Craig Morgan Remembers Little Jimmy Dickens, Jim Ed Brown Backstage at the Opry [Watch]

Craig Morgan is practically a permanent fixture on the Grand Ole Opry, and he shares some fond memories of two dearly departed Opry legends in a recent interview at the country music institution.

Morgan recalls an official Opry Duck Hunt some of the members went on for many years, giving them all the chance to share stories away from the stage.

"Little Jimmy [Dickens] might have been the greatest storyteller ever — not just on the Opry, but ever," Morgan says with a fond laugh. "Some of the stories he would tell, it was almost hard for you to believe the things that he said, but they were all true ...  the times when he first came into Tennessee, where he came from, who he stayed with and the people that he met along his journey and how some of the paths crossed. It was just amazing."

Morgan says Jim Ed Brown was a less animated storyteller, but his tales were just as interesting in a different way.

"A lot of people don't know this: He's the guy that kinda got Elvis started," Morgan relates. "He toured with him on the Louisiana Hayride. He even took Elvis out on his first tour. Those kinds of things — just amazing stories. And then other stories that we won't tell," he adds with another laugh.

The "When I'm Gone" singer says the kinship of those times is part of what country music is all about. "It is a family, and that's what's wonderful about it," Morgan shares. "You work together with your family here at the Opry, and then when you go there, it's a lot of the same thing — just different stories."

Morgan is well on his way to eventually becoming one of the elder statesmen of the Opry himself. He was inducted into the institution in 2008, and will celebrate his seventh anniversary as a member this fall. He recently marked a career milestone by giving his 200th Opry performance.

An episode of the singer's show, Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors, focused on the Opry Duck Hunt will air Sunday (Sept. 6) at 11PM ET on the Outdoor Channel.

Craig Morgan Shares How His Music Literally Saved a Life