Craig Morgan just released his latest album, God, Family, Country, on Friday, May 22. The record includes both remastered versions of several songs from previous projects, including “That’s What I Love About Sunday” and “Almost Home,” as well as five new songs, including an unexpected cover of Gavin DeGraw’s “Soldier.”
“When I’m making a new record, I have a list of three things that are important to me when I’m recording a song,” Craig shared on the Bobby Bones Show. “One, I feel like I only want to record material that I think radio could play. Not that they necessarily will, but I want them to have the mindset that if they hear a song and like it, they could go, ‘I could play this on the radio, and it would work with our listeners.’ Two, it needs to be a song that I can deliver. Delivering a Gavin DeGraw songs was one of the more extremes, because Gavin is such a great singer, and it’s such a different song than I’m normally doing, but I felt like I could.
“And third, it needs to be something that fans would enjoy, that would inspire them to buy the records and come to the shows, and that I like singing as well,” he added. “So this song met all of that, and on top of that, I felt like every line in this song truly encompassed the character of the serviceman.”
It might seem unlikely that the Grand Ole Opry member would reimagine a Gavin song, but the subject material is close to home to Craig, who spent 17 years in the military, including 10 years in active duty.
“I think whatever we do in life, whatever it is we’re doing affects our thought process, the way we think about things, the way we look at things,” Craig explained. “The military is more of a magnifying glass of the way we do things, because of the issues that you’re placed in, the environment –– everything is hyper-sensitive compared to normal civilian life. But no matter what you do in life, those things affect how you think, and the way you think.
“The military just does it to such a degree that’s so much more intense. And a lot of that has to do with the environment,” he continued. “A lot of times we’re placed in places that are so much different than the place that we grew up, other countries. You develop a sense of gratitude and a sense of humility, that it’s hard to grasp or gather in a normal environment.”
Craig never imagined leaving the military to pursue music, which in hindsight he says could not have happened without his time in the Army.
“I never thought it would be a career,” Craig admitted. “It was just always something I did for fun. I just enjoyed writing songs, enjoyed sitting around playing music for the guys and with the guys sometimes. Looking back, I really attribute the fact that I’m here today to people that I served with, because they were the ones that really encouraged me to leave the military and pursue music.”
God, Family, Country also includes the poignant song, “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost,” written about the loss of his son, Jerry. The record is available for purchase via Amazon
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Monarch Publicity / Nate Griffin