God, Family, Country (eBook)

Jim DeFelice, Craig Morgan (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
100 Seiten
Blackstone Publishing (Verlag)
978-1-6650-5866-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Country music icon, army veteran, father, outdoorsman-Craig Morgan shares all aspects of his life, revealing stories even his most avid fans don't know.

Written with Jim DeFelice, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller American Sniper

In 1989, as US news outlets declared an end to Operation Just Cause, Craig Morgan was part of an elite group of military operatives jumping into the jungle along the Panamanian border on a covert operation. Fans know the country music star from his hit songs and acclaimed albums, but there's a lot more to him-a soldier who worked with the CIA in Panama, an undercover agent who fought sex traffickers in Thailand, and a dedicated family man who lives the values he sings.

Craig details these many facets of his life and more in God, Family, Country. An on-stage appearance with his father's band at age ten may have planted the seeds for life as a country star, but first he trained as a paratrooper in the army. After earning numerous distinctions, his path to sergeant major was all but assured. Then came a momentous decision: he left the active military to pursue music.

With unwavering support from his wife and a pack of part-time jobs, he toughed out the lean years and achieved his first big success with the poignant ballad 'Almost Home.' Other hits soon followed, from party songs like 'Redneck Yacht Club' to the soul-rending 'The Father, My Son, and the Holy Ghost.' Born from the anguish of his son Jerry's passing, the song's tribute has consoled and inspired millions across the world.

Duty to country has been a constant throughout his life and globe-spanning career. In 2006, as 'That's What I Love about Sunday' topped country radio charts, Craig was riding in a convoy of Humvees in Iraq. An avid outdoorsman, a former sheriff's deputy who's still a member of the auxiliary, and always a husband and father first, Craig Morgan will inspire you with his life lived by the deepest values: God, family, country.

Craig Morgan has made a name for himself as a country music icon, TV personality, celebrated outdoorsman, and patriotic army veteran. One of country music's best-loved artists, Morgan is a member of the Grand Ole Opry and has charted twenty-five songs on Billboard. He spent seventeen years serving in the US Army and Army Reserve, and is the recipient of the USO Merit Award and the Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Medal.

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Country music icon, army veteran, father, outdoorsman-Craig Morgan shares all aspects of his life, revealing stories even his most avid fans don't know.Written with Jim DeFelice, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller American SniperIn 1989, as US news outlets declared an end to Operation Just Cause, Craig Morgan was part of an elite group of military operatives jumping into the jungle along the Panamanian border on a covert operation. Fans know the country music star from his hit songs and acclaimed albums, but there's a lot more to him-a soldier who worked with the CIA in Panama, an undercover agent who fought sex traffickers in Thailand, and a dedicated family man who lives the values he sings.Craig details these many facets of his life and more in God, Family, Country. An on-stage appearance with his father's band at age ten may have planted the seeds for life as a country star, but first he trained as a paratrooper in the army. After earning numerous distinctions, his path to sergeant major was all but assured. Then came a momentous decision: he left the active military to pursue music.With unwavering support from his wife and a pack of part-time jobs, he toughed out the lean years and achieved his first big success with the poignant ballad "e;Almost Home."e; Other hits soon followed, from party songs like "e;Redneck Yacht Club"e; to the soul-rending "e;The Father, My Son, and the Holy Ghost."e; Born from the anguish of his son Jerry's passing, the song's tribute has consoled and inspired millions across the world.Duty to country has been a constant throughout his life and globe-spanning career. In 2006, as "e;That's What I Love about Sunday"e; topped country radio charts, Craig was riding in a convoy of Humvees in Iraq. An avid outdoorsman, a former sheriff's deputy who's still a member of the auxiliary, and always a husband and father first, Craig Morgan will inspire you with his life lived by the deepest values: God, family, country.

Textauszug

february 2020, ohio

It’s a little past four in the afternoon, three hours and change before I walk onstage. The boys loaded our equipment out of the tractor trailer a couple of hours ago; we set up the stage with some help from the local crew and then worked through the sound check until everything was sorted.

I’ve played in bigger places, but I’d be hard-pressed to think of one prettier, my Grand Ole Opry excluded. The theater is a gem from the 1920s, built for movies and vaudeville, with sweeping lines, elaborate wallpaper, and a painted ceiling with clouds that float across the surface. It’s not so much a place of grandeur as one of poetry, the kind of setting that elevates what a performer does. It’s also small-town in the best sense of those words: preserved by locals, funded for the most part by folks who come out to see acts from big to small and everything in between.

Performing at the Grand Ole Opry

I reckon I’m on the big side of the ledger. What that mostly means is that after a bunch of hit singles and millions of albums and seemingly infinite downloads, the pressure is on me to perform. These folks coming out tonight will spend good money to be entertained—thrilled, moved, assured, inspired—and as great as my band is, I’m the one the audience is counting on. I have to take them where they want to be. For a few hours, at least.

I’ve been doing it now for—well, a long time. I’m grateful for that. A lot of people in this business, most performers, don’t have the privilege of being on the stage so long, let alone the number of hits I’ve had. I have a deep sense of gratitude every day I get to stand on the stage. I can’t hardly believe I do this for a freaking living. When I see all those people lining up, I get emotional sometimes. Because I still believe I don’t deserve it.

But I’m not only a singer. My music doesn’t define me. I’m not saying that it’s not important or that I wouldn’t miss it awful if it suddenly disappeared; I’m just saying there’s more to me than that.

Grand Event Center, Oklahoma, 2021

Like hunting. Fishing. Motorcycle racing. Being a dad and the best husband I can manage.

And a soldier.

