#295 – Craig Morgan on from Going to The Military to Country Artist + His Friendship with Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani + Living In A Remote Part of Alaska

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to episode. To Craig Morgan, it's just a fantastic interview. He talks about going to the military, talks about being a country artist, his friendship with Blake, It's friendship with Gwen, living in a remote part of Alaska. It's just fantastic. So I do want to get to that pretty quick. But the top five releases this week in my mind, let's do this. At number five, cold Play has a new song out called Higher Power. Listen. I love cold Play. Here's the clip of that song. But You've gotten higher? Got to sing in every second? Don't sing everyhow got At number four, Miranda Lambert has released her album The Marfa Tapes. Here's a new song called Waxa Hatchie. Is that your hometown? That is my hometown? Yeah, so walk is out of wax I said it wrong. How does it feel to have a song about your hometown? I love it? Dang, how can be there? What is there to do in Walsa Hatchie? Nothing? Basically what she says in the song go buy a thirty five? It's it. Well, why do they make us write a song about it? I don't know. It's a funny, funny name of a town. Funny name. It's if you're coming from Dallas, you go right through it. But other than that, there's not much to do there. And that's crazy that you're twing. Got a song at number three, The Black Keys have a new song They're back. It's called Going Down South Song. And number two Brandon Ray has a new song out called hold On Here you Go, hold On Still a little bit longer, hold On you gotta be stronger, hold On You're not hold On It's gonna get better. And the number one Weezer has a new album called Band Wheezer. It's their fifteenth album, and, as its title implies, band Weezer is Weezer's take on hard rock, drawn from Van Halen Ozzie Aerosmith. Here's a new song called I Need Some of That, I Need Some of It's just I do love Weezer so much so that I went on a podcast recently as Weezer Expert. Really, what did you talk about Weezer and my love of them and why and the difference between the Blue Album and Pinkerton and why people don't like Pinkerton and which is your favorite? The Blue album? But I liked what Pinkerton anyway, just because everybody hated it when it came out, and I was like, you guys are stupid. I love Weezer and I really didn't like it as much, but I said I did. But now I like it even more, I think because it's different than the Blue So but anyway, we talked about that. Yeah, let's see albums out. Kenny Chesney's got a deluxe edition of Here and now Mighty Mighty boss Tones have one. Van Morrison has latest record project Volume one. We were in their names ran out, bb Rex has Better Mistakes, Stained has Live. It's been a while, get it there as once it's been uh tickets to Bobby Fester on sell. Now we're doing one day festivals in two different cities, Whitewater Amphitheater, New Brombls, Texas, which is between San Antonio and Austin, and then Wave and which Tack Kansas. It will be us, the Raging Idiots, Russell Dickerson's gonna play God, Maddie and Tay. It's gonna be a big fun event for all day family. If you want tickets, ticketmaster dot Com get tickets there. Ever, Clearer is hitting the road with Living Color, Hubba Stank and wedis love ever clire so ourt Alex's play recently by himself songwriter show his voice is just not there. I've seen him too recently. He just wasn't there. Thankfully, thank Yeah, it was really cool. Thankful the crowd knew the songs. We'd sing them loud enough to help him. But I would still go to this. It sounds fun. Hooba Stank has the reason which is this song? Yeah, crawling in the dark. Um we just had I'm just a teenage Yeah. Do you have anything from Living Color? I do cult the personality, I know that, but I didn't know that. I mean i'd probably skip out. I'd skip out in the Living Color part. There you go, let's see. I think that's it. Thank you all. I hope you enjoyed this interview with Craig Morrigan. It was fantastic. If if you don't mind, go rate this thing all the stars five five stars please. It helps us so much. You rate at five stars and you write some feedback. It really does boost us up the charts, and we're grateful. Thank you. Enjoy I walked out of my house and there was like a massive army jeep out there. If I were to see you drive up beside me and that thing, I would I would be scared because it looks like that, like about four guys. A better start peeling out of the back to fix a problem. That that's a jeep you drive somewhere when it's something to fix a problem, or unless you're sitting in a ditch, then you're happy to see me and pull I would agree with unless you have the problem. It's getting fixed. If you're the problem getting fixed, it's a great vehicle to see. If you're the problem, you don't want to see that truck and those guys. Is that a truck that you did special stuff too? Or would you buy it like that? We do a few special things. Man, it's awesome. Like I was jealous. I saw it, and I don't think I could pull off like a big man, even when you pulled up, even you pulled up to the gate. Here, Mike, you know, the camera looks out and I was looking over some notes for this here and it goes. I got a little note and I hit it and it's Craig. But you don't see him because it's so tall. You literally just see a black door. It's like Bobby, I guess so you are. Okay, let me let you know whatever. My wife can't hardly stand it, though, she says, actually she calls it the wobbly shopping cart. I was like, a wobble I think it drives like a Cadillac, but but I've driven wobbly shopping carts, so yeah, you know. I was coming over here a minute ago and I told Caitlin, who you met my fiance. I was like, hey, I'm going over to see ye like we're both more than Bobby. Yeah, I said, um let going over to see Craig. And she goes, hey, check with him and see if that shirt he told me about was real. And I was like which one. She goes the one that said I'm the guy that had all these songs? In fact, yes, she said, if he's still making those, can you get me one? Oh, we can definitely gets. But I told us that I think he was joking. No, I really did a shirt that way. You have a shirt that says, well, on the on the front, it's got my picture I think is that my picture on it's got a silhouette? I mean on the back it has a list of all the hits, well not all of but this was early on, but there's like ten hit songs and it says the guy Craig Morgan, the guy who sings, and it lists the songs she was because at that point in my career, you know, a lot of people know the music, but they still didn't really know who Craig Morgan was. So well, was it, by the way, one of those shirts. I want two of those shirts for me. I want for her because we're both massive fans, and she, as much as I like you, she may be a bigger fan I was. I'm definitely gonna get you a shirt if if you don't have to send one assuming that someone wants something, because then it's to me, and then it seems a little arrogant. Hey, I got you both of you guys who have one. The how I found out, I told you this story. But we were I think we're in Arkansas. We were staying at the cabin over that we have. We're there, like deep in the woods, and we were listening to the conversation that I'm on there and that's what I about. Sundays comes on and she's singing it and I look over and she's still singing it, and I look over and I'm like, you know every word? She goes, oh, I know everywhere all versus all that. And I was like, I said, you know every word? She goes, yeah, everywhere. So I hit record on my phone and say you her singing the whole song? And I was like, do you like Craig Morgan? And she goes, this is my favorite songs ever. I remember. I remember when you said that, I think I may have been an Alaska. You were an Alaska. Yeah. And then because you followed up with a future you and some huge animal in the snow, that was your response back. You're like, and here I am with a big dead animal. What was it for you that actually started having people pay attention to who Craig Morgan the artist? Wash It had to be, man, it was like four or five hits into it. Um. I mean, you know, obviously Almost Home got the attention of the industry, but it wasn't like I could go after even Almost Home. Um, that's what I love about Sunday read at Yacht Club. Almost Home, though, if I remember correctly, wasn't a number one. No. It was like it went to number three on the charts on one five on another. But it was a song that got a lot of attention. It was just a real country song. It was very long at the time. Everyone thought it was too long for country radio. It came on the charts, fell off the charts, came back on the charts, and that's rare. Yeah, it was real rare. And they said and in fact they changed after that happened with that song is when they changed the whole chart process because of that song. Was the chart process. You now that you can't come back on the chart. Can't you lose your bullet. You can't come back even if you regain if you have the potential to regain the bullet. And that's that was kind of what changed that. So um and we had Redneck Yacht Club. I mean it was a number one, you know, so I had these huge hit and I think it was the following single after Redneck. I remember walking through the airport and Nashville people were looking at me. Uh. And I had done at this point, we've done videos for all these songs as well, so you know, those were marketing tools in the time, especially, but I was I had done some TV stuff and I remember walking through the airport and these people are looking at me, and I was with my wife and I I mean after about the