biography
If true country music is what you want, then look no further. Being described as one of the best voices to ever cross the streets of Nashville, Craig is making waves in a huge way here in Music City.
Born and raised in south Georgia, Craig knows the true and honest values of living the country life. Being the youngest of five siblings, it was not easy standing out until the day his mom and step-father brought home an upright piano. At the early age of 7 years old after a morning of worship at the local Baptist Church, Craig came home and sat down at the piano and began picking out the melody of the hymns that had been sang that day in church. Then began the musical roller coaster.
Craig spent the next few years trying different methods of piano lessons from individual teachers to teaching systems that worked with the Nintendo. These lessons would have little effect since by the time Craig learned the lesson, he had memorized it, thus creating his own interpretation and style. Craig went on to play piano for his church and sing specials until he graduated high school.
Lets back up a minute. At the age of 15, Craig entered a contest that was called at the time, the Jimmy Dean/ True Value Country Showdown. With the songs "Be My Baby Tonight" and "Foolish Pride", Craig was able to win this contest beating out 22 other local contestants. Craig then realized at this very young age that being on stage is where he was meant to be.
Back to graduation. Craig got a job with the Department of Corrections after graduating high school. For the next three years, Craig spent his days guarding criminals and his night going to the local music scenes in hopes of maybe getting on stage with the bands and sing a couple of tunes. Then one night a club owner told Craig that if would put a band together, he would let Craig play at his bar. Two weeks later Craig quit his job, assembled a band, and started working on their set list. A month after that Craig’s band was the house band at a local bar named Kerrigans. For the following couple of years, Craig’s band, named "Out Of The Blue", would travel the country and play at every bar from Davie’s Junction near Miami, Florida to Stockmens Casino in Elko, Nevada. When the band split up, Craig made that fateful trip to Nashville on five rolls of quarters and two rolls of dimes.
Since moving to Nashville in 2002, Craig has began networking and meeting as many industry people as possible. In 2005, Country Music Star Tracy Byrd hired Craig as his full time keyboard player. He went on to tour with Byrd for almost two years. Having the opportunity to play for TByrd has allowed Craig to see the hard work it takes to be successful in the music business. When asked what it was like playing piano for Tracy Byrd, he simply said, "Tracy is an awesome guy to work for. He is quite possible the most real and down to earth ‘star’ I’ve ever met. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything in the world."
The past several years have been most exciting for Craig. Hit Songwriters began hearing Craig’s voice on a lot of demos so they would hire Craig to come in and sing their songs that would be pitched to major recording artists. After singing many demos for hit songwriters such as Buddy Brock who wrote "Watermelon Crawl" for TByrd and Monty Holmes who wrote "Never Again, Again" for LeeAnn Womack and "When Did You Stop Loving Me" for the great George Strait, Craig began writing songs with these guys as well. Writing songs is a way for Craig to express what he really wants to tell the world who Craig Campbell is.
Craig has spent the last year working on his live show and recording hit songs in the studio while creating a buzz around Nashville. The wheels are turning and the wall is coming down. Craig will be on the radio soon, just keep your ears open.