Craig Morgan has been an EMT, a security guard and a construction worker, among other jobs, but none of them were as challenging as what Craig calls one of the hardest jobs of his career: an Assistant Dairy Manager at Walmart.
“Especially if it was going to rain. It’s kind of like COVID and toilet paper,” Craig said with a laugh on the Bobby Bones Show. “When it rains people buy up eggs and milk and bread. A dairy manager, you become a weatherman. I’m not making it up. I don’t know why people buy perishable items when the electricity goes out.”
Of course, nothing will likely compare to the time Craig served in the Armed Forces, including more than 10 years in active duty in the Army, and another six in the Army Reserve. The time serving shaped who Craig is in every way, including as a husband, father and musician.
“I think like anything else we do in life, whatever it is we’re doing affects our thought process; the way we think about things, the way we look at things,” Craig reflected. “The military is more of a magnifying glass of the way we do things, because of the issues that you’re placed in, the environment. Everything is hyper-sensitive, compared to normal civilian life. But no matter what you do in life, those things affect how you think, and the way you think.
“The military just does it to such a degree that’s so much more intense,” he continued. “And a lot of that has to do with the environment. A lot of times we’re placed in places that are so much different than the place that we grew up, other countries. You develop a sense of gratitude and a sense of humility, that it’s hard to grasp or gather in a normal environment.”
Craig just released his latest album, God, Family, Country, which includes a cover of Gavin DeGraw’s “Soldier,” and his own poignant “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost,” written about the unexpected loss of his son, Jerry.
“It hurts. It’s the most difficult song I’ve ever written,” Craig acknowledged. “I wrote this by myself. I say that. I tell people God wrote this song; He just used me and the pen and paper I had in my hand. I cried for four hours when I wrote this song. Still to this day, it’s very difficult for me to sing. But I do it because I know; I don’t just believe it now –– God has shown me and I know. I’ve seen the emails, I’ve seen the Facebook messages, the tweets, the Instagram posts, what this song has meant to other people.
“When it gets played by someone, and it becomes the most downloaded song of all genres …” he continued. “When we were on Fox & Friends, when we were on the Today Show, Kelly Clarkson –– every time we did that, every time we did an appearance, that song became the most downloaded song of all genres. You know when that happens, it’s impacting people’s lives. And that’s why I do it. That’s why I sing through the pain.”
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Photo Credit: Monarch Publicity / Nate Griffin