fourth or fifth I literally looked down and I'm like, what is everyone looking at? And my wife looked at me, and she says, you're Craig Morgan, you idiot. Like That's when it hit me. He's like, Wow. Do you think it was people seeing you on something else and matching it, matching the artist with the person they saw on TV? Or do you think it was just so many hits that you were just present enough for people to start paying attention. I really don't know. I think it may have been a combination of things. Uh. You know, I've been very fortunate to have hits over the years, label after label, um, but but I also managed to do a lot of other things too. I'm always fascinated when I do a show, especially now, you know, twenty almost twenty years later, and go how many people see me for the first time and all these people raise their hands. I'm like, holy cow, man, I've been in this twenty years. And and and then I'll talk to people and they go, yeah, man, I've never heard of you, and I've seen you on Risolian isles and I googled you or I seen you on Nowadays now it's like, you know, I've seen you on Facebook or I've seen you with something. It's always weird they see me in a different um arena of some sort and then they google me and they find out, oh, well, I'm I like this song, I like country, this was my What's really weird is when they find you and they go, oh my gosh, Almost Home was my favorite song, always has been. But they never knew that they get didn't match it. Yeah, So it's taken a long time for me, unlike a lot of people who it happens right up front, you know, for me, it's taken a long time to put it all together. Did you ever have those meetings? I'm sure you had the meetings, but I guess what were those meetings like early on because I've had them too. Where they go, all right, we need to front face you with what people are gonna know about you the most, Like are you gonna be the redneck guy, You're gonna be a military guy, You're gonna be the dad like where they kind of go, all right, who what are we shooting for here? Early on? What were those meetings like for you? Uh? Do you wear a hat. Uh, there was a lot of calcoy hat ball cap you know. I I mean I got a ball cap on now, but I don't always wear a cap. In fact, I used to be the anti hat guy because I wanted everyone to know that I had hair, you know, and you still do. Yeah, and I still do have hair, um and you know, but still to this day, we still have those conversations. The management that I'm with and have been with now for about six years. Uh. That was the one thing I told them up front, your job is gonna be very difficult because I'm not one guy. This is not my whole life. My whole life don't revolve around singing country music. I love singing and writing music. I love it, and I love country music with everything fiber that's in me. But I also love riding dirt bikes. I also love being in the outdoors. I also of working with law enforcement. These are things that I do and I'm going to continue to do. So I'm not gonna not do those things in order to make your job easier. So that I am that one guy. Uh. So they you know, it's it's tough. It's tough for them, and I respect that. I understand it, but I don't care. It's I'm not gonna stop being who I am in order that I might become more famous, you know what I mean. Did they ever try to make you a hat act? Oh? Yeah, I got pictures of me in the cowboy hat? Was that because they said, hey, we think you should wear one, or you're like, you know what, Sometimes I wear one? Uh? It was a little bit of both. They asked me if I would wear it, and I'm like, yeah, you don't do it the house. Sometimes. It ain't really a cowboy hat because I ain't no cowboy, but it's a western hat that I use on the farm. If I'm on my tractor, sometimes I'll wear it. Uh. And it's dirty and nasty, But okay, well what if we got you a new one? So I mean I tried. I did some of those things early in my career. I wanted to do what I needed to do, uh, and not just to be successful, but but I wanted to I wanted to do the right things, you know. And I didn't know. So I trusted the opinions of all of these supposedly smart people. And and I ain't gonna say that I I didn't compromise any of my beliefs or values. I mean, it's like putting on a different pair of genes, you know. I mean, if you think those genes look better on me, that's the ones I'm gonna wear. I can't see my ass, So if you think my ass looks good and those, that's the ones I wear. Yeah. And it's not like you don't own the genes. Yeah, they just think those genes are appropriate genes to wear for this in the season of your life. Same with the hat, you know. And and I don't like I see guys now that you know that I've watched some of these acts that have come up. You know, that's why I love some of these guys that they just don't care. Man. I love that because I was kind of that guy. I didn't really care, but I did enough to to try to do what they would ask me to do. You know, instead of saying no, I wasn't a no, I'm this guy and I'm not stray from you know, because I'm like, I don't know who am I to tell these people that have been in business for twenty years that that I'm not wearing It's not good for me to wear a hat in a photo. I don't have to wear it all the time, And that's what they said, don't wear it all the time, don't. You don't have to wear these shoes all the time. You have to wear this whatever. But we'd like you to try these things. Sure, I'll try, you know. But some of these guys, now, man, whatever, you know, I'm just gonna sing yea, you know, and I love that, and that ends up kind of being their thing, it really. I mean, Luke Holmes and his Dan whatever them holy shoes are the Crocs. I hate Crocs, man, I'll never have a Croc deal now that I've said that, you know, I actually wear Crocs, but I don't wear the rubbering ones. They make some really cool looking uh like, yeah, I have Croc slides. Yeah. When you were a kid, who was it that you listened to a lot that made you go, dang, like music is actually cool. Not I don't want to pursue music, but you're just like, damn, I'd really like listening to this person. Uh well, I mean I listened to a lot of different things, but there there was a couple of in particular that really influenced me that I heard him and I went, man, I love this line. Ritchie always loved listening to Lina Richie, Luther Van Dross, John Connley. I know there's a big spectrum, they're a big change, but uh uh and then later on like Garth, you know. But I also loved Randy Travis. I loved. Uh. I like Jim ed Brown. I love some of some of the Jim ed Brown stuff that I heard my dad listening to. I enjoyed that. But for me personally, it was James Taylor, Luther Van dross Um and then in the country round John Connley, Lee Greenwood, some of that Randy Travis. I just loved Randy Travis stuff. You know. So it was a little bit of everything. I loved music, but it had to be a song that I that uh told a great story. Uh, I don't know. I liked and and melodies were important to me. I liked a good melody, um, but it had to tell a story. I wasn't just a you know, you're just like a a hook. I wasn't looking for a hook. You want to catch a chorus, you need to catch Yeah, But I didn't know. I mean, I was just a guy listening to music. Did you ever have a chance to meet Lionel I did. It was I was very nice man. Yeah, I work with a now in American idol. Yeah, I spent for you and he is lovelier than he should have to be. Yeah, you know, I'm I got so frustrated because I love Lina Richie and I only met him in Passing in an award show and he was very polite, very kind. Uh. But it's like I I grew up listening and loving Lina Richie. Like for me, music is impacting at different times in our life in different people. Like I'm a big fan of Skip Youing. A lot of people don't even know who Skip Youing is, but I loved his music and it was important to me because it came to me at the time of life when I was in Panama in nineteen nine for the outsting of Manuel Antonio Noriega. So after the war was over, you know, we were riding around through this battered up country and I'm listening to Skip Youing records. So that music stuck with me because of what was going on in my life. The same thing with Lina Richie a little later on in my life, and I sang liner reachings, why I'm e And you know, I felt like I love to sing that kind of stuff, and all of a sudden, everybody's freaking singing with line Richie. But me, I like the skegee, Come on, this is my thing. You know. Well, he he is a wonderful yes, and it's pulled me aside and giving me advice privately so many times that you're like, he's also a guy that's been famous for so long he doesn't know what it's like to not be famous anymore. Yeah, but still just a wonderful guy. But I'll be frustrated to it became to talent and he's like your guy, and then he's like, I'm gonna do a song with my girl. I'm gonna do a song with it. You know, um what I get it. You know, I went at a point in my career where you know that could should or could happen. You know, you did maybe on our show you did easy Yeah, I think you played that. Could you sing that back? It just kind of hits me. I think you can't play that on the radio show one time. But I just love it. Man, all of his stuff, I mean, there wasn't much that he did that, I did like and he was he was really good whether at delivering the material. Those songs were great. They told stories and the melodies were phenomenal. So I remember. It's funny you mentioned certain music that reminds you of certain times. And I read this book once. It talks about, you know, if we were at in a traumatic part of life and there's a certain album or song that we're hearing a lot, it triggers a chemical in the brain just for