The morning light was soft, but the weight of sorrow was heavy. On July 11, just after sunrise, Scotty McCreery sat alone between two fresh graves—his guitar resting in his lap, his voice trembling as he sang the words that once comforted him, now broken by grief: “I’d give anything for five more minutes.” It wasn’t a performance. It was a prayer.
Just two days earlier, the country music star suffered an unimaginable loss: both of his grandmothers—Janet and Paquita—passed away within hours of each other.
In a heartbreaking Instagram post, McCreery wrote, “My heart is absolutely broken. Yesterday, both my Grandma Janet and my Grandma Paquita passed away. I think I am still in a bit of shock… but I’m choosing to remember the great memories we made with both of them. There really are too many to count.”
He shared a photo of the two grandmothers standing beside him and his wife, Gabi, on their wedding day—a rare moment now frozen in time, echoing the love that shaped him.
His mother, Judy McCreery, confirmed the details on Facebook. Grandma Janet, 85, died shortly after 1 PM on July 9 after a difficult battle with norovirus and the flu, which led to pneumonia. Just a few hours later, at 4 PM, Paquita, 93, also passed away after months of declining health.
“This is hard to fathom,” Judy wrote. “But I have to accept it was her time.”
To Scotty, family has always been his foundation. Raised in a tight-knit home and deeply bonded to both sets of grandparents, he’s carried those values into his own parenting with son Avery and his soon-to-arrive second child. Songs like “Five More Minutes” have long served as tributes to the love and legacy of his elders.
But on this morning, the lyrics hit harder than ever. The song, originally written after the loss of his grandfather, had become prophetic—a soundtrack for grief that had come back around.
Fans flooded his social media with condolences, recalling how his music had helped them through their own losses. One follower wrote, “Scotty, you gave us comfort through your songs. Now let us carry you in prayer.”
At the gravesite, as the final notes faded into the stillness, Scotty whispered, “Thank you… for everything.” And somewhere between the notes and the silence, two grandmothers were surely smiling—proud, loved, and never forgotten.
“If y’all could keep my family in your prayers,” Scotty asked, “I’d appreciate it.”
And so the country music world bows its head—not just for a beloved artist, but for a grandson in mourning, singing one final verse of goodbye.
