Craig Campbell’s Debut CD Is More Like a Greatest Hits

Craig Campbell made his debut on the charts earlier this year with his hit single, 'Family Man,' but chances are you've actually heard his harmonies or piano playing long before now. The Georgia native logged time in both Tracy Byrd's and buddy Luke Bryan's bands before going out on his own. He also spent years down on Nashville's famed Lower Broadway, performing for crowds at the Stage nightclub while working toward a shot at his own dream. That dream is now coming true with the release of Craig's self-titled debut CD, out today (April 5).

Produced by Keith Stegall and released on Stegall's new Bigger Picture label, the project includes nine songs co-written by Craig himself, and covers lots of familiar country ground, from fishing and drinking to cowboys and broken hearts. The Boot sat down with Craig to talk about how his stepdad's tough love kept him out of prison, the influence Travis Tritt had on his career, and how playing for Nashville's tourist crowd shaped him as an artist.

You did a lot of singing in church. Was that your biggest musical training ground growing up?

That was definitely the foundation for me, being in church, standing beside my mama and hearing her singing. She'd sing the harmony part, and I knew I wanted to do that. Church and gospel music was the first music I got into. And most of my mama's side of the family can sing or play some instrument.

You're a Georgia boy who grew up near Macon and Savannah. That's a very musically diverse area isn't it?

It is. I know there's probably eight or 10 of us on the charts right now from Georgia.

Other than music, what are some of your favorite things to do when you're back home?

One of my favorite things when I go back home is just to get on a four-wheeler and go riding. You can go to the river, or a mud bog and try to see if you can get something stuck!

Travis Tritt was one of your biggest influences growing up. What was it about his music that struck a chord with you?

It was that he had a lot of passion in his music -- he sang from the heart. He had such a great range, too. He could hit a really high note and he could sing a country song. He could sing a southern rock song, a gospel song, bluegrass, it didn't make a difference. But when he did sing it, he meant it and you felt it. That's what I fell in love with. A year or so ago, I was able to do a show with him in St. Louis, and it was a lot of fun. I didn't get to meet him, though. But I can sing every Travis Tritt song from his first five or six records.

You spent a lot of time playing in clubs, both in your hometown and in Nashville. Do you think that experience is invaluable to an artist?

After high school, I became friends with a club owner in our hometown. I would go in and pretty much beg bands to let me get up there every opportunity I could and go up and sing. Eventually, I asked him if I put a band together would he put me in his club? And he did. I do think it helps an artist develop. But I'm not gonna say that somebody who's never done anything like that is not as experienced. For me, playing those clubs all over the country in different regions and geographical areas was an education. You could go down to Florida and play and then go to North Dakota and play the same set and get a totally different reaction. Different parts of the country, you've got to figure out what works and what doesn't. Singing to me is like working out any other muscle -- the more you sing, the stronger your voice is gonna get. All those years of singing in smoky bars -- I call it training, it got me to here.

Your big sister, who has since passed away, helped you get into music. What was it that she did that inspired you?

She talked me into getting into the True Value Country Showdown we were having in town. She helped me pick my songs, she was there during all my rehearsals, telling me how to move and sing. I ended up winning a guitar when I was 15, at the True Value Showdown. I had always wanted to play the guitar, but I didn't have the money to buy one. So that started it all for me.

Later, you logged plenty of miles on the road traveling cross-country and performing. What were those days like?

It was fun. We went from Tallahassee, all the way to up to North Dakota one time. I had a '99 E 350 Ford van that was a 12-passenger, but I took the back seat out and put a mattress in there. There were four of us, so we alternated; two people up front and two people in the back would sleep and then we'd switch out every eight hours. It definitely makes me appreciate the bus now, and letting somebody else drive!

You got a job at the Stage in Nashville after moving here. You played there regularly up until just a few months ago. How do Nashville crowds differ from the other places you've played?

Oh, it's very different. Nashville's such a tourist town, the crowd is always different. You could have a packed house one night, and five people in the audience the next night. You'll have people from England, Scotland, all over the place show up. That was kind of cool. You'd get to play these songs and see how people would react to 'em. So, you could probably say The Stage shaped my style to a certain extent; the songs that I do and the way I sing.

What's the craziest thing that happened to you during your years playing down there?

