Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of the attack on our nation as well as the 26th birthday of country radio station B-100. Award winning performers Craig Morgan & Jo Dee Messina, helped 30,000 fans celebrate it.
Gates opened at 10:00am and the music started flowing at noon.
He was born Craig Morgan Greer on July 17, 1965 in the rural community of Kingston Springs, Tennessee.
When Craig Morgan was ten years old and on a school field trip to Nashville, he sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" well enough to catch the ear of a distinctive older lady in the crowd. "She walked up to me and said, ‘Son, someday you’re gonna be a famous singer,’" Morgan remembers. Two-plus decades later, he’d be looking at a picture of the woman—Minnie Pearl—in the Ryman Auditorium dressing room that bears her name, getting ready for his first performance on the Grand Ole Opry.
He has spent much of his life in the service of others. Morgan would be an EMT, a contractor, a sheriff’s deputy and a Wal-Mart assistant dairy manager. He’d also spend ten years serving his country in the U.S. Army where he became part of "Operation Just Cause". During his tenure with the army, he served ten years of active duty as a Fire Support Specialist, serving both the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. He holds "Airborne", "Jumpmaster" and "Air Assault" credentials.
While stationed in Korea, Craig began songwriting and performing. He secured a number of military accolades for his efforts. Today, he frequently performs on military bases both at home and abroad; individually and as part of USO shows.
After his stint in the armed services, Craig returned home to Tennessee where he found himself perfoming various jobs to support his family. He has spent time in the fields of construction, security and law enforcement.But That's Why Morgan is one of country music’s most beloved performers. It doesn’t matter if he’s jumping out of airplanes, putting gallon jugs on a refrigerated shelf or singing hits like "Redneck Yacht Club," "Almost Home" and "Tough"—his honesty, humility and work ethic stand out as strongly as his talent. That’s why I keep swinging this hammer...break my back for a slice of that American pie, Morgan sings on That's Why's stirring title track, his stout voice ringing out with such authority and passion that you know the sentiment is no less true now that the hammer’s been replaced with a guitar.
Morgan’s father played in country bands (and his grandfather was a farmer), but "I didn’t think music was something that I’d ever do for a living," he says. As it turns out, selling records, being on the radio and playing some 200 shows a year has only made him embrace fatherhood and family more firmly. Morgan has four children with his wife, Karen, as well as a daughter from a previous marriage; they live just a few miles from the farmland in Dickson, Tennessee, where his mother and father went on their first date. "Family truly is the thing that’s most important," Morgan says. "I love the music; I love singing and writing songs and producing records. But ultimately, I do what I have to do to take care of my family. Even someone who has the greatest job in the world would rather spend more time at home. I know I would, and I have the best job in the world."
He’s certainly become quite good at it. "That’s What I Love About Sunday," from Morgan’s 2005 album My Kind of Livin’, was the most played country song that year. Three songs off of Little Bit of Life (the title track, "Tough" and "International Harvester"), enjoyed stays in the Top 10, and he was nominated for Top New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in both 2006 and 2007. Truth is, you can’t tune in to a country station anywhere in the United States without hearing a Craig Morgan song within the hour. But he’s also just a bit like that great actor everybody knows and recognizes from a big successful movie, yet can’t quite place on sight. Oh, that guy! "People know the music," Morgan says. "When they come to my shows, they might know the latest single, or they may know a previous single. But sometimes I can read their lips: they’re going, ‘oh, I didn’t know he sang that one!’ Or, ‘I forgot about that song!’"
