LOS ANGELES (AP) — In July, nation music star Craig Morgan reenlisted within the Military Reserves on the historic Grand Ole Opry stage. At age 59, the method required a waiver and an intensive bodily take a look at. It additionally impressed the title for the brand new EP he had been engaged on: “Enlisted,” out Friday.
The six-song assortment consists of two new tracks and some reimaginations of his hits, alongside A-list and up-and-coming collaborators like Blake Shelton, Hint Adkins, Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, and Jelly Roll.
The Opry holds specific that means to Morgan — it’s not solely a stage he’s frequented, however additionally it is the place he spent his final night along with his 19-year-old son Jerry, who drowned in 2016. “After what occurred, occurred, all the pieces takes on a brand new that means,” he says. “Us not having his bodily presence, (he) was missed.”
Beforehand, Morgan served 17 years within the Military and Military Reserve with the a hundred and first and 82nd Airborne Divisions as an E-6 Workers Sergeant and Fireplace Assist Specialist. He says he’s at all times regretted not hitting the 20 years of service mark, and reenlisting permits him the chance.
Morgan hopes he conjures up others to do the identical. “Recruiting is the worst that it’s been for the reason that inception of the navy,” he says. “I’m marrying each my worlds, my world of music and my world of navy.”
As for the EP — Morgan says he wasn’t loopy in regards to the thought of re-recording a few of his greatest hits. His supervisor wished him to re-do “Redneck Yacht Membership,” and he wasn’t certain — till he carried out one other hit, “Nearly Dwelling,” on the Opry in 2022 with up-and-comer Jelly Roll and was confronted along with his songs’ affect.
Jelly Roll was virtually moved to tears when he described how the tune gave him hope. “I spotted that ‘Nearly Dwelling,’ what it did for Jelly impacted an entire new viewers in addition to my outdated viewers,” Morgan says. “And I believed there is perhaps a spot to revisit these songs.”
“Enlisted” incorporates a new recording of the monitor with Jelly Roll (“He epitomizes what love is,” Morgan says of the rapper-turned-country singer. “No obstacles, no partitions,”). Nation Music Awards favourite Wilson joins Morgan on “Worldwide Harvester.”
“Lainey Wilson had listened to it rising up along with her dad, driving round within the truck on the farm,” he says.
“Redneck Yacht Membership,” too, will get a facelift, now with Jimmy Buffet -style metal drums and contributions from Shelton, who was featured within the unique 2005 music video.
“I completely love him. He’s my favourite fool,” Morgan says of his longtime good friend. “I known as him up and stated, ‘I’m re-cutting some songs. I would like you on ‘Redneck Yacht Membership,’ as a result of, I don’t know for those who bear in mind, however your Mullet-ed self was within the video.’” Shelton, after all, stated sure.
As for the 2 new tracks, Morgan partnered with Combs on “Elevate the Bar,” and Adkins on “That Ain’t Gonna Be Me.”
“Enlisted” reworks Morgan’s greatest hits and celebrates the present nation musician era. “There’s one thing to be stated about singing a tune that almost all of our populace needs to have the ability to relate to, or can relate to,” he says. “And that’s what nice nation does; I imagine.”