a split second. It gives us that feeling like we're in that spot. And when you mentioned that, I think back to, like I read ho Chili Peppers album more like getting kicked out of a trailer, but we know we're getting we're basically getting evicted of a trailer. But I remember listening to that album so much, that Blood Sugar, Sex Magic album Chili Peppers that when you said that, I was like, oh yeah, I mean right now, I can think of Red Hot Chili Peppers. I can think of moving in with my grandma in like sixth grade when Don't Take the Girl was this was a and I would turn like Kissing Night he said to be on all the time. But like when I hear that song. It triggers that spot again, like moving back here with my grandma. Yeah, six years sixth grade. What a wonderful thing. Huh yeah, not so wonderful sometimes, no, but wonderful that music can do. Yes, it can. Because I'll hear Accounting Crows album and think about being in college when I was broke. But I was it was the greatest time in my life because I was going I have my whole feature ahead of me. I know what I don't want to do. I'm gonna go tackle this, but would go play Ken Good junior baseball and not all night long with this Counting Crows album on. But music has the ability to do that almost transcend us in a way. Yeah, and you know being on this side of it now, because I remember being on that side. I remember being on the side of listening to music and then in my life time would pass and hear a song and go oh, and like you said, it just instantly, I can vividly see everything that's going on in that time that passed. Now I'm on the other side, and it's super weird for me to have people come up and talk about how songs that I have sang take them to certain places and how it triggers them and emotionally, you know. And for me, that's just fascinating, and I'm always a little taken back by it and a little dumbfounded by it. Like, you know, I'm not that guy. I'm not the memory maker. I'm not the you know, but I am. Yeah, I gotta imagine too. That's what I love about Sunday does that with a lot of people, because even with me, it makes me think about Mountain Pine, Arkansas. Maybe the characters aren't exactly the same, but you know, when you're from a small town, yeah, the characters are kind of all the same because that's just life in a rural part of America. Dude. I sing that song, and I have sang it for many years, but to this day, I can sing that song and if I close my eyes, I can see my house, uh, you know, with the swing on the front porch, kids in the yard. I can see all of those things, my mom next door, you know. I mean, there's things in that song for me too, and I'm the guy that's saying there. But that's those are rare. I gotta be honest. I think those songs that are that impacting, uh, they're just not That's not every song And that doesn't mean that every song is that you know, that's the number one isn't a great song, but but not every number one does that, right, well, not every number one is actually good and lasts more than you know, a chart run. That's why when we talk about you know, almost Home, a song that I just thinking, you're sending that writer's room and you're all right, I'm a homeless guy. I'm asleep, I'm dreaming about almost being back home, you know, a guy in a bad situation. You wake me up. It's like, oh God, I go like, how does that concept even come up? And then it's fruition to get recorded to be a single, Like there's so many steps for that song, but it all starts with somebody in the room going all right, like what what what happened in that room with that song? Uh? Me and carry Kurt Phillips, I was actually this song started. I was on the road and uh we were doing a lot of shows that year, and my wife had called me. And this was early on, you know, early on in my career. But we were doing so and and and at this time, they weren't like big paying shows. But we're doing a lot of radio stuff to promote not just the music but Craig Morgan and let people know who I am, because, by the way, it doesn't pay at all. No, so we're literally doing visiting radio station three sometimes three a day. Uh. And I was calling her on the way home and she said, you know, she was actually griping because I early on I thought for some reason, I told her. She says, I told her this. I don't recall it. She said, I told her, Look, I promise you I won't do over ten days at a time. I'll come home for a few days. I mean, we had kids, you know, we had a life and everything. And I guess I've been gone for more than ten days. And she was complaining. I said, look, just relaxed, it won't be long. I'm almost I'm like, oh, that's a great idea. So I remember writing it down and thinking about it, and I come back, had a writing session with Carrie and I told carry the idea and we started writing on it. And three months. It literally took a long time because I was going in and out of town so much. But every time I would come in and we would write, we would write on it, and I was coming. I was going over there one day and I've seen an old guy on the side of the road. Then they're holding up a sign, literally was holding up a sign that uh, A lady was holding up to sign for said pregnant it need food something like that, and he had marked out pregnant need food. And I told Carry and I said, I've seen this guy. Would the sign And I said that guy was almost home, and Carry said stop the boat and we finished that song. It was it took that long and that actual thing happening in the situation. Okay, so the song is written, but now you gotta decide what you're gonna cut. So here's the favorite thing about this song from me, for of all the stories of any song I've written there yet we've had. I was leaving the session and I felt really good about this song and I'm just kind of singing it to myself. When we did a work tape, uh, and you know then I think it was a cassette. And so I had the cassette tape and I had a jeep, I had an O wrangler, and I was playing it back and forth and going down the highway and Phil o'donn'll Phil Billy called me and he goes, hey, how did it go with Carrie? And I said, man, we finished the song and he said, well, tell me about it. So I read him the verse, read him, didn't sing it to him. I read no reality spoken, or the verse and the course. And he said, well, how does it going? Does it? You know? I just climbed out of a cotton woods tree. I was running from some honeyy and I kind of sang a little bit of the melony a little different than what I ended up with. And he goes, hey, let's hear. He goes, you know that forty acres that I have that you've been wanting over in Hickman County. I said, yea. He said, I'll give you that forty acres for half of your publishing. I'm not making any of this up half of your publishing period, of everything or that for that song, that song. He said, I'll give you that forty acres for half of the publishing on that song. And I said, Phil, I can't do that to you, dude. There ain't no way, man. Uh you know it's I just I can't do that to you. It wouldn't be fair, thank God. So you know, low and behold, we end up tracking it. I remember taking it the label, and the label tells a completely different story. They say that I came in and played it for him, and they're like, oh, this is gonna be a hit. That is not what happened. Revision his history on their part. Yeah, So I go in, I play it for him, and they're like, I don't know, it's awful long, that it's extremely country. I will say, in John Loebe's defense, the head of Broken Boat or actually was head of a and rn't Broken Boath at the time. He promotions, he was head of promotion. Just you know, this is two thousand two two because this was all three when it came out late oh two. And he says, uh, man, I think I think we can make this work. It's just just country and just different enough that I think, you know, And he was he was confident song. But others at the labor like, it's too long, it's too country. You know, We've got other things, other songs that we think will do better, and blah blah blah. And I'm like, hey, look, you know, I mean a Nanim's decision kind of guy, you know, there's no way I'm gonna say this is it, and everyone else says it ain't, so we have to collectively agree. So we fought around about it, and finally John's with not telling anyone. He took this song and he went to Ooxville to w i v K hitting w V kid, I don't know some one of the country stations out in Knoxville, not the one I'm on, an I suppose I'm not gonna come in so uh, but this is a long time ago too, you know, and he literally, uh, they wouldn't even see. So he sets up a tent in the front yard of the radio station. He set up a tent in the front yard. He camped out there for three days. Well, he literally came there, literally camped out. Three days later, they finally talked to him and they played the song, and that was the beginning of the history making of that song. He believed in that song so much he camped out for three days three days. So, like I said, I gotta give John Lobo credit because he's the one that really fought for that in the beginning. And then it just became it just blew up, and I remember thinking, oh cool, we gotta hit you know, what's the next song gonna be? And that's kind of what I mean. It's terrible, but it's kind of where my head was, you know, and and it is, it's already work at this And then it fell off the charts, or it didn't really fall off the charts. It had an increase in spins, but for some reason it lost its bullet and there was a big discussion, you know about the chart about oh, it's got to not come off, it's got to stay on and all this stuff. And so I didn't really pay much attention. I'm just like, I just let me know where we're at, let me know what's