About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

You may not know it from the drift of our popular culture, but there is a small-town America out there, and people clinging to what are referred to dismissively in some quarters as "traditional values," trying to be productive members of society and bulwarks of their families. Craig Morgan sings of and for these folks, and he comes by his artistic conceit honestly: He's been a sheriff's deputy, a Wal-Mart clerk, and an Army Ranger. But lately he's been one of the most popular new voices in mainstream country, and his fourth long-player, Little Bit of Life, reaffirms his eloquence as a chronicler of working-class life. Ever been stuck on a country road, trailing a tractor puttering along well below the speed limit? Well, that fellow up in the cab has his own point of view on things, and Morgan articulates it beautifully in a thumping, organ-enriched treatise, "International Harvester," a forceful salute to a "God fearin' hard workin' combine driver." A wife and mother who keeps the kids, the house, and the family in one piece and keeps on keepin' on even after she's been diagnosed with cancer, is the subject of "Tough," a loving ballad tribute with a soaring, twin-guitar-driven chorus of classic dimension. The bucolic charm, civility, hijinks, and imperceptible actions that define the daily routine of a certain small town's life are delineated with an acute eye for the telling detail in a bluesy mid-tempo workout, "Nothin' Goin' Wrong Around Here." A driving country rocker, "I Guess You Had to Be There," recounts a saucy flirtation in a hardware store. In the rustic album closer, "Look at 'Em Fly," Morgan sings, "It's amazing what you see when you stop and look at things" -- and Craig Morgan sees a lot. David McGee, Barnes & Noble

Customer Reviews

• Listener Rating: