Army veteran Craig Morgan releases new album, includes a song he wrote with 2 Army Rangers before deployment

Joslin Joseph
May 21, 2020 5:07 AM PDT
1 minute read
Army photo

SUMMARY

Country music star and Army veteran Craig Morgan is releasing his newest album — God, Family, Country on May 22. “God, Family, Country” pays tribute to his past and his future both in the music industry and in his amazing life story. He w…

Country music star and Army veteran Craig Morgan is releasing his newest album — God, Family, Country on May 22. "God, Family, Country" pays tribute to his past and his future both in the music industry and in his amazing life story.

He will also be part of the Grand Ole Opry's Memorial Day Special. The venerable show that made country music famous will salute the United States Military with its annual Memorial Day Salute the Troops Opry performance on Saturday, May 23.


Joining Craig are Steven Curtis Chapman and Kellie Pickler. This year, the Opry will also honor essential workers who are on the frontline against the war on COVID-19. You can watch it live on Circle and Gray TV stations, DISH Studio Channel 102, Sling TV and other TV affiliates in addition to live streams on Circle All Access Facebook and YouTube channels.

We Are The Mighty talked to Craig about his album and what influenced some of the songs on it. Craig talked to us about his faith, family and love of our country. His faith is a big part of his life and Craig shared how it carried him through personal tragedy. That was the cornerstone of this album and Morgan does what a lot of great musical artists do. He takes his life and puts them into words that everyone else can relate to.

Before his long career in country music, Craig served in the United States Army. He took part in Operation Just Cause, during which the United States removed General Manuel Noriega from power in 1989. He later deployed with the 82nd Airborne as part of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. After service on both active duty and the reserves, Craig left the military in 2004.

He then began a career as a chart-topping country music singer, songwriter and live performer. Craig returns now with his first new music in nearly four years.

"God, Family, Country", however, is a little different. It combines five new songs with some of the most powerful tracks he recorded previously in his career including, "That's What I Love About Sunday," "Almost Home," and "God, Family, Country".

Craig came onto the country-radio scene with hits like, "That's What I Love About Sunday," "Redneck Yacht Club," "International Harvester" and "Little Bit of Life." These songs showed off his unquenchable spirit and joy for life and resonated with fans of all walks of life.

But, he and his family have also known great loss: particularly the death of their son Jerry in 2016. Needless to say, the tragic death of Jerry had a great impact on Craig. Being the artist he is, he took that emotion and that unimaginable tragedy led to him writing his most stunning song to date, "The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost." The achingly personal ballad is an emotional journey for the listener and is the centerpiece of both God, Family, Country and of Craig's story itself.

"We've never had a song like this. If you put 'Almost Home,' 'What I Love About Sunday' and 'Tough' all together, they didn't have the emotional impact that this song is having," Craig says. "It's a very tough song to sing, and sometimes I can't even look at people when I perform it, but it's amazing to know what God has done, and how He has used something so traumatic in my life for good."

When asked about the song and the process he went through to write it, Craig said, "Overall, it took four hours to write. But it was a painful four hours. Writing the song didn't take away the pain of losing my son. But it's going to help others." And it has. Since the song's release, people from all walks of life have reached out with messages telling him how it really helped them emotionally. "It's given people hope. We all have a cross we have to bear, but if my pain brings comfort then that's what I am supposed to do."

The story of other songs on the album is absolutely epic. For "Sippin' on the Simple Life," he teamed with a pair of active duty Army Airborne Rangers who were about to deploy to Afghanistan for an impromptu writing session. Craig was speaking at a USO event when two soldiers came up to him.

"These two guys came up to me after a show in Washington, D.C., and said, 'We want to write a song with you tonight.' I joked with them and told them it doesn't work that way!" Craig recalls.

But after realizing they weren't kidding, he sat down with the servicemen, ordered drinks and started putting pen to paper. just before they deployed to Afghanistan. "I thought, 'This is a tailgate drinking song,' and I fell in love with it. I called them and told them I'm putting it on the record. They lost their minds."

Morgan also features a cover of the Gavin DeGraw song, "Soldier." "I loved the lyrics but the melody is what got me," Craig said, "As a dude, we almost always listen to the melody first and that's what caught me." Listening to the song, it really resonates with anyone who served. Morgan said, "It truly exemplifies the personality and the character of a soldier and I just had to record it."

"Whiskey" is another great track on the album. A song that talks about the pain people go through and how they try to find ways to ease that pain was something that really resonated with Morgan. After the death of his son, he was tempted to find outlets to mask the pain, but his faith was able to carry him through. However, many others don't and turn to vices like drugs or alcohol and Morgan said the emotion of the song led him to record it.

"God, Family, Country" is an incredible album that features Craig taking us on an emotional journey that most veterans (and Americans for that matter) can relate to. We have dealt with loss, pain, challenges, uncertainty, and despair. But we have also relied on things important to us, like faith, family, and our patriotism to guide us through dark times.

The album comes out on May 22 on Broken Bow Records.

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