About Soldier

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The last evening that country singer Craig Morgan spent with his 19-year-old son, Jerry, was during one of Morgan's performances at Grand Ole Opry three years ago. "The last pictures I have of us together is on that stage," Morgan, 55, said backstage at the Opry House this week. "So this is a very special place. It was anyway before, but now it has additional meaning, knowing this is where we hung out together." His son, Jerry, who was home visiting from college, died in a drowning accident on Kentucky Lake in July 2016. Three years later, Morgan, who wasn't signed to a label at the time, came back to the Opry this past summer to sing a song he wrote about his son called "The Father, My Son, and The Holy Ghost." He sang about crying until he passed out, praying until he thought he couldn't anymore and realizing that one day he'll be reunited with his son. Morgan stepped off stage, physically and emotionally exhausted from the performance, and told his friend Ricky Skaggs, the bluegrass singer and Country Hall of Famer, that he didn't know if he could sing that song again. "Ricky told me, 'You have to sing this song for the rest of your life,'" Morgan recalled.

Craig Morgan Greer (born July 17, 1964) is an American country music artist. A veteran of the United States Army as a forward observer, Morgan began his musical career in 2000 on Atlantic Records, releasing his self-titled debut album for that label before the closure of its Nashville division in 2000. In 2002, Morgan signed to the independent Broken Bow Records, on which he released three studio albums: 2003's I Love It, 2005's My Kind of Livin', and 2006's Little Bit of Life. These produced several chart hits, including "That's What I Love About Sunday", which spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard country charts while also holding the No. 1 position on that year's Billboard Year-End chart for the country format. A greatest hits package followed in mid-2008 before Morgan signed to BNA Records and released That's Why later that same year. After exiting BNA, Morgan signed with Black River Entertainment and released This Ole Boy in 2012, followed by A Whole Lot More to Me in 2016. Morgan has charted seventeen times on the Billboard country charts. Besides "That's What I Love About Sunday", six more of his singles have reached that chart's top ten: "Almost Home", "Redneck Yacht Club", "Little Bit of Life", "International Harvester", "Love Remembers", and "Bonfire".