going on, what I need to do. You know, I'm here for the job. Uh, anything I can do support it, that kind of thing. And all of a sudden they tell me, hey, it's got his bullet back, and um, it never lost spins, but I don't know, something weird happened. I would imagine a big deal. I would imagine that audience went down because there are a couple of big stations that probably played it less, but other stations played it more. So spins went up and a bit of audience went down. Yes, it was one of those, was one of those, and back then it was there was a lot of questions as to what, you know, how that managed to stay on the charts. And because it's different, you know, songs went on the charts and up and down. Back then, they didn't stay like you know, all of a sudden between that song and uh International Harvester, where a song would be on the Church Art for you know, oh my gosh, forty weeks. It was insane. You know, it was terrible how long the song would stay on UM. But it ended up, you know, going back up again, and it just became this huge, huge hit which today is probably still one of my biggest songs. When I do a show, I'm I'm fascinated to look out to the crowd and there's a kids singing every lyric to the song that wasn't alive when that song was released. Yeah, that song. That's what I love about Sunday. To me, I see more than that song. But that song hits me harder than than anything you've ever done, you know, and they all have different It's funny. What's really funny too, from what I've experienced, is it can be different regionally. You know, International Harvester in the Midwest maybe one of my biggest songs. It's crazy out there. I mean there's people riding around with you know, my name on their tractors and crap because they're so into that song, you know. But of all the songs, the song that I personally received the most response from through all that, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we now have a social media platform that we didn't have in two thousand two. You know, all of the outlets that we now have, we didn't have them, so we didn't have the opportunity to give utilize that and to communicate that way. Uh and now we do. But The Father and Son the Holy Ghost, I have experienced more response, more stories than any song I've ever released. It's just been amazing. I would imagine the more you put yourself out there, the more people relate. And because tragedy lead to that song and so you going. And I learned a bit about this when I wrote my first book, because I talked before my mom died in a forties from you know, drug addiction and alcohol, and I wrote on my first book a lot of struggle before she died that I had, and I was very vulnerable about my situation, her situation, in our situation, and I thought, no one's going to relate to this. People if I don't, people fel sorry for me. But I don't. I don't want that. But what happened was people went hey, like I felt that, Like I'm glad you said that because I feel that, and it was that to me was such an awakening. And I have to imagine with you being extremely vulnerable with the song about something so close to you that people had to go I felt like, thank you, because I feel the same way about something in my life, almost verbatim what you're saying. That's the that's the verbiage they use. I feel exactly what you're saying in my life, and I'm glad that you were able to do that. It helps me in the same way that you're talking about doing it with your book. And that's that's difficult. It's really hard for any of us as humans to be so vulnerable because it hurts, and it hurts every time. It's scary. It is. It's scary to be so vulnerable. But at the same time, when you I know I can say this now having done it in that situation and I'm not I'm not doing it and everything that's happened in my life, but I'm able to do it with that for whatever reason, and I can say I feel like I did the right thing it even though it hurts and the story's hammer me, man, I mean it just it breaks my heart to hear them sometimes. But but I know that I know that, I know that, I know that it was the right thing because it helped that person and my pain, it's my whatever I may be dealing with at that time when I'm reading it is what I'm supposed to experience in order to help other people. I think that's the way it is. You know, we're as a human race. Sometimes we have to hurt to help others. That's just the way it is, and we should do that. We should be willing to do that. That's what I think. That's the problem with our society now. Nobody is willing to hurt to help. And it's okay, it's okay to hurt to help a little bit. And when I say hurt, be hungry, uh to help those who are more hungry or you know, do a lot without something. And everybody that's listing with probably, so it's easy for you to say you know you've been you're successful, but you don't know. I don't know where where are we hurt? And so I don't question anyone else's hurt. You know the I know billionaires, but I know they have pain, and I know they hurt, and I know that they help others through that sometimes. So you know, because I'm gonna asking really dumb question in a second to make up for this, but you know, I've seen you perform that song alive a couple of times. And I know at times when I'm speaking and I have to speak about my mom or my grandmother or tragedy in my life, like every time, I have to fight off the hurt. And sometimes I'm good at it, and honestly, sometimes I'm not. Amen. And so when you have to sing this song and it's about your son that passed away, does it feel different every time? Are you fighting it off every time? Or is it does it like how just in your mind, in your head, what what's happening? I have to fight it every time, even now I'm discussing it. My chest hurt. The same thing. Everyone has a t everybody that has experienced some sort of tragedy, has that same I think has that same feeling. Our feelings, our emotions, our reactions, all those things are a little different. But that physical, that literal physical feeling is I think kind of the same for all us. It makes your chest hurt, Like talking about it, my chest hurt, and you have to breathe a little deeper, you know, to kind of calm that heartache or whatever. Um. But I have to fight all time. Sometimes I can't, I reckon. I've gotten to the point now I can recognize that I know that if I'm really tired, if I haven't rested well before show, there's no way I'll be able to do it. And so there's times I won't. I just don't do the song because I know there's no way I'll finish it. And and and my guys have they they know me well enough now to know that there's no way he's gonna do it. He's just not in the emotional and not that I'm not in a good state. You know, we all have the ability to overcome and adapt and improvise. And I can throw a lot of military terms at you, um, But for me, in that particularly, I don't have to. So I'm not going to force myself to, uh, to endure that when I know the the outcome is outcome of it is. I don't think we'll accomplish anything for anybody out there. Um, I gotta finish the song in order for it to be what that person who's there needs to hear. And if I can't, even if I struggle at the end, I gotta get to the end anyway. But there's times I recognize that I know I won't make it to the end. I mean, dude, there's other songs that have absolutely nothing to do with my son, and I have to scratch him from the show. Sometimes depending on my mental state, you know, my my where my headspace is and how I'm thinking about it. There's good days and bad days. Uh. And even on the good days, it's you know, it can be a struggle. Um, I just I have to find a good place, you know, And and and and some days I just can't do certain songs because I can't help but think about him and or my wife, you know. And and I hurt from my wife, I hurt from my kids. I hurt from my dad. My dad and my son Jerry had such a great relationship that it it impacted my dad, you know, and it's made it it's really tough on him. So I have to think about it sometimes when I go see my dad and how I'm talking about and fishing. That's what they did together. That was their thing, going fishing. My wife and Jerry's thing was going to the beast. They both loved the beast. You know. I have to be real sensitive and we have a place on the beach. Have to think about it when I'm there and how I approached that, you know, and and sometimes just freaking sitting back trying to think about what it is you gotta say. And dude, can be struggle, a struggle, you know what I mean. There's a lot like you know so, but everybody else has to deal with something like that as well. Uh, And I can't help when I talked to somebody, I remember that that, Oh it's been all over all the socials everybody talked about. You know, you never know what someone else is going through at that time in their life when you're there, and I try to keep that in mind. Um, and I would hope that as a human race, we all try to do a better job at that as we moved forward in life. Well, my really dumb question now is about a song. How many people were like me and thought that you were harvesting in other countries international Harvester not the actual brand you. Yeah, I did, and I'm embarrassed to say it. And you know what, we had, your honesty, there were a lot of and it wasn't just obviously harvested internationals a brand we had all around us growing. Never I was such an it that I would be like, he's international, hard Like, what other countries is he harvesting in? What am I missing about this song? And I mean, you know I have harvested in other countries. Well, I'm a different product, hasn't Am I the only idiot that's ever said that to you? I wouldn't say idiot, but