Craig Morgan’s American Stories Tour Aids Military Families
“People are saying it’s the most emotional experience they’ve ever had at a concert," Morgan explains of the tour.
Music and the military have long been two of the cornerstones in Craig Morgan’s life and the two intersect on the former soldier’s American Stories tour. During the two-month trek, military families in select cities will receive mortgage free homes thanks to Operation Finally Home.
“Operation Finally Home provides a mortgage free home to service members who are struggling,” says Morgan, who serves as the 2017 ambassador for Operation Finally Home. “Some have severe disabilities. Some just might be having a tough time financially and that’s humbling to see. When you do something good for somebody, you experience an emotion that only comes from giving. I’m not the guy that’s out there building the house or swinging the hammer. I try to raise awareness and raise funds, but it’s such a humbling experience to be a part of this process.”
Morgan will be joined on the tour by special guests Mac Powell, Dana Bowman, Clint Romesha, Anthony Smith, Greg Strube, Jimmy Fortune, Tate Stevens, Marla Cannon-Goodman, Phil O’Donnell and Taya Kyle. Different artists/speakers will be on different shows. (Fans can check craigmorgan.com to see who will be the special guests in their city.)
“I can’t tell you how much of an honor it is to be on tour with Craig Morgan,” says Powell, Grammy winning frontman of Christian rock band Third Day, who also has a solo career as a country artist. “I’ve been such a fan of his for a long time. He is one of the best voices in all of country music and definitely the real deal.”
More than just a straight-ahead concert, Morgan crafted the tour to be a unique experience for fans. “It’s basically us telling stories through music and song and conversation,” Morgan tells Sounds Like Nashville. “I bring in a high profile American citizen at each show, a military person or someone who has a relationship with the military in some way. Every weekend run there is a different military person and a different songwriter. We have someone like Taya Kyle, who is American Sniper Chris Kyle’s wife. We have Clint Romesha, a Medal of Honor recipient who wrote the book Red Platoon. We have Dakota Meyer, Medal of Honor recipient married into the Palin family up in Alaska and then I have Delta Force guys and a former CIA operative.”
Morgan is hoping in addition to a night of music, fans will leave knowing more about these real American heroes and their stories. “I have worked with every one of these guests in some form or fashion. They not only have a perspective about the military, they have a relationship with me and we can talk about the befores, during and afters of the military. When we sit down with an audience, we are sharing our life stories. I also have my daughter, who is an aspiring singer/songwriter, and so people get to hear about me and my life from her perspective and her life as well. When they come, they think they are coming to learn more about Craig Morgan, but they not only learn more about me, but my family and my friends and lifestyle. And I think in turn by listening to these stories, they learn about themselves as well.”
The tour began the last weekend in September and appropriately concludes on Veteran’s Day in Nashville on Nov. 11. Morgan says the response to the tour has been “overwhelming” and he’s been humbled by the reaction. “People are saying it’s the most emotional experience they’ve ever had at a concert, an emotional rollercoaster ride is the phrase that came up quite a bit,” says Morgan, who served in the Army before starting his country music career. “It gives people a perspective that they may otherwise may never hear or see firsthand. When you have a medal of honor winner or a soldier who was hit by an IED and lost his leg and he goes through the story with you and tells you why he was over there defending and why he was representing the United States there, you go, ‘I get it. I understand. I might not agree with it, but I understand.’”
What prompted Morgan to enlist in the Army? “Free hunting clothes,” he responds with a laugh before turning more serious. “I work with soldiers that are getting out or retiring and the first question every one of them ask me—regardless if they’ve had three years of service or whether they’ve had 30—they say, ‘How did you manage that transition?’ I tell them, ‘I’m working on it,’ and I also tell them we all share a gene. All these people in service whether it be military, law enforcement, firemen, first responders, I think there is a particular gene that is in our makeup that creates a desire to help people or serve people. I say, ‘That’s what you have,’ and I think that’s why I went in because I had that gene. I really didn’t understand it or know it. It’s taken 30 years for me to grasp what’s going on inside my head and inside my body and trust that. Everyone who serves shares that gene and I tell them you have that gene too. It’s a struggle to leave the Army doing what you’ve been doing, so find how you can be of service in another way and enjoy the rest of your life.”
In addition to the military stories shared on the tour, fans will also learn more about some of their favorite songs. “We talk about songs and where they came from, how they came about and why we sing it,” he says of contributions from Powell, Phil O’Donnell, Jimmy Fortune and other singer/songwriters on the tour. “It’s just a great time. The reason why I want to do this is because the art of storytelling is all but gone. Your grandparents told your parents things like how to plant and hoe corn and then the parents told us and we tell our kids, but that’s kind of going away with the inception of the Internet and Google. My kids don’t have to ask me how to do anything. They go on their phones and Google it. It is a convenience, but the problem is we don’t retain that knowledge because we know it’s always readily available. I think retained knowledge is so much more powerful than temporary knowledge. You don’t get the permanent and retained knowledge except through stories. I think they are missing out on life too because of it. Technology is a wonderful thing if you use it in the right way. If you using it to try to learn how to exercise more and eat better and live right and minimize emissions, those things are good, but if you’re not doing anything after you read it to implement the knowledge, you’re not accomplishing anything.”
Morgan is excited about fans coming out to hear the music and stories being shared on the American Stories tour and it’s icing on the cake that military families in select markets on the tour will be given a mortgage free house through Operation Finally Home. “They are giving away homes left and right, even outside of our tour,” he says of the organization. “This group of people that work for Operation Finally Home are amazing people. All they want to do is help people and that’s a wonderful thing.”