Morgan’s gift is for, as he puts it, "real-life stuff." His eye for the everyday, whether he’s trying to make sense of a world where kids want iPods for Christmas instead of BB guns, or describing girls with ponytails tucked in their baseball caps, is so unerring that it’s easy to overlook just how much goes into the songwriting. On the aching, piano-and-steel tinged ballad "Lookin’ Back with You," Morgan spins today’s most precious moments into tomorrow’s cherished memories—nearly every line is ripped right from his life, but every line is also the work of an exquisite craftsman, whether he’s going for humor, pathos or a mundane detail. When my new truck is my old truck/and I take off these big old tires/and it’s our turn to slow down traffic everywhere, he sings. Elsewhere, "Sticks," with its bluegrass bar band vibe, seems destined to supplant John Mellencamp’s "Small Town" as an American classic of both rock’n’roll and country. I was raised in the sticks/that’s where I get my kicks ... tailgatin’ with my buddies/boots and dog and tires all muddy. And if Morgan keeps writing songs like "Planet Her" for Karen, he may not ever need to get her birthday presents. "Ah, she’s not much for the music," he jokes. "She’d still rather have a Corvette."
Needless to say, Morgan’s full-on personality made him well-suited for the military. He spent 10 years on active duty in the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and continued his service for nine years in the Reserves. He was stationed in Panama from 1989-90 and was part of the military operation that removed dictator Manuel Noriega from power.
Craig goes overseas to perform USO shows every chance he gets. "Sometimes you walk away feeling regret: that I should be there with them still," he says. "But I’m starting to appreciate what I can do now for those men and women outside of being a soldier. Doing stuff for the USO will always be a priority for me." Morgan received the 2006 USO Merit Award for his involvement, joining the likes of Steven Spielberg, Elizabeth Taylor, and Bob Hope as a recipient.
After his ninth tour of Iraq Morgan was heralded as a hero after rescuing two children from a burning house in Charlotte, Tenn.
“My 14-year-old son Jerry looked up and saw a house on fire, so we pulled into a gas station and ran up there,” Morgan told FOX411’s Pop Tarts. “The lady who owned the home came out with a fire extinguisher. I tried to put it out but it didn’t work. One thing led to another and in a matter of just a minute, the side of the house was engulfed by flames.”
It was then that the homeowner informed Morgan that her children were inside.
Using his skills and training as a former EMT, Army paratrooper and sheriff's deputy, Morgan took immediate action.
“I opened the door and the house was filled with smoke. There was a little two-year-old over in the corner with his face in the couch and when he saw me come in he got scared and took off running," Morgan said. "But I snatched him up, then the older child, about six or seven, came out of the bedroom. I grabbed him and took them out to their mom."
Music Row’s Bob Oermann wrote, "Craig Morgan is country music’s champion of the Everyman—a loyal husband and father, unblushingly sentimental, tough enough to kick your butt if you cross him, and the kind of friend everyone would like to have."
His entertainment honors from his milltary days would also pay off as he landed a job singing demos for other songwriters and publishing companies. It wasn't long before his talent would secure him a recording contract with Atlantic Records.
Success continued for Craig as he signed with BNA Records in 2008. October of the year saw the release of the album "That's Why" with a lead single of "Love Remembers". The single peaked at #9. During this same time Craig was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry and was inducted on October 25, 2008. John Conlee surprised Craig with the invitation onstage during his performance of "Rose Colored Glasses", which was popularized by Conlee in 1978. The song is often times found on Craig's set list. His response to the invitation was "Oh, God, yes!" His Opry guest debut had been eight and a half years earlier on April 21, 2000.
Craigs maintains a busy schedule playing the Grand Ole Opry, military bases and over 200 concerts per year. Being in the military made him value home and family as much as ever. And he still runs his country music operation like an Army unit. "My dad and mom raised me to be grateful and thankful and appreciative," he says. "They always told me, if somebody loans you something, give it back in better shape than what you get it in." Thus, Morgan and the band and road crew sweep the stage before and after shows, and are not likely to ever get an angry phone call from a motel clerk. After most gigs Morgan’s right there with them loading up the truck. "Something in my genes and my blood requires that I work—right or wrong, it makes me feel like a man," Morgan says with a laugh. "People ask me how I stay grounded ... man, I go home and I still mow my own grass. I clean my own pool. I have kids that I get onto and play with and love the same as everybody else. I will always be that same guy. Just like the people who buy our records and listen to our music."
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