Friday, Oct. 13 - Craig Morgan

Over the years, Craig Morgan has come to think of his career like a house, hand built over time and resting on a firm foundation. Faithful Christian. Dedicated family man. Distinguished veteran of the US Army. Those are the pillars that have allowed the chart-topping singer, songwriter and live performer to add room after room to his house – now more like a sprawling mansion. But with God, Family, Country, his 2020 album for Broken Bow Records, the Nashville native admits it felt like he was putting on the final touches.

Marking his ninth studio set, God, Family, Country combined five new songs with some of the most powerful tracks of his career, including hits “That's What I Love About Sunday,” “Almost Home,” and more. It was an album of contrast, both created in the moment and capturing a bigger picture, with Craig stepping back to consider the “what” and “why” of his creation. But in becoming “one of the most special records I've ever done,” it was ultimately far more than a craftsman checking his work. It inspired a whole new addition

Now, the hitmaker behind “Redneck Yacht Club,” “International Harvester” and “Little Bit of Life” has expanded his God, Family, Country chapter, adding a new Deluxe Edition to the album, a gripping, best-selling memoir and more. The blueprints are back on the table – and this time they include more personal touches than ever.

“I feel so good,” Craig says. “Career wise, family wise, my heart, my soul, my spirit, my faith, all those things are good – unbelievable, really. Every time I think I'm about ready to start slowing down, God throws a wrench in it and it gets me right back in the middle.”

Call it a renaissance if you want, but Craig today continues to evolve from the guy who released country-radio classics like the four-week chart-topper, "That's What I Love About Sunday” – Billboard’s Number One country single of 2005. He still has an unquenchable spirit and joy for life, but he and his family have also known great loss with the passing of their son Jerry in 2016. Instead of snuffing out Craig's artistry, however, that unimaginable tragedy led to him writing his most personal and emotional song to date, "The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost," released in 2019.

The aching ballad topped the iTunes all-genre sales chart and led directly to this new career chapter, becoming the centerpiece of God, Family, Country and the inspiration to go further. Released on Veteran’s Day (November 11), God, Family, Country (Deluxe Edition) adds four new songs to what was already a deeply personal project, three of which he wrote.

“Ask Him” arrives as a head-over-heels romantic stunner with long-lasting devotion. “I May Drink a Little,” finds a man of faith maintaining his beliefs, even though he’s not perfect. And “Sounds Like Home,” features a sentimental front-porch sway that could be the soundtrack to a picturesque country sunset.

Mixing old-school grit with a modern country pulse, it’s a tune for the times, which resonated with the star right away.

“It’s a societal story,” Craig says. “It’s what’s going on in our world. This song talks about how ‘you run, you crawl, you rise, you fall, you hit your knees until you learn to stand. That’s how you make a man.’ This is how we each become better as humans.”

It's also 100-percent country, and the guiding principle Craig has followed like a North Star his whole career. God, Family, Country (Deluxe Edition) just puts it all in one place.

"This album is based on everything that's happened in my life and my career," he says. "I feel like I have some of the most quality songs I've ever recorded, and there is a new energy here. After all I've been through, I'm at one of the most inspired places I've ever been."

That inspiration isn’t limited to music, though, as Craig also shared his full story for the first time. Co-authored with New York Times bestseller Jim DeFelice (who also co-wrote Chris Kyle’s American Sniper), Craig’s memoir GOD, FAMILY, COUNTRY: Soldier, Singer, Husband, Dad—There’s a Whole Lot More to Me reveals not only the roots of his country career and serve as a testament to his familial dedication, but also much of the behind-the-scenes action fans never saw.

A thrilling ride from the start, Craig opens up about his time as an elite military operator, teaming with the CIA and more to parachute into the Central American jungle, bust up human trafficking rings in Thailand, and even run a cover operation in Iraq at the height of his career.

“The thing is, I've talked about little snippets of these stories throughout my life,” he says. “Some on the radio, in interviews and different things. But I have never put everything together, and it wasn't until then that I went, ‘Holy crap. I have done a lot.’”

Meanwhile, the inspiration has also taken him to TV. In the CBS/Paramount + adventure reality series Beyond The Edge, Craig returned to the Panamanian jungles to put the survival skills he learned in the Army to further use – the same ones he taught pilots training for a potential crash, and now offers clients through his Alaskan Off the Grid Experience.

It’s true, that house Craig’s been building has now grown in ways he never expected, but the foundation is still the same – and with his God, Family, Country headlining tour, folks could say that foundation is as strong as ever.

Wrapping in Nashville on Veterans Day with his first ever headlining show at the Ryman Auditorium – his hometown's fabled “Mother Church of Country Music” – the Grand Ole Opry member still shines in front of an audience. He calls the sold-out show a mountaintop moment, perhaps the pinnacle of his long career and life story … so far, that is.

“Proud isn’t the right word as much as grateful,” he says. “I just want to inspire and motivate people to try to do good and be better for themselves and everyone else involved.”

For a handful of summers about 30 years ago, tourists who wandered into a large dancehall in Stanley, Idaho, witnessed a family tradition finding new life. Young and old sat shoulder-to-shoulder, taking a break from the town’s mountain hikes and river campgrounds to take in Muzzie Braun and the Boys––a local family band who’d made it to the Grand Ole Opry, effortlessly spouted cowboy poetry and Western swing at gatherings around the country, and featured Muzzie’s four young sons––precocious boys with rock-and-roll futures.

