Country music star, Army veteran, and proud patriot Craig Morgan is hosting the inaugural Craig Morgan's Veterans Day 5K on November 7th at the iconic Grand Ole Opry House. The event will take place just one day after he releases his newest album, My Country. This special 5k event celebrates the courage, sacrifice, and service of our nation's veterans while bringing together runners, walkers, active-duty service members, military families, and supporters for an unforgettable morning of community and patriotism. A portion of the proceeds will support Opry Trust Fund, Operation Finally Home, Dickson County Craig Morgan Foundation, and United Service Organizations. To conclude the day of festivities, Morgan will also headline a performance that same evening at The Ryman.
You’re combining two major parts of your life—the military and country music—with this Veterans Day 5K at the Grand Ole Opry. What does it mean to host an event that brings those worlds together in such a meaningful place?
It's exciting. A lot of people don't know that when I first got into the music industry, I was in the Army—I was actually on active duty when I first started. I then went into the Army Reserve and continued that for a long time, until I got to a point where I felt like I wasn't doing justice to both occupations. Looking back, the reality was I was doing justice, and I think we could have been just fine. But I felt like I was a step away from the military. And as of about three years ago, I went back to reengage both of these passions of mine—music and the military—by being able to serve and still being able to do my job as an entertainer, and then utilizing those platforms to raise money for such a wonderful cause. It is exciting. For me, it's really, I think, what God had intended me to do from the beginning. So I'm excited to be in such a good place.
The 5K will support several organizations—can you tell us a little more about the organizations you’re supporting and how the proceeds will help them?
Proceeds are going to a few organizations; Operation Finally Home is an organization that I've been working with for a long time to build homes for veterans, their families, wounded veterans… and also helping out some law enforcement folks. I love what they do. I've been working with them for a long time. We're also working with the United Service Organizations to help raise funds for the USO—we’ve been a part of working with them for a long time and have some exciting news coming up this month I can’t wait to announce! [There are also] a couple of other organizations that we've worked with, including the Dickson County Craig Morgan Foundation, an organization that we started long ago to take care of folks in our own hometown. It's exciting to know that everybody that comes out will be participating in helping our veterans.
You spent 17 years in the Army and Army Reserve and then reenlisted in 2023. What has military service continued to teach you about perspective and the way you approach life?
I think gratitude, more than anything, has been the biggest thing I’ve taken away from those experiences. When you have the opportunity to travel around the world and set foot in a hostile or combat environment, you develop a sense of gratitude that—in my opinion—can only come from witnessing or experiencing what others who are less fortunate go through. I also understand the importance of the security of our nation. So, to be able to participate in that and be a part of it is very humbling. But I think the one thing I’ve learned the most is a sense of gratitude and a pride in our nation that, again, I think can only be truly understood through those experiences. When you’re a service member, and you go overseas and experience all these different cultures, you gain a true appreciation for the freedom we have in this nation and the opportunities that come with it.
What do you hope everyone participating in the 5K takes away from the day?
I’m a big advocate for being healthy, and I have been for a long time… I want everyone to walk away feeling like they’re on a path toward better health and understanding that what we’re doing there can truly save lives. We’ll be participating in efforts that are specifically established to help save the lives of our veterans.
Your new album, My Country, will be out November 6th—just one day before the event. Walk us through the process of making this album!
Well, I will tell you—it’s changed! I’ve kind of done the same thing throughout my career—I’ve always set out initially to record what I think are great songs that will entice our listeners. I try to write, record, produce, and deliver music that will appeal to those people, while also hopefully drawing in people who might not be hardcore country listeners. I will say the difference between this album and any album I’ve ever done in the past is that I just recorded a bunch of songs, and we listened to them and put it all together and went, ‘Oh, wow, this is the name of the album.’ When we started this process, I was working on a 250th celebration; I thought it was a great time to release a bunch of music—some that I’d recorded and some that I hadn’t—that celebrated our nation, the freedom of this nation, our military, and all of those patriotic themes. I thought it would be a perfect fit as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation. But in doing so, I started feeling like I was working too hard at it. So I thought, let’s go back to the philosophy of just trying to record great songs. And one day, my manager said, ‘Man, I heard the song you recorded called ‘I’m Country Music… this is your country right here.’ And I’m like, ‘Holy cow, this is my country.’ He said, ‘That should be the title.’ We talked about it, and it was like, ‘My Country’ is talking about both my country as a nation and my country as my music. So, for the first time, since I brought these two worlds back together, I’m creating a product that’s about those two worlds.
Listed as a track is your friend Toby Keith’s “American Soldier.” What made this song the right song to record on this record?
There are a lot of patriotic songs, but for me, this song became real personal. When I went back in [the Army], knowing how much Toby supported our service members, he and I had gotten really close in the later years of his life. So that song came to mean a lot to me. And I felt like, if I was going to do a song that someone else had already made into a big hit, I needed to be able to truly believe in it and deliver it authentically. This was a song I felt I could do that with… it is also one of the songs I’m most excited about in my career—I have never rerecorded a song that was recorded by another artist. I’ve always felt like there are too many great songs that haven’t been recorded. And I’m a writer, so I write a big chunk of my own stuff. As we were doing this project, someone suggested that I recut Toby Keith’s ‘American Soldier.’ We went to Toby’s family and his camp and said, ‘I’m considering doing this, but I don’t want to do it unless I have all of your blessings.’ They gave us their blessing, and I feel like for me to do it at this point in my life and my career is a super-huge God thing. It’s a blessing, and it’s perfect timing. It’s a perfect piece of this project.
You’ve done so much for our country in both your personal and professional careers. How has your commitment to serving others shaped the person you are today?
I think it’s always been a part of my DNA, and that’s what I tell service members and law enforcement officers whenever I speak to them—whether it’s at a ball, a war ceremony, a graduation, or whatever it may be: it’s in our DNA. People who choose those servant-type professions—law enforcement, firefighters, nurses, doctors, soldiers—they have a particular DNA. And I truly believe that no matter where we are or what we’re doing in life, we still have that desire—that need—to serve others. It’s not about getting recognition or having people pat us on the back, it’s just who we are. It’s the guy who stops on the side of the road to help someone change a tire because he just doesn’t have it in him to drive by. We want to help people.
How has your own perspective on patriotism changed over the years, over the course of everything you've done?
I’m just so grateful that we live in this country, and I know that more than most. I’ve been to over a hundred countries, and I’ve never set foot in one that celebrates the love, compassion, forgiveness, and freedom that we do in the United States of America. That appreciation has only grown as I’ve gotten older, traveled more, heard more music, and watched this format evolve over my 25 years in it. As my career has progressed, the thing I appreciate most is how fortunate we are as a nation… and my patriotism only gets stronger.
@craigmorgan
"You gain a true appreciation for the freedom we have in this nation and the opportunities that come with it."
"As my career has progressed, the thing I appreciate most is how fortunate we are as a nation… and my patriotism only gets stronger."