I will heard that. I would say that because I would hear I'm and I'd be like, all right, but why are you going to other countries? Crag like do you do your family prows? But I did think that that's the truth. I'm making your word, you own them. I'm being honest. I appreciate that. Um, what other what? What other songs? Like I was talking about international harvester. I gotta tell you something and this is worth the Google for you. So there is a guy in another country that apparently in this country they're not allowed to do music videos or something, so they kind of sneak around and and go to other places and do videos. It is my favorite version of International Harvester. Oh he's singing it, yes, yeah, him and his girl and it is. The video is do this prices what country? I don't know, but he says, I'm the son of a third generation farm and they got the they got the harvester, they got the corn fields. The girl in the denim shorts and boots and tank top kind of Oh, it's great you're talking. Definitely, I'll find it for you in Texas. Get to see it. Yeah. Most things I get from you are dead animals. I'll take. It's always like, hey, look what I killed. It's a it's a nine headed platypus, three horns coming out trying to get you to go. Hunts attached to it. You know what I was the song I was talking about in my show. I've never heard it, but I was playing them corn star Oh please, oh good? And that's what I said, i'mnna be honest to I was like, you know what, I said, I'm the biggest Craig fan as a person. And I said, but the one song that he where did you why did you do that? That he's ever put out? This is a couple of days ago, right, I said, the one song he's ever put out. But I was like, I don't know, man, it's corn Star. And you know, at the beginning, we're like, I look at her boys, you know she's in the aisle of the store. Tell me about corn Star because I need to know the conversation about cutting and putting this song out. Okay, I'm gonna be honest, I thought, and I still do this day. I think that's a hit song. I don't think it's not catchy. I think to me, it was a rid solo cup kind of thing. Okay, just a catchy, goofy fun but a play on words. Any time you can do something, you can play on words like that and and it and it worked, and I felt like that word it was just a matter of timing. And I told them I did say, they were like, this is the next song, Like, no, we are not ready for this yet. We need a much bigger hit on this album before we released this as a single and I and I still stand by that to this day. I still think that it is a great, funny, fun play on words. All of that is true. I compared it to a song like Honkey Donk, but Donkey Donk because without the big hits, I said, that song doesn't make sense by itself. Yeah, you gotta have you gotta have the train really on all engines running full speed for that one to stay on the tracks. And it didn't. The rest of the show. I didn't even hadn't even heard of before, and I was like, what do you mean it was? I had to be like top ten? And then I look, it wasn't. Wasn't. I guess the stations just don't want to play it because of the uh yeah, they just do want to play it. It was. It was a timing thing, you know. And and even they said the same thing, you know, which I'm glad because it made me look like a genius with the label, Oh well, we should have listened to you. Maybe you'll listen next time. You know that the song that I have I always liked and sang along to it, but I didn't quite understand. Until I, uh, I had met Caitlin, who's my fiancee, was this old boy. I didn't ever quite feel it in my gut until you actually have and yep, and and and you know, and the songs about you know what, this old boy. You can't believe you have her. You know, she's the best. And finally, because she loves to listen to your music. And sometimes I'm like, we just change it from Craig Morgan for a minute, but that song, I would hear it and I would be like, yeah, I know all the words of the song from on the radio, I said, But now I kind of get it, Like I finally feel like this old you know who gets you? This old boy right here? You make me look good? Yeah. Yeah. We were at a restaurant last night is True Food. It's a little healthy place, um, a little chain about six seven miles away. We were in there eating and there was a couple and Caitlin's way prettier than I am, even on a scale like points wise, I like, I don't, it just isn't and so but people look at her and then they look at me and they're confused. I get that every time. And with mamie. Yeah, they're just like and they go, there's something. There must be something about him that we're not seeing because she's so pretty and funny and smart. Everything I'm good at, she's actually better at, which is weird, Like she's funnier than I am, smarter than I am everything. But people look at me. But but it's like that song. I'm like, yeah, but you know who gets it? This guy right here like that I won. Yeah, that's the way I feel most of my life, and I get the same thing. People looking they go, oh, that's a great woman. Oh look at his wife. Oh I get it. Country singer. I don't know married, she married the guy. I think. They look at me and like, like U a surgeon. I mean, it's such a nerd. It's gotta be something like that. Play a little bit. Do you have this old boy cute up there? My go shent. We go to the river and get in the water, and buddy, she's hotter than South Georgia and jew Lave and we're not whether I can get another. I gotta kiss her and I gotta hug your brother. She is mine. Oh my, that's a you know the songwriter. The guys Georgia peach peach pickers, that's who that wrote that. Really, Yeah, read I got that from one yet so you got uh so, what's up with the Craig Morgan Camo hats right on your website, Craig Morgan. Yeah, have you seen the Craig Morgan Camo hats you have up there? Twenty five bucks? I look good. Oh yeah, I've just seen those. In fact, I'm flying up the shelves. Yeah. They've done real well. It's not it's just like a military and old military pattern or something. Yeah, I saw that when it came over here. I don't tell people they need to get one of these, you know some of the you know, we have merchandise guys and all these people again that are smarter than me, and they just they come up with a bunch of stuff and go to you like this. It's like, yeah, that's cool, and they go, we think it of somemody, let's try it. Sure. You know. COVID was ironically enough was I hate to use say that it was good for our merchandise sales, because you don't want to think COVID was good for anything. But we did really well during the pandemic I want to thank everyone that went and bought stuff, the merchandise, um, but I was kind of mind boggled by it, Like I can't believe. I feel like nobody's working and everybody's buying merchandise and CDs and stuff. So it's kind of weird maybe, but that's the joy is getting a package. Like that's only joy we were getting. People are leaving in her house, some things had to come to us. We're like ordered something online. Oh yeah, I should on stock at Amazon. My wife. Did you stay in Alaska for a lot of the shutdown? We did? Yeah? Why Alaska? I've been going up there for about twenty five years for everything from and I only ask because it's far because of any other I don't. I don't like cold either, but some people do. But it's far from it's it's far from Tennis, it's along it's I mean, it's quite an endeavor just to get up there, especially where I'm at. It's one thing to go to Anchorage or Fairbanks, one of the major cities, but I'm off the grid. So you know, you fly into one of the cities and then you either drive to a spot and then either walk in or float plane in walk in. What do you mean, I mean my my My place is about nine miles from the nearest road, So you have to you would want, so you drive for three hours, park your vehicle and then I parked near a big lake and I can either have the foat plane pick me up there and fly over to our lake, or I can walk in. Or in the winter we snow machine and you can walk nine miles. You you will walk nine miles to your place. Oh yeah, with a gun of course. But you're a country stars. Why are you walking nine miles? Well, I mean in the summertime. If if I can't get the plane up the weather, inclement weather, and they can't fly. Uh, there's not a landing strip there, you know, they have to land on the water. Why even have place out that far man? Because when you get there, Bobby, I gotta tell you you got the experience that you need to come up one. I always tell people to to come in the winter because getting there and getting out of there is so much easier. In the winter. I can literally get from where I part my truck to the cabin in about fifteen minutes on a snowmobile. So and we have a property on the road as well, So that's where I store everything. So you'll just leave your truck on the road. Well, on our property there near the road, and it's a gravel road, so it's not improved. It's not uh, it's they do great during the all the snow. Uh. They do kind of get the snow off the road kinda um, and then we park it on our property and we hop on our snow machines and ride in. But when you get there, man, or if you're not real keen on, try srying the snow machine. And if somebody's worried about that, I just have the plane pick them up an anchorage and land on the skis on the lake, on the on the ice. You know which sounds scarier walking down miles are getting one of their plants with the things on. Walking is a little freaky, I gotta say, especially at that time of year, because you know that uh, you know the moose are out, you know that bear are out. Anything ever tracking you, the bear will uh. The greasy black bears are kind of like