One night, one of my guitar players got in a fight in the middle of a song, dropped his guitar and ran and tackled some guy in the crowd. And we stopped, because he stopped. We were in the middle of a song, and we started taking our stuff off in case he needed any help we were there. I think somebody threw a lime or something at him and hit him in his face and he lost his temper. It was funny though, we had his back.

You and Luke Bryan are good buddies, right?

We are; we met through a mutual friend a while back. This is before Luke had a record deal. A guy called and put me in touch with him, and they asked if I wanted to come out and play some keys. They told me ahead of time that Luke and those guys were from Georgia. I hit it off with 'em pretty good and we've been buddies ever since. I love hanging out with 'em.

You knew pretty early on that Keith Stegall's label Bigger Picture was where you belonged, and even waited for them to form the label, right?

There were several months that I had an offer from another label and it was more immediate; like if you take it, it's right now. But Keith hadn't put this company together completely yet, so several times I went back. One day I went to his office and he sat down and said, 'Listen, I don't have to lie to you, I've got other things I could be doing, but I'm telling you, this is gonna be awesome. And I need you. So if you'll just give me a little bit of time to put this together, we're gonna make a great record. But I just need a little bit more time.' So, from then on, I didn't bring it up again. I told my wife to stop complaining, because she was wanting me to take the other deal because she was so impatient, and I said, 'Drop it, this is the deal I'm doing, this is what I want, this is what I'm gonna do.' And thank God it worked out!"

'Family Man' has become a huge song for you. Why does it resonate with you personally?

We wrote with that a friend of mine, Joel Shumate. He brought that to me and at the same time I found out I was gonna be a dad for the first time. I said, 'That's the story that I want to tell. That's who I am, or who I'm gonna be and that's what I want people to know.' So we brought another guy in and wrote it and it has stood the test of time. I wrote it a couple of years ago and it's one of the older songs on the record, but its one of my favorites, and one of my best.

Do you feel like your stepdad, who raised you with your mom, helped you become the family man you are now?

Oh yeah, if it wouldn't have been for him, I don't know what I'd do. I'd be in prison right now. I was a bad kid. My stepdaddy came into the picture when I was 6, so he had a lot of room to work. I was just undisciplined, had no repercussions for my actions 'til my stepdaddy, because my mama had four kids and she had her hands full. He taught me the basics, and took me to church, taught me right from wrong, and beat it into my head -- figuratively. What he taught me is what I'm trying to teach my babies now.

How would you describe your sound for fans who aren't familiar with you yet?

Even though it's my record, it sounds to me like a greatest-hits record because I've had many years to write these songs. We were able to put all those songs in a pile, and there's all kinds of stuff. You can hear all the influences. You can hear Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Randy Travis, all of those guys. If you took it and poured it into a blender and blended it up, you would have Craig Campbell. I've got a drinking song, a song about doing absolutely nothing, a song about being broke, real hardcore Middle America stuff, because it's real to me.

You have the Country Throwdown tour coming up. That sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun ... and trouble!

Yeah, me and Lee Brice know each other pretty well; he's got a song on my record. And I'm pretty good buddies with Randy Houser. I've met Jamey Johnson a few times -- I wouldn't say we're best buddies, but we've met each other a few times. I'm a big Willie Nelson fan, so just to be on tour, on the road with him, is gonna be really, really cool.

Do you worry about being on the road so much now that Keni, your seven-month old, is so young and there's so much you can miss when they're that age?

Oh, I know I'm gonna miss something! Hopefully we can establish a routine for me on the road with Skype or something, so I can watch her on the bus. But I'll have a lot of off time, too. Hopefully, one day I'll be able to afford to lease a bus for them to come out with me on the road, too.

The Spicocchi family in Ohio, that was a great thing you did helping them out.

That was really neat. Vince and Amy became parents of quintuplets the same day 'Family Man' came out to radio, and their friend Vaughn told me about it on Facebook. They were putting together this raffle to help buy them a minivan. He had seen that I was gonna be nearby, and asked if I could come by. I couldn't come by that day, but I had a show a few days later, so I sent a limo to pick them up, brought them to the show and gave them a goodie bag. We had some onesies printed up with my name and logo, and I wrote them a check just to help out a little bit. It was a really cool thing. I want to be that guy ... somebody that my fans can say they know.

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