represent some of his best material to date.

"People want to hear some meaning behind some music right now," Scott said. Songs like "In Our Blood" ("We may look and dress different, but we all bleed red") and "Killin' Some Time" ("We're all down here killing some time until we go to that other place") reflect the way he was raised.

"In country music, it's time that we put some meat back into our lyrics," he said. "The people need that."

Asked what would happen if he can't extend his recent string of No. 1 hits, he responded with logic learned after 10 arduous years of fruitful labor.

"Right now, if I have a song hit No. 2, it's like someone blindside hit me hard in the gut," he said. "But also, having hits makes me grateful to be doing this. People like to hear music they can feel."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Dylan Scott: 'Livin' My Best Life' by putting family and fans first