cats. Uh. And this is the my personal experience. Um, A black bear is a lot like a cat. They're skittish and they'll run from you, and they don't really come around the fires and stuff too much. But if you corner them, or if it's a sow with cubs, they get real ignorant quick. Or if they're really hungry and you're between them and their food, will you ever be their food? You could be? Yeah, yeah, easily. That's why we we don't go in without a weapon. What about the grizzlies though, Compare that to the black bear? Uh? Different story. Yeah, yeah, there are a lot brave uh, and they're very territorial, much more so than a black bear. But honestly, the bear don't scare me as much as a moose. A cow moose with the calf will fight you. And and there's more people injured, harmed or killed by moose up there than all the other animals combined. What will the moose do and talk you to death? And why will it do it? Because it's threatened to buy you in any way, it's protecting its territory. It's calves. If it's a female, she's protecting her calves. If it's a bull moose and heat, he's protecting his territory. Uh, to keep you away from his cows. Kind of thing you ever had to kill an animal to save yourself. No, thank god, I have allowed a uh, I have had to allow. I harvested a a blacktail deer on the island of Kodiak, and I did not get to go get that because the bear got there before I did. And we set for six hours and watch that sal and her three calves eat, my dear, because if the animal gets if the bear gets to the harvest before you do, you can't do anything about it. It's there's at that point. You can't shoot them, you can't scare them off of it or anything like that. By all, it becomes their food. And so she got there first and she owned it. Now, if I'd got there there before she did and then she came up, I could have shot her and protect him myself. But I don't really want to do that, you know, it's not that's not my that's not my not the way I want to do It was up in Montana about at this point six months ago, and this was from my my na Geo show that's come out a few weeks that. Um. We were protecting sheep. There's sheep herders and there are two thousand of them and they move around. It's all government land and they're all plots, and you know, you lease the land, you move the sheep around. They can only eat certain parts in certain orders. They but at night the bears will come and try to or not just the bears, coyotes, you know, occasionally a wolf depending on what part and so. But you know they had My job was to make sure the sheep didn't get eaten all night. I had to. I had to watch the sheep and with uh you know, these night vision scopes, you'd see like a little bears, you'd see the coyotes and um. But they were like, hey, you can't. You know, you can't shoot a bear. Like what you do is you you have your bear spray and that what they told me to do is if a bear comes out, you spray the spright into the ground and it lifts and then the bear won't come through the bear spray. I was like, you gotta be kidding me. I've got a rifle. If I feel like a bear is coming at me, I'm not grabbing the bears, but I'll just go to jail for a couple of days. If a bear is gonna attag me. Do you travel with bear spray at all or is it just I've never taken bear spray. Um, because I just tried to. I will. I will avoid the circumstance of putting myself in a position. Now having said that, I always have a side arm, and it's a very large side arm. So if I'm deer hunting, I got a rifle, but also keep my bear gun with me. Um, I will just try to. I don't want to shoot a bear. Now this is people are gonna god. I'm sure I catch fight, but I don't want to shoot a bear in defense. I want to hunt the bear. Does that make sense? If I'm gonna hunt it, It's like running over a squirrel in the road. I will hit the ditch in an attempt to not run a squirrel over because that's not the way I want to do it. But I do go squirrel hunting rights an analogy though, But I also I also don't want to shoot anything that I'm not gonna eat or someone's not gonna eat or prosper from that. And I don't mean financially, but I mean you know that someone's gonna get that meat. And so I have a real issue with people who go out and just shoot crap like that just dropped. Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up and I want to shoot them. Yeah. I get it because as someone who had to hunt to eat the first same fifteen years of my life age one through six, I didn't really after that it was squirrel and it graduates up slowly and we had to eat. Yeah, and we had to catch fish to eat. Same here. It would piss me off when people would be out just hunting to shoot and kill just to have the just just for the trophy. Yeah, I get really aggravated. And I've been on some hunts in in some places, in nice places, and we go out and I work hard, even though I might not be the guy that did the work to prepare the hunt. You know, there's other guys that do the food plots and do that stuff. And I'm I'm fortunate enough that and because of my scheduled demperment, I get to go there and hunt. And I'll go there and hunt, and I'll be there and camp and see a guy go out and do it and the shoot the animal, go over and take a picture and then go back to the lone. It's like, aren't you gonna clean that animal, or help them at least. I mean, it's one thing to get your picture with your bigger act, but I mean and they're like, ah, you know, no, I just wanted to hunt, you know, and they're going to give the meat to charity and not not that's cool, but at least help them harvest it so you can appreciate what that animal is viding. You know, I don't know. It just kind of drives me nuts. Man. You know, your story into country music and I just touched on this briefly, is really cool because you were in the military and like, weren't your superiors going, hey man, you gotta go chase this music thing. Uh. That's the reason I'm here today. I would not have left, man. And I'm from Nashville, but I was born in General Hospital down here. My mama used to always say I was supposed to be born at Baptist, but they didn't make it. They had to stop at General. Um Um. Grew up in and around the music business my whole life. My dad was a musician. Kingston Springs was home. I graduated in Cheatham County High School. I went to m Tissue. You know, so music it was always part of it avoided it. Uh, went in the military, and I think being in the military really made me a really miss and appreciate not just music but home in Nashville. Um So it was always a big part of my life, you know what I mean? Uh, what was it not? You didn't realize it was as valuable to you until you got away from it. Yeah, I think so. Again, it's what my dad did. But my dad also had another job, and I thought, I don't want to do something that that. I got to do something else to be able to do it. Of course, then I got out of the army and uh and did everything else while I was trying to make it in the business. Uh. But if it, to get back to your question, it was a you know, I didn't. I was always nervous about it. I'm like my wife and I would talk. I was writing songs and kind of writing at while you were in the army. While I was in the arm and you're playing fun you know, were you playing around? I mean, were you playing around the other guy? Dude? Like in Panama. I just did a I just did a show, a TV show, and I brought in five of my buddies that I served with in Panama in nineteen eighty nine. It was my team. The guys worked for me, and we sat around and talked about it, and they talked about how I used to play music, and like, I don't even really remember that. You don't remember we should sent her into racks and drink beer and you would play in tim My buddy was like, man, men, you played all the time together, like a vague memories of that. I more remember all of the stuff that we went through it and they're like, yeah, but when we weren't doing all those things, this is what we did, you know. Like so they were all very encouraging, and it came to a point in my career. I was ten and a half years of active duty. You have to make a decision. I was gonna realist again or I was going to pursue the music. Uh. And I was just nervous about it. I didn't have near the confidence that a lot of people. You know, I talked to Blake about it a lot, especially early on in our careers. You know, Blake left everything. Man comes here A lot of musicians that try this. Excuse me, They come here with nothing or no one, And so in my head, I'm going well. At least it's where I'm from. I got family. I can you know, I can work with dad. I can at least have that so and then if it don't work, I can go back in the army. I'm gonna stay in the active reserve so I don't lose any of my time and service, my rank, any of those things. I never would have done it. I gotta be honest. If I had been a guy from Arkansas, from Missouri or Texas or Oklahoma, I didn't, I would never be I would not be a country singer today. It's only because I was from Nashville and my family was here and it was home to me. So I felt like my worst case was at least I'm around my family, and if it don't work, I'll go back in the army. How long until you came back home? But also you're kind of venturing into this new world of country music. How long until you realize, Hey, I kind of do deserve to be here, Like maybe I'm not as good as I'm going to be, but like I I can compete. How long was it in the country music before he started to feel that way? I'm working on it. Yeah, Well, who told then who told you because we talked to it before we came on the air here. Like people, when people invest in you, that means they believe in you, and I believe you're going to make them eventually down the road some money, right