“There were kids running around, people dancing,” says Micky Braun, the youngest brother who first climbed on stage to join the family when he was about five years-old. “Gary and I’d get up and play a couple of songs, then we’d get off and the older brothers would stay up and play a couple more. It’s pretty funny, looking back on it.” He laughs a little, then adds, still smiling, “That’s how we got started playing.”

The Braun brothers never stopped. Big brothers Cody and Willy started Reckless Kelly, and Micky and Gary left Idaho for Austin and started Micky and the Motorcars, a road-dogging favorite whose nonstop tour for the last 17 years has defined not just the lives of the brothers, but also shaped Austin’s roots-rock resurgence that has played out over the last two decades. With their anticipated new album Long Time Comin’, the Motorcars cement their place as elder statesmen of that alt-country scene who have managed to master that ever-elusive blend of artistic familiarity and surprise.

“I hope people take the time to hear the album as a whole, and I hope they like it,” Gary says from his home in Austin. “I think this one is a little bit better.” He pauses and laughs as he drawls, “So I hope they like it a little more.”

For the Motorcars, the question is never really whether to tour but where to play next. Gary––who handles guitar, mandolin, harmonica, harmonies, and occasionally lead vocals––and Micky, lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist, are joined in the Motorcars by Joe Fladger on bass, Bobby Paugh on drums and percussion, and new bandmate Pablo Trujillo on guitar. The combination of familiar and fresh players has reinvigorated the Motorcars’ live show, which buzzes through a low-key rock-and-roll rapture built on grooves and the Brauns’ signature harmonies.

A mix of new and old also shaped the Long Time Comin’ recording process. Produced by Keith Gattis, the 11-song album relied in part on Gattis’ go-to Nashville studio players––a first for the Motorcars. “It still sounds like Micky and the Motorcars, but it was fun working with different guys who we’d never worked with before,” Micky says. “They’ve been Keith’s band for 15 years. He can say, ‘Give me a shuffle with a boom-chuck,’ and they know what he’s talking about.”

The band isn’t the only change on Long Time Comin’. Gary, who has always contributed a song or two to Motorcar records, wrote or co-wrote six of the album’s tracks and sings every tune he penned. “I don’t think I decided to really write more––I think I just got better at it and worked a little harder at it the past couple of years,” Gary says. “In the past, I just let Micky do it because he was good at it. It was easy for me not to do it.”

Micky loves the shift. “It’s almost a split album between the two of us on lead vocal––very different from our normal,” he says. “I think our fans will enjoy it. They always love the songs Gary sings live. They always want him to sing more.”

The album kicks off with the ambling “Road to You.” Written by Micky and Courtney Patton, the rollicking singalong is classic Motorcars and an ideal welcome mat for the collection. Sauntering “Rodeo Girl” swings and punches up the pace, before “Alone Again Tonight”––a Gary track written with Gattis––watches loneliness with empathetic ache.

Several tracks take note of the universal search for comfort––even when it’s not the stuff of fairytales or even particularly dignified. Over crunchy guitars, “Stranger Tonight” captures an evening’s quest for no-strings companionship. “It was an idea I had just watching people at bars––that lonely girl I saw time and time again but with a different set of glasses, over and over,” Gary says. “It seems like everybody can relate to that––out looking for something new that doesn’t have to be love.”

Sweet and sad, “Break My Heart,” another track penned by Gary with Jeff Crosby, looks back after the end of a relationship. “You’re not mad anymore but you’re thankful of the good times,” Gary says. “It’s also about finding yourself again. It’s a moving-on song.” Quiet and sparse, the Gary-penned “Run into You” details a longing to cross paths with an ex-lover who’s moved on with heartbreaking clarity.

Anchored by crying B-3 organ, “Hold This Town Together” explores the struggle to enjoy what once was easy after the loss of someone who’ll never come back. After years of trying, Micky wrote the song for Mark, a friend and the Motorcars’ first bassist, who passed away. “Hold This Town,” written by Micky and Jeff Crosby, muses over the hometown faces and places that never change. “There are the same people at the same bars, the same people working at the grocery stores,” Micky says, then adds with a laugh, “It’s kind of a depressing party song.” Another Jeff Crosby-Micky collaboration, “Thank My Mother’s God” pays beautiful tribute to moms and their devotion to their black sheep, running wild.

Two album standouts stand tall: “Lions of Kandahar,” written by Gary alone, and the title track, which Micky penned with master songwriter Bruce Robison. Over instrumentation that evokes the tense hum of Middle Eastern military activity, “Lions of Kandahar” follows a deployment from a first-person perspective. The result is jarring, compelling, and deeply human––a breathtaking piece of songwriting that took five years to complete. Winsome “Long Time Comin’” is an ode to the satisfaction of patience and perseverance rewarded in different forms––a stunning tapestry that also reflects the road to the album itself.

Guitars and songs at the ready, Micky and Gary hope most of all that their sprawling cross-continental fanbase connect with Long Time Comin’, a collection four years in the making. “If you can put your heart on your sleeve and say it, it’s the best medicine for people,” Micky says, reflecting on the album. “They can lock into it and enjoy the ride.”

https://mickyandthemotorcars.com/