Blake Shelton‘s For Recreational Use Only album is out on Friday, May 9. The record includes a song with Craig Morgan, “Heaven Sweet Home,” which Shelton says was inspired by the tragic loss of Morgan’s son Jerry Greer, who passed away in 2016 after a boating accident. Greer was 19 years old when he passed away.
“I recorded that song a few years ago, maybe four or even five years ago,” Shelton reveals to People. “I’ve done this a lot in my career … I’ll have songs that I’ve cut that, for whatever reason, may not feel like they work for whatever particular album I’m putting together at that moment,” he says. “I’ll just sit on them and wait. When we were finishing up this album, I dug that song out and it made me think of Jerry.
“I knew him when he was a little kid, and it was just on my mind, I guess, because I’m getting older and have kids now. It just hit me different now,” continues Shelton. “I reached out to Craig and asked him if he would sing on the record with me, and he jumped on it and took it to a completely different level of hope and emotion.”
Shelton and Morgan have been friends for a long time. It was Shelton who helped propel Morgan’s “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost” to the top of the charts in 2019, a song Morgan wrote about his late son.
“People don’t know how good Blake’s heart really is. I do,” Morgan previously said. “And I’ve always known that. So it was humbling when Blake did all this, and it was good to know that a lot of the world could see the Blake that I’ve known for a long time. He’s kind of like that country music cheerleader, and people may not know that side of him. And with a platform like he has, I just thought that was the greatest thing ever.
“As a lover of country music, you’ve got to share the good stuff. Blake could’ve been like, ’Oh cool. Craig has this beautiful song out. That’s cool for him,’” he added. “Instead, he was insistent that we all listen to it.”
“Heaven Sweet Home” isn’t the only song about the afterlife on For Recreational Use Only. Shelton also includes “Let Him In Anyway” on the new album, a song written by Hardy, Zach Crowell and Jameson Rodgers.
“‘Let Him In Anyway’ is one of the more powerful lyrics and just overall pieces of music that I’ve ever gotten a chance to work on,” Shelton says. “I heard the song; Hardy is actually a co-writer on the song. He’s a friend of mine, and I just never heard a song quite like it. I don’t think this song’s ever been written before, anything like it. Whenever I heard it, and got a chance to record it, I was honored, and I’m really proud of the record that we made on it.”
Order For Recreational Use Only at BlakeShelton.com.