“I wasn’t thinking ‘this is gonna be a great radio hit,’ it was just a song I needed to write. It was an idea, a belief, that I had and just wanted to put on paper, put it to music,” Craig Campbell recalls about the process behind writing his chart-climbing single, ‘Outskirts of Heaven.’ One night Craig, who grew up in a strong Baptist home, was reflecting on Heaven. “My whole life, the description of heaven to me was pearly gates and golden streets and these big mansions, bright lights. I was just thinking about that one night and it sounds like a big city to me. I grew up in the country and its just two completely different places.”
Craig began playing the song as part of his live show and it was his fans reactions which helped him decide to release the song to radio. Craig does a lot of touring and really values the connection between him and the fans- something he learned while playing in bands for Luke Bryan and Tracy Byrd before becoming a solo artist. “I was very fortunate to be able to play piano with those guys. From Tracy, I learned a lot of how to treat the fans. He was very good to his fans and he was one of the best singers we’ve had. I just watched him and was taking notes every night on stage. And Luke, this was way before he had his record deal; you could tell that he wanted to make sure the crowd had a great time no matter what. That’s something I took from him. That no matter what we do, where we are, if it’s a big show, small show, whatever, as long as we do whatever we need to do to make sure everyone has a great time that’s what it’s all about. And Luke’s the greatest at that.”
Some of the fans who were lucky enough to get to see Craig on the road were members of our armed services as Craig went out on a tour with the USO. Craig describes the experience as “one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten to do- to see the people that were on base and the workers and the military and the security, everyone seemed to grateful that we were there to play music and seemed everyone had a great time. I can’t wait to do it again!” In addition to playing for American crowds and troops, Craig has a large following overseas. Next year he will return to Australia, where he has toured previously, and where ‘Keep Them Kisses Comin’’ was a Number One hit!
Craig has a very traditional sound to his music. He says he was essentially “taught by the best” growing up listening to and being influenced by what he calls “the best country music ever” from 1986 to 1996 including artists such as Randy Travis, George Strait, Clint Black, Shenandoah and many others. We asked him if he felt that that style of music was making a comeback and he had a very thoughtful response. “I don’t know that it’s making a comeback, I feel like there’s been a lot of a certain type of music on the radio the last few years. There’s always been a desire for traditional country music. I just feel like the access fans have to that type of music is slim, so they’ve been searching it out, and the fans are finally saying ‘hey there’s plenty of that stuff but we need to hear some to balance it out.’”
Craig has been selling ‘Make Country Music Great Again’ merchandise on his website. He says it is not a dig at any of the music that is out now, but rather a challenge to himself, and more than anything, just a spoof of the Donald Trump campaign slogan. “Make country music great again was nothing but a challenge for myself to make the best music I could possibly make and country music is that music to me. I can’t make anything other than country music. So the way I feel about it is I’m gonna make it and make it the best I can.”
We’d like to thank Craig for, as always, being very generous with the time he takes to share with NECM. You can download ‘Outskirts of Heaven’ here and be sure to follow Craig on Twitter and Facebook.
Photo Credit: Jason Myers