because business and friendship, there's there's a lot of friendship in business. But you know, if someone's gonna spend money on you that they believe in you, wasn't know what that means. They believe you're gonna help them make money. Yeah, and that was who believed in you, Uh, you know early only it was a bunch of different people. Ironically enough, it wasn't. One of the guys was the guy that wasn't even in the business. Uh. He was a contractor um and he wanted to be in the business. And he had done very well with his business, made a lot of money, and he's like, you know, you gotta do this. You know, I'll if if I will pay for your house. If it doesn't work, give it a year. And he's one of the guys that convinced me to get out of the army because and that was the reason why he said, if you get out of the army and you try it after a year. If it don't work, I'll pay your house off and you can go back in the army. I got nothing to lose here, you know. And there was also a couple of guys that had a small publishing company. Uh West Mayor's was one of those guys, and they said, we'll sign you to a publishing deal. And they've paid me money. You know, it wasn't much, but it was enough and they believed in me, which led to uh Maypop Publishing, which was owned by Alabama, which led to Sony Publishing. So it was a lot of those little pieces. Um. But back the other the commander, my my colonel at Fort pot Louisiana, when I was at that deciding point, I'll never forget setting down with him in the general and both of those gentlemen said, we believe that if you stay in the army, you will be the sergeant major of the army someday. You're you're fast tracking, you know, you're you're good at what you do, but we also think that you should at least try this. It was that conversation that led to me pursuing, you know, taking those forty weekends when I was off and come into Nashville, meeting with the West mayors, meeting with the Brian Schweitzer's and all of these different people, and and literally within a year of me leaving the army, almost of the day when I was ready to cash in on my buddies, come it and go back into the army, Brian Schweitzer called me from Atlantic Records and said, I want to offer your record deal. And how did that make you feel? Nervous? Because I was wanting the publishing. I had those small publishing deals. At this point. I was writing from may Pop, so I had I was getting a little more money which allowed me to not have to work in vinyl sighting. And I was working as a sheriff's deputy as well, So I was doing vinyl sighting on the side working as a sheriff's deputy and then doing security as a Sharff off duty shaff's deputy, you know what I mean. And for doing writers nights every weekend, and you know what I mean. There was a lot going on. So it gave me a little bit more confidence, but it also made me very nervous because I knew, based on everything everybody told me as an artist in the beginning you make nothing man on shows and stuff. Uh, in fact, everybody else will be making money and you want. But I was also making a little bit in the publishing, and I started started getting a lot of interest in a lot of the songs that I was writing, so I thought, in I might try Uh, this is at that point, so I'm going to try it. When I left the Army to come here to pursue the music, it was not to pursue it as an artist. It was to pursue it as a songwriter because I had a wife and two kids, and I knew that you could make money writing songs, and I could still do other things to make more money, you know. And then in the process of writing my songs and doing that, I was doing my own demos, and then I started doing other people's demos, and in that one year's time, it turned into that phone call. But which was really weird the way that phone call came from where he heard my music. It wasn't through an A and R team, It wasn't through a publicist or a publisher. It came from a guy who boarded his horses, who I knew who every time I would demo my music, I would take it to him, and Jeff would play it. And this guy, Brian Sweitzer happened to be boarding his horses at Jeff's stables and heard it and asked him who is that? And he told him and he called me and he made a decision that he wanted to sign you from just listening to a demo. Wow, call me and said can you come in. I was on my way home from a writing session. Had had the third shift with the Sheriff's department at that time. I said, Jen, and he said where are you? And I said, I'm on Interstate forty, but I can turn around. I had a jeep wrangler and I'll never forget a cuss across cut across the inter state, right in the middle of Inner State, and turned around and came right back. Fifteen minutes. I was in the office and they asked me to sing something, and I said, well, I mean, you know they heard one of the demonists singing I want to hear you sing it live like well, I don't really play as a pianist, it's just and Al Cooley was there. Al Cooley was one of the most horrendous A and R guys, A brutally feastfully honest, a and r guy. Looking back, he was one of the best. But I just remember he had this reputation of being like mean, terrible, mean, you know, but what it was, he was honest and he probably saved a lot of people's lives. Um And they had me sing a song, uh called three or two South Maple Avenue Acapello and so I sang it and uh literally right setting like this right here? Do you too? Sound me but ivenue? And I sing a little bit and he says, we'd like to sign you to a record Yeah, just like that strangest thing ever. So I'm like, oh yeah, sure, he goes you ever turning, I'm like yeah, how about management? I'm like yeah, yeah. So I walked out of the office and I called my wife. Uh no, I did not call my wife. I did not cause I got home and I said I just got offered a record deal And she said what did they say? I'm like, I said, they asked me if I had managers and attorney and what did you say? As I told him yeah, And She's like, well, you got a manager? Like and I'm like, no, I gotta find a manager. I didn't have nothing. You know that's wild that it all came from a horse, from from a guy who boarded horses. Crazy. He owned Joe go Quick, the world champion quarter horse at the time, and I would take him music and if Jeff liked it, he would let me ride Joe, and if he didn't like song, he put me. Well. How did you and Blake become friends? How did you? Because it seems like he got pretty close we were and are we still are? Um? You know, I don't. Blake had got here before I did. Blake was working on his career long before, not long before, but a few years before I got here, and so he had started having some radio success. And we we literally met at a some event in Nashville and just started hanging out. And then he had lived in Hittman County and I was in Dixon, so we weren't that far apart. Uh both realized that we liked hunting. I invited him on a hunting trip on a trip that I was doing in Kansas. I'm sorry, yeah, in Kansas. And at that trip we became like we we were buddies. I knew right then that I liked the guy. Uh and and and and we were both kind of like I said, he had already had a couple of songs on the radio, and and then I started having some success at Broken Bow. Uh. And then we just stayed in touch. I mean at one point we were we were with each other all the time. Every time we could do something together we would uh. And then he got divorced from Cat and he and Miranda got married. And I had known Miranda a little bit uh, and really thought that Miranda and I had a decent relationship. Um. And she used to tell a story about how she came to Fanfare and it was one of my early on first to or three years of fan Fair when he still called it fan Fair, you know. And she tells the story, and I remember her telling me that how she waited after the show to meet some of the artists and and that I came out and was the only one that came out afterwards and gave her an autograph. Uh. And so I thought, man, this is gonna be awesome. You know, my buddies marrying this girl who's turned into an artist of her own right and turned in this you know, it's great. But something happened with them too, got married, and it I don't know she she was no longer a Craig Morgan fan for some reason. You know, I don't know, um, but you know that's history. And here we are now. I remember when you can do in the opery Blake when him I think him and Gwen were playing from his ranch. I think, yeah, I was there. I've just I've done opery shows in the past year. But was he setting you up? Are you setting him up? Are you going back and forth? Always? It's yeah, it's horrible. I will tell you though. We Uh, when my son died a lot of my friends in this business came out there and and I had, man, I gained so much respect and admiration. Already loved all these people. But it's really weird. Uh, And Jerry was with me. It's it's weird when I know them and I love them and they're I consider them friends. But when I got like Trace Atkins, Blake Shelton, Jim N. Brown and John Colley, these guys show up at at my son's funeral and they stand in line with everyone else out there, asked nothing. I didn't want to come in early. You know, it just meant it just floored me. And when I'll never forget we were we were downstairs and Cec had come in and was talking. She's saying, at my son's funeral, and uh, you know, I'm trying to trying to I don't know have a sense of I wanted to comprehend my people and and and them to know that I appreciate them being there. But I remember Blake coming in and we cried, you know, we cried together, and he hugged me, and I felt such an embrace of friendship from him. Uh, And I knew. I knew then that there was nothing that Blake or I could do that would sever that