Craig Morgan is singing the praises of his good friend, Blake Shelton. The two have been friends for years, but it wasn’t until Blake started pushing people to listen to Craig’s poignant song, “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost” –– rallying all of his celebrity friends and pushing the song to No. 1 on iTunes –– that others saw how close their bond really is.
“People don’t know how good Blake’s heart really is. I do,” Craig told CMT. “And I’ve always known that. So it was humbling when Blake did all this, and it was good to know that a lot of the world could see the Blake that I’ve known for a long time. He’s kind of like that country music cheerleader, and people may not know that side of him. And with a platform like he has, I just thought that was the greatest thing ever.
“As a lover of country music, you’ve got to share the good stuff. Blake could’ve been like, ’Oh cool. Craig has this beautiful song out. That’s cool for him,'” Craig added. “Instead, he was insistent that we all listen to it.”
“The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost” is one of 10 songs on Craig’s God, Family, Country album, which was released on Friday, May 22. The record includes both new songs, like “Sippin’ on the Simple Life” and a cover of Gavin DeGraw’s “Soldier,” as well as remastered versions of some of Craig’s former hits, including “Almost Home” and “My Kinda Woman.”
“I’ll always want to have a Friday night song and I’ll always want to have a Sunday morning song, because that is middle America,” Craig explained. “We go out on Friday and Saturday nights, and we’re in church and doing family things on Sunday. And if you’re not doing that, it’s what you want to do. It really is. I think it’s important to cover the gamut of the lifestyle of the people who are buying my music.”
Craig, an avid songwriter, could have easily come up with ten or more new songs to include on God, Family, Country, but he wanted to make sure his new fans also new his older hits.
“What I’m finding is that there are a lot of people out there that are just now becoming Craig Morgan fans. So they may not be privy to ’That’s What I Love About Sunday,’ for example,” said the singer. “And so there’s a new audience that we’re able to tap into that has become new country fans. We felt it was important to have those, and to put some of the songs that were never released as singles that I always thought were great songs.”
God, Family, Country is available for purchase via Amazon