Craig Morgan is currently on the road, touring with Blake Shelton on Shelton's Friends and Heroes Tour. It's an impressive lineup that also includes Trace Adkins, Deana Carter and Emily Ann Roberts.
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But perhaps surprisingly, Morgan almost turned the tour down, mostly because it was cutting into his precious time off. For most of Morgan's career, he has taken off from before Thanksgiving until the end of March.
"I almost didn't do it just because of that," Morgan admits to American Songwriter. "But, it's Blake. And honest to God, Blake and Trace, of all the people in this business, those two guys that are my closest friends. When we're together, it's as if we just left each other yesterday. If the three of us weren't in music, if we were construction workers, we would be drinking beer together and having wine together on the weekend."
When Morgan isn't working, he isn't lounging around on a beach somewhere tropical. The Grand Ole Opry member spends most of his time at his home in Alaska, where he and his son run their Alaskan Off Grid Experience, located near Trapper Creek, Alaska. It's why Morgan invests in expensive tools, like pricey BOSS Hammers.
"They're $400 titanium hammers," Morgan reveals. "It's the only thing up there that I can drop in the cold or set it down when it's 20 degrees below zero and pick it back up, and your fingers don't stick to the metal."
American Soundtrack Project
Morgan has plenty of hits to run through when he is performing on Shelton's tour. But he also has brand-new music, with his just-released American Soundtrack EP.
"I try to celebrate God, family and country in my music and in everything I do," Shelton says of the record. "That's what I have always done and I've come to realize it's my platform. I don't stress about things as much as I used to. I just try to write, sing, produce and play the best music that we can and go where I think God wants me to be."
It's been, shockingly, almost 25 years since Morgan's self-titled debut album was released. But according to Morgan, his best days might still be ahead of him.
"I can feel this weird thing that God's doing something here," Morgan says. "It is basically the idea that music makes you think about your life, and especially us as Americans, and how music has impacted us."