friendship. It wouldn't happen. And I also, at that moment, became Gwen's biggest fan. I had met Gwen via FaceTime a few times when Blake and I were together, and he was like giddy, silly and love FaceTime and her and we would, uh, we would lay there together and sit and talk to Gwen her own FaceTime, you know. And and I really liked her, but I didn't really know her. But when he came in the room and I said, where's Gwynn? And you know, was she not able to come? He said, no, she's outside. Uh she was being respectful and she did not want to come in until she was invited in, and I just men, I thought, my lord, you know, she came in and she too like cried and hugged my wife and showed her such an embrace of friendship and kindness and warmth, and it just absolutely hammred me. And I've never experienced anything from her but that since, you know, when we're at the award shows and he's like, let's get out of here for a few minutes, and we got out the bus and hang out, and they're just He's in such a beautiful place with her that I've never seen and I love that. I love it. Now. Having said all that, I can text Blake on Monday, April the first, and it might be Monday June one when I heard from he is the worst man. Uh, And then I'll get nothing a picture of him flipping me a bird or something, you know. Um. But yeah, so we've been friends for a long time. I mean he came out when I did read net y'all club, uh. And I remember when we did read net Yall Club, he had a huge hit and even you know, just to show you how weird this business is, I remember talking to Blake, him going, man, I don't know if this is gonna work. I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm like, you got a big, huge hit, are you kidding? You know? And he's like yeah, but you just don't know. And now you look where he's at. You know, it's just it's wonderful. What is there left for you to do? You're just thinking about everything that you are doing, have done, are doing more than have done, between the music, the TV, the passions, walking nine mile to your house and everything, the opera, everything you stand for, all of the philanthropic work that you do, Like what what, What's what's happening? What? What is your vision for the next ten fifteen years? Like what what do you want to do? Um? I want to do good And I know it sounds super cheesy, but if you talk to anybody in my camp, they'll tell you. And if as long as I'm doing things that afford me the opportunities to do good things, I'm gonna keep doing it. And I also want to. I don't want to be in this business when I'm no longer relevant. I don't want to. I don't want to do it just because I want to do it. I want to do it because people want me to do it, because they want to hear it, and because when when I do some of these things. For example, I just did a military benefit UH to raise money for a organization that provides trips for not only the veteran the warrior, but for his family. And after that event, when I got a text the next day from the guy who's over that said, we raised this much money, which is so much more than I had ever expected. Thank you for being a part of that. When I can no longer do those things, or when my impact at those events is not impacting, I'm gonna do something else and know that something else it's just spend more time in Alaska with my wife, in Florida with my wife and Dixon, Tennessee fishing and hunting and you know the kids. Um, I've already kind of transitioned into trying to do more of that. But I just want to do more of the good things. I wanna. I wanna transition my life's efforts into providing for those other things, not me. I mean, I got all I need, man, I've got more than I deserved. That is the truth. I want the people around me to prosper I liked it when I like to see that when guys that worked for me go on and are having success of their own, that's cool man to me. Yeah. Final question, have you been recording music? Are you going? Are you gonna have new music? What? What's happening here? Because it's been it's been a minute. I'm as excited about what I'm doing is anything I've ever done. So my wife is a big fan of me singing certain music life. He's not a big fan of my kindry music. Uh I love all music. If I mean, I can go all the way back to the very beginning of our conversation. Who is Lina Richie Luther? I love I love, love love music with the emotion, energy, soul. You know I love that. Uh So, my next project that I am in the process of working on is gonna I'm gonna sing with those people whose music I love. I'm trying to cool. I wanna, I wanna. You know, I'm a huge Kelly Clarkson fan. I love to hear her sing. She's a monster in my opinion, and I want to I want to sing something with Kelly. I want to sing something with that Sharon. I want to sing something with c C. Juannas. I want to sing something with Liona Ritchie. I want to do those and it might be one of their songs, maybe one of my songs, maybe something that we write, maybe something I'm writing. I just wrote a song. I think it's one of the better songs I've ever written, and it's it's not a straight up country. I'm sure it probably sounds country, um, but to me, it's not a country song. It's more of a soul song. And I want to record that kind of stuff. And the label is all about so that's exciting. Well, listen, we've we've been talking for over an hour. I hope this wasn't too long. I could sit here and do another hour. I could too with you, dude. I love talking to you, you know, and I'm sorry. Uh. You know we shared a label relationship there for a minute on Black Yeah, and I remember thinking, uh, I mean, and I'm not gonna make stuff up. TOLDJ I said, really, I think I'd like to get to know this guy better because I think there's something there that I can't see. Because you know, you were a national syndicated show host and you had your own band thing, so you were super busy doing all these other things. But I felt like there was a person there that I that I would probably do more with if I got to know. And in this business, it's it's weird. Man. Everybody, especially early in my career, would try to encourage me, you need to get to know this guy, spend some time with this guy. I'm like, okay, cool, I found you know, and I try, but there was nothing men this guy had in time. It's like, look, if me and this guy, that's why I love Blake, Blake and I. If we weren't in this business, Blake and I would still be hanging out on a Friday night having a beer, talking about certain things or wine, or we'd be making fun of each other, like we do. You know what I'm saying. That's why that worked. It's now actual. I've never forced an issue on a I've never forced a relationship in this business. Not one of the people that I know and love and hang out with when we're not doing this is someone that I wouldn't be doing that if I weren't in this business. And I found out long after the fact that Bobby Bones is one of those guys. That I probably would even if we weren't in this business. And it's taken a long time to get to that point, so which is why I can talk to you forever. Well, that's nice to me to say. I think you're a lot cooler, stronger, tougher worldly. Now you play that wimpy guy, all of that whatever, but playing the act, buddy, Listen, sell the books, get the TV shows, play the geek whatever, Craig. Good to talk to you, my friend. It's been fantastic. I'm so grateful that you cant. You know, I'm a fan. So I'll Alaska in February. You guys are coming up. I'm more of a Florida guy. It's just a long way. It's just a long ways up there. It is. What if I flew you up on a plane. It's just a long ways up there. Privately, I hear you. It just a long ways up there, Like that's I gonna hug me. I'll be honest with you. I mean you everywhere. I just you're gonna do it. You're probably she would love it. You get the fun gear and you're warm, and you set out in a like semi iglue around the fire and then at night, you watch Netflix movies on a big screen electricity. How do you have WiFi? Nine walk. I actually do have this little WiFi box thing that we started using and I put it in the window and you get enough WiFi that you can send emails and text messages. And I've literally been able to depend on the weather download Netflix from it. We in our cabin in Arkansas, we did had one of those little boxing and wife I went out, so we used it for three days and I got my bills like seven oh no. We did stream, just stream shows. It was like here's your mill seven and eighteen dollars for a while. Five box. You guys follow and follow Craig on TikTok. Uh on TikTok, It's Craig Morgan eighty five. Uh see Morgan music on Instagram. You have all these different names. Tell your people, I know you have them. They need to unify that thing. You know, I know, and they should. I don't even know. Problem. You see they do that stuff and then I go, I got this man, I can do it. And then I end up starting Craig Morgan eighty five. I like, why did you do that? Why didn't you do? See them all access like everything, like I have no clue about and now they're like can you do this? And they're like what, man, you gotta show me what button to push? Just give My wife hates that stuff, man, she absolutely hates me trying to get her to do something with me, Like I want to do the thing. I'm afraid my wife would leave me though, Like if this is terrible, I don't know if we should say this, but like there's something trending on talk. It's so bad, y'all, Like these guys fart in a bag and then like tell them that it's gas and get him to snippet or to inhale it. Like I'm afraid if I did that, she would diforce, she would leave me. Listen, we've gone off the rails. Alright, alright, but thank you, thank you, thank you. It's been fantastic here