Country singer Craig Morgan is doing so well these days, he could kick himself.
"If I was any better I'd have to sit on my hands to keep from clapping," says Morgan, who plays the Pima County Fair on Saturday night.
Applause is certainly in order:
● His latest single, "International Harvester," cracked the Top 10 on Billboard's country chart.
● His most recent album, 2006's "Little Bit of Life," sold about 350,000 copies.
● He just signed a new record deal with Sony/BMG, the major label powerhouse behind superstars Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley and Martina McBride.
His jump to the major label came after a five-year, three-album run with indie darling Broken Bow, where Morgan scored 10 Top 10 hits and a pair of No. 1s. One of them, 2005's "That's What I Love About Sunday," spent five weeks in the top spot and was Billboard's most played country song in 2005.
Those milestones, though, haven't translated into record sales. Three of his four albums have been certified gold (500,000 sales), but he has yet to go to the next level, platinum (1 million).
"I had a lot of success with Broken Bow Records, but I and everyone in the industry had agreed that we had plateaued with that label," Morgan said in a phone interview last month. "I just felt like we needed the machinery, and these guys (Sony) are the machine. For one, they get records in the store. It's hard to sell platinum when you don't have enough records in record stores."
Morgan is hoping the move will also help put a face to the voice.
"When they see Craig Morgan, they don't know it's the Craig Morgan who sang that song," he said.
Morgan blamed Broken Bow's marketing department, which still hasn't recovered from a recent shake-up. The label also fell short in distributing records to stores. Given his chart success, Morgan reasoned, his record sales should be much stronger.
"I thought we would be bigger by now, and I think we would have been if we had been on a major label," he said. "(Broken Bow) didn't have marketing, they didn't have a sales team. Their distribution plan was kind of in question."
This is Morgan's second major label turn. After leaving a 10-year military career, he signed with Atlantic Records Nashville in 1999 and cut one album, "Craig Morgan," that was released in 2000. Atlantic shuttered its Nashville imprint the following year.
In 2003, Morgan signed with Broken Bow. His first single, "Almost Home," quickly scooted into the Top 10 and launched the 42-year-old Tennessee-born father of four's chart run.
Morgan looks at his future with Sony as the next chapter in his career. But it will be reminiscent of the first chapter — simple three-chord melodies supporting stories of family, faith and fun.
"As far as the music and the style, I'm not changing who I am," he said, quelling concerns that he will lose his identity in the shadow of the bigger label. "What I've done in the past I'm going to keep on doing. I hope we get better. The label has made it clear they want me to continue making the kind of records I've been making."
His first single on Sony imprint BNA Records will hit radio in May, followed by a new album in the fall.
His Saturday night concert at the Pima County Fair is his first Tucson show since he played Desert Diamond Casino in 2006.
"We're excited. We love Tucson," he said. "We can't wait to come back out there. It's been awhile."
Pima County Fair concert series
The series wraps up with Craig Morgan at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Los Rieleros del Norte at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: Main Stage at the Pima County Fairgrounds, 11300 S. Houghton Road, off Interstate 10.
• Tickets: Admission is free with paid fair admission — $7 adults, $2 kids 6-10; free for kids 5 and younger with paid adult.
• Parking: $5.
• Details: www.pimacountyfair.com.
