CRAIG MORGAN ANNOUNCES 2017 “AMERICAN STORIES TOUR” DATES

Operation FINALLY HOME Welcomes “American Stories Tour” with Craig Morgan and very special guests kicks off September 29 

Taya Kyle, Mac Powell, Phil O’Donnell, Clint Romesha and more to join for select shows

Tickets on sale Friday, June 16 at CraigMorgan.com

Country music entertainer, award-winning TV host and Army veteran CRAIG MORGAN will reprise his intimate, immersive storytelling and musical experience this fall with the return of Operation FINALLY HOME Welcomes “American Stories Tour” with Craig Morgan and very special guests. The unscripted shows, which include a variety of Craig’s music and military friends, celebrate American values through both song and storytelling. The limited-engagement tour kicks off in late September in Virginia and wraps on Veterans Day with a special celebration in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. Guests joining for select shows include songwriter Marla Cannon-Goodman (“The Fool,” “Rock On”), best-selling author (American Wife) and Veterans’ family activist Taya Kyle, songwriter/multi-platinum selling producer Phil O’Donnell (“Give It All We Got Tonight,” “Back When I Knew It All”), THIRD DAY front man and “Hearts I Leave Behind” duet partner Mac Powell, Medal of Honor recipient and author (Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor) Clint Romesha as well as Craig’s daughter, singer/songwriter Aly Beaird. Tickets go on sale this Friday, June 16 at CraigMorgan.com. Twelve shows have been announced today with additional dates and guests revealed in the coming weeks.

Operation FINALLY HOME Welcomes “American Stories Tour” with Craig Morgan and very special guests

September 29 - Hopewell, VA The Beacon Theatre *

September 30 - Frederick, MD ^ Weinberg Center for the Arts *

October 6 - Knoxville, TN Bijou Theatre **

October 7 -  Louisville, KY The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts Brown Theatre **

October 8 - Saint Charles, IL Arcada Theatre **

October 12 - Redmond, OR Bank of the Cascades Event Center ***

October 13 - Everett, WA The Historic Everett Theatre ***

October 14 - Boise, ID Revolution Center ***

October 15 - Red Bluff, CA^ State Theatre for the Arts ***

November 9 - Atlanta, GA The Buckhead Theatre ****

November 10 - Birmingham, AL The Lyric Theatre ****

November 11 - Nashville, TN City Winery ****

* Special guests Mac Powell and Aly Beaird

** Special guests Mac Powell, Aly Beaird and Clint Romesha

*** Special guests Mac Powell, Aly Beaird, Taya Kyle and Marla Cannon-Goodman

**** Special guests Aly Beaird and Phil O’Donnell

^ On sale at later date

“I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to play massive arenas in front of thousands upon thousands of people but there is something really special about these smaller, intimate shows where I’m sitting onstage with my guitar and sharing stories from my heart,” said Craig. “I’m bringing out guests and we’re talking and singing and telling stories about our country and God and family and all the things that are important to us.”

Get a preview of Craig Morgan’s “American Stories Tour” at YouTube.com/CraigMorgan.

Named Operation FINALLY HOME’s 2017 Ambassador, Craig has partnered with the national non-profit to provide mortgage-free homes to veterans and their families from select dates during his 2017 tour.

Declared “a mature record that, while not afraid to have a little fun, values poignancy over pop country,” (Rolling Stone Country) Morgan’s newest album A Whole Lot More To Me is available now and the eighth season of his award-winning TV series Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors will debut on Outdoor Channel this summer.

THIRD DAY FRONTMAN MAC POWELL RELEASES SELF-TITLED DEBUT COUNTRY PROJECT

More Than Two Dozen Dates Already Booked For Fall Solo Tour 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (August 1, 2012) - Mac Powell, front man of the multi-platinum selling, four time GRAMMY and American Music Award winning rock band Third Day, releases his self-titled debut country music album on August 21, 2012. The CD features twelve songs by the #1 hit songwriter including his first single, “June Bug” which he released last month through his Twitter account (@macpowell) to his more than 80,000 followers.

His recent solo country performance debut at the 2012 CMA Music Festival in Nashville resulted in a host of media and fan accolades. Of his song, “One Mississippi,” USA Today’s Lucas Hendrickson writes, “Note to country radio programmers: keep an ear out for ‘One Mississippi.’ And keep a spoon handy, for you will be eating this song up with it.”

"I grew up listening to country music," Powell tells Billboard. "It was a big part of shaping me musically and I think that's pretty evident in Third Day music. There's always been little tinge of it."

To help further shape the sound he was looking for, Powell worked with producer Jason Hoard who has been touring with Third Day since 2010. Hoard, a multi-instrumentalist, played banjo and mandolin on the album and also contributed to the songwriting credits along with famed tunesmith Brett James (“Jesus Take the Wheel,” “Love You Out Loud,” “Out Last Night,” “When the Sun Goes Down”).

"I started writing with Brett. He was really the first step," says Powell in his Billboard interview. "We just hit it off really well and came up with a lot of ideas in a short amount of time, and then Jason worked on a few of those ideas as well. We started recording them and it just started feeling great.

“There have been so many times in the past that I had song ideas that didn’t really fit lyrically or musically with Third Day,” Powell wrote on his personal Tumblr site, announcing the project. “I filed those songs away to the ‘maybe sometime’ category. Well, that time is now.”

Powell is already booked for over two dozen shows this summer and fall to introduce fans to his new music. He’s back by a seasoned group of country musicians, affectionately named The Backsliders, and although it’s a bit of a change for an artist whose primary outlet puts him in front of thousands of fans a night, it’s a change he clearly feels led to follow. “It’s different to think about getting in a van with a trailer and driving five to eight hours a night,” Powell told USATODAY.com. “It’s something I never thought I would do again, but when you’re driven to get this music out, you’ll do it.”

Powell also stresses that his work with Third Day continues, with the band putting the finishing touches on a new album – helmed by veteran rock producer Brendan O’Brien – that’s due for release this fall, with a Spring 2013 tour to follow.

About Mac Powell:

As front man for Third Day, Powell has contributed to the Atlanta-based, multi-Platinum act’s 27 No. 1 radio singles and more than seven million album sales, including two RIAA Platinum as well as eight Gold certifications. A Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee (2009), Third Day has garnered 24 career GMA Dove Awards from 42 nominations, four GRAMMY Awards (with 11 career nominations), an American Music Award (with three American Music Award nominations) and multiple ASCAP honors, including its coveted Vanguard Award, for songwriting.

Long known as Christian music’s premier live band, Third Day has played for audiences reaching into the millions all around the world.

Third Day has been featured by top media outlets including “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (NBC), “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (CBS), “60 Minutes” (CBS), ABC’s “Nightline,” USA Today, the New York Times, and even graced the cover of Billboard magazine, which called Third Day “one of the best rock bands.”

For more information on Mac Powell, please visit www.macpowell.com and www.facebook.com/macpowell and www.twitter.com/macpowell.