“Just like the song, he’s not physically here but he’s still very present in our lives,” Craig Morgan said
Craig Morgan continues to honor his late son, Jerry Greer.
During his appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the country singer, 55, brought host Kelly Clarkson and her guests Eva Mendes and Blake Shelton to tears when he performed his emotional ballad “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost,” which he wrote after his son died at 19 in a tragic tubing accident on Kentucky Lake in Tennessee.
“I lost my son in a drowning accident three years ago. I tell some of my friends, for them it happened three years ago but for me it was yesterday. And every day is yesterday,” Morgan told Clarkson, 37, during his sit-down.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2):format(webp)/kelly-clarkson-2-1-bd04e9563ae145089ad3d3c81ac9808a.jpg)
Speaking of the songwriting process, the grieving parent said, “It’s extremely therapeutic, it’s like talking about myself, it’s very difficult but it’s also a wonderful thing. Just like the song, he’s not physically here but he’s still very present in our lives.”
Shelton, 43, also spoke about the impact of Morgan’s song after surprising his friend during his interview with Clarkson.
“It’s easy to connect that song to anything that’s happened in your own life. But because Craig has been a friend of mine for so long, and Gwen [Stefani] and I were actually at the funeral,” The Voice coach said. “It was his story and it hit me that hard just knowing him and the horrible tragedy, I can’t even imagine. It’s such a great, great song. And he had sent it to me.”
In September, Shelton championed Morgan’s song by encouraging fans to move “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost” up the iTunes chart. “I would gladly give up my spot on country radio to get this song on.. Wow @cmorganmusic you blow me away brother,” Shelton tweeted, adding a link to the song. “There’s nothing easy or fun about writing a song like this but sometimes it’s just something you gotta do.”
On Sunday, Morgan released a new music video for the single, which was filmed in the loft at his family’s The Gallery at Morgan Farms in downtown Dickson, Tennessee, according to CMT.
“A lot of video shoots seem to go on forever but I was honestly surprised by how quickly it went. It felt like we were done before we got started,” he told CMT. “I thought they did an amazing job portraying the message and vision of the song.”
Morgan added, “Its simplicity embraces the truth of the lyrics of the song. I hope this video lifts people up. For anyone who has experienced loss, I want this song to give them the desire to pursue their faith and to have hope.”
In September, Morgan spoke with PEOPLE about the song and the death of his son. “It’s still difficult. I mean, Jerry is the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about when I fall asleep,” he said.
“There are times when I am angry and I don’t understand it, and then there are times that I am joyous that we had him for 19 years. You have to let those joyous moments steer you away from the anger. I pray about it all the time. I don’t understand it and I probably never will until I get to heaven,” he shared.
