Craig Campbell Appreciates His Stepfather’s Guidance

Craig Campbell owes a lot to his stepfather, the man who raised him. And with each Father's Day that rolls around, and now that he's a father of two himself, Craig realizes even more just how much his stepfather's guidance and love really meant to him. The 'Family Man' singer was a bit of a wild child growing up in a house with three siblings, so he's thankful he had his stepdad to steer him in the right direction as a kid.

"If it wouldn't have been for him, I don't know what I'd do," Craig tells The Boot. "I'd be in prison right now. I was a bad kid. My stepdaddy came into the picture when I was six, so he had a lot of room to work. I was undisciplined and had no repercussions for my actions until my stepdaddy. My mama had four kids, and she had her hands full. He taught me the basics and took me to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night, and taught me right from wrong -- beat it into my head, figuratively. What he taught me is what I'm trying to teach my babies now."

In fact, his impending fatherhood is what inspired Craig to write his debut hit, 'Family Man,' a song he feels describes who he is and aspires to be more than any other. "I wrote that with a friend of mine. Around that time, I found out I was gonna be a dad for the first time, and 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 it's one of my favorites and one of my best." [Watch the 'Family Man' video below.]

Craig has been burning up the road with Willie Nelson and the Country Throwdown tour, and although he has a hard time being away from his girls, Kinni Rose (who was named for Craig's father) and Preslee, says he looks forward to the day when he can take his family out on tour with him. Until then, he has a plan.

"I hate being gone sometimes because 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 them 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."

Craig's new single, 'Fish,' a tongue-in-cheek song about a girlfriend who discovers she loves one of her boyfriend's favorite pastimes, is currently climbing up the charts.

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