Craig Morgan's brand of country music 'about a lifestyle'

Craig Morgan believes that even those who don't live in the country can relate to his latest Top 10 hit, "International Harvester."

"Country music is about a lifestyle, it's about a people," Morgan said in a recent phone interview. "But what I'm learning is that it's not just the people that live in the country. It can be someone in the city who has an appreciation or a desire to live that way."

And Morgan said "International Harvester" -- named after a line of farm tractors and agricultural equipment -- fit that mold perfectly.

"One of the things that I thought was most interesting is that people who don't know what an International Harvester is love this song," Morgan said. "And I think it's because they can relate to being stuck behind something on the road."

(Seriously, who can't relate to lyrics like: "I'm a God-fearing, hard-working combine driver, hoggin' up the road on my p-p-p-p-plower, chug-a-lug-a-luggin' five miles an hour on my International Harvester"?)

Morgan took the tractor theme a step further when he ran a recent promotion on his Web site called "You Tricked Your Tractor." Morgan asked fans to submit pictures of their "tricked-out" tractors, lawnmowers or other farm equipment to the site, where they were prominently displayed at the top of the home page.

"It was a lot of fun," Morgan said with a laugh. "I didn't think it would be as big as it was. It was overwhelming, the number of participants, so much so that we think we're going to do a round two, maybe even consider it an annual event.

"It was amazing the response that we got and some of the pictures and the ingenuity of some of these people," he added.

'a big deal out of the little things'

Stories like these are the ones that define Morgan. "I do try to make a big deal out of the little things in life, the stuff that we often overlook," Morgan said. "Those little things that trigger images in your mind are the things I like to sing about."

His latest album, the 2006 release "Little Bit of Life," also touched more on Morgan's personal life, giving fans "a more true snapshot" of the singer. For example, the song "Tough," Morgan said, "was really about all the women in my life. All the songs on this record, minus a couple of songs, were songs that were very picturesque," Morgan said.

Morgan has set early fall as a target to release his next album. He said he's finished the pre-production work, picked out most of the new songs and now just needs to find time to get into the studio. He expects a single off the new album to be released this spring.