I was a soldier for some of the best years of my life. It was hard, dangerous, occasionally crazy, but those years were tremendous. Heck, every so often, I think maybe I should go back, even if the army thinks I’m a little old to be jumping out of planes into the middle of a war zone or chasing drug-running rebels in a jungle.

Sure was fun, though.

I’ve had a lot of special experiences and opportunities, but at heart I don’t think of myself as someone special. I’m just like most of the folks who I’ll be playing for tonight: raised in a small town, weaned on a hundred odd jobs, happy to have settled down with their sweetheart, but still looking for a little fun and not opposed to cutting loose every so often when the workday’s done. I love doing shows like this, where the venue is small enough to interact with the entire crowd. It’s like a conversation. It’s hard to do at the huge festivals and fairs that make up a decent part of my touring schedule, so I have to take advantage of places like this whenever possible.

Right now, though, I need time to prepare. Not so much to corral my thoughts as to concentrate my energy. To go all in on the show. So I walk to the back of my bus, close the door, lie back on my bed, and think.

It was a long road to get here. I’m not talking about the eight hours through the snowstorm we came up through, though that wasn’t much fun. The road I’ve traveled in my life has stretched from Nashville to Texas, Korea to Panama, from impromptu sing-alongs to the great heights of country music. It took me down a street in Iraq where terrorists tried to blow me up, and to a stage not far away where a few hundred soldiers reminded me why I’m so proud to be an American. It’s taken me undercover to pits of filth where children are peddled for sex, and delivered me to a black-tie reception where a president kidded me about my shaving style.

It’s taken me to fame and a bit of fortune. But it’s also taken me to the saddest place on earth, that desolate hole you’re crushed into when your child dies unexpectedly. It’s been a road with grief, but also intense triumph and love.

Celebration. Service. Reckoning with God. Struggling to figure out how to be a man in a world where everything is changing and the ground just won’t stay solid for too long.

So much on this road has been out of my hands. I’ve done so much without thinking. A lot of it has been the right stuff, but I can’t take credit for having thought it all out: you rush into a building on fire to drag a couple of kids to safety, not because someone’s going to write it up in a newspaper and call you a hero, but because there just is no other thing to do in that moment.

You write a song about your son’s passing not because you want to make a hit record or even relieve your grief, but because there just is no other way of living that morning until you get that song out of your head and onto the strings of your guitar.

That’s my life—a long road through a good country, with a whole lot of stops along the way.

Why country music?

I like a wide range of music, and some people, God bless them, think that with my voice I could sing a wide range of music.

I appreciate that as a compliment, but I prefer country.

Why?

Probably because I grew up in it, same reason I was a Baptist for so long. I love country music better than any other genre because, for me, it tends to tell a story better. And I think the majority of the stories are more relatable than you might hear in some of the other genres. Country is middle-class America’s music, and the middle class is the majority of our nation.

Canton Palace Theatre, Ohio, 2020

But really, I’m a country boy. I live the country lifestyle. So that’s

what I write and sing. I still live in the woods down a chip-and-seal road. I still take my own garbage to the dump. I could pee off my front porch and nobody could see me.

Except my wife, who would object.

Seriously, country is the lifestyle of taking care of yourself and your own and your people and helping your neighbor. To me, that’s the country lifestyle. When you walk into a store, they know you.

Now, though, before the show, I lie back on the bed in the back of the bus and think of my wife, Karen, and how lucky I’ve been to have found her. I think about my kids—all of them blessings, even when they were trials, of which there were a few. I think of my dad, still a role model well into his golden years. I think about God, and the many mysteries of faith and religion.

My mind wanders across my long road, back and forth . . . bits and pieces of music come in my head, bits of songs I haven’t written yet, pieces of something just out of reach.

I just think . . . until my road manager knocks on the door.

“It’s time.”

And like that, I’m all focused. There is no road behind, only ahead. There is nothing but the show, nothing but tonight, and those people I’m talking to with my music. I get up, and by the time my hand hits the door, I’m ready to do one of the many things I was born to do: sing.

Sometimes, though, things go a little differently.

Like this, say:

2006, iraq

Terrorists in Iraq were ratcheting up their war against US personnel and Iraqi citizens alike, attacking throughout the country. I had a hit album out—and a request to go to Iraq and perform for some of the troops with an organization called Stars for Stripes. I love doing my bit for the troops. For me, it’s more than entertaining—it’s almost like old home week. A lot of times I get to meet men and women I served with, including some of the generals who have moved up the ranks since I left.

And occasionally I’ll do a little something for the government on the side—we’ll tease that notion for later on.

It’s not unusual for Old Glory to make an appearance at my concerts.

Just being around soldiers again feels comfortable. I served in the army eleven years, with a few more on active reserves. I saw combat in Panama and the jungles of Costa Rica, earning Combat Parachute Wings—a badge of honor for anyone who has gone Airborne. Most of the time I was a forward observer trained to operate behind the lines in dangerous situations scouting the enemy and directing fire. I had a chance to work not only with the regular army, but with the high-speed folks from Special Forces, SEALs, Rangers, and “other government agencies” which shall not be named. A big challenge, but as rewarding as all get-out.

Those days were long gone in 2006 when my band and I landed in Baghdad. Things seemed calm enough as we boarded some Humvees and headed to the city. Next to me in the back seat was my good friend and band leader, Mike Rogers. He was both excited and tired—tired because it was a long flight, and excited because, well, we were in a war zone, and he’d never been before.

We were a few miles from the airport, in a convoy of military vehicles, when a couple of things happened all at once. An Iraqi stepped into the road...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.9.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-10: 1-6650-5866-8 / 1665058668
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6650-5866-7 / 9781665058667