Songfacts®:

• The closing track of Boom is a piano-driven pop-country song about a churchgoer pal, Craig Cooper, who gave Walker Hayes an extremely generous gift. Craig came to the rescue after the singer's minivan was repossessed, leaving him with one car for him, his wife and six kids.
  
  He just laughed inside that old Chrysler Town and Country van
  With the keys, and a title, and a pen in his hand
  Said 'Man, all you got to do is sign and it's yours'
  
  Hayes didn't originally plan to record the song. He just wrote the tune to demonstrate his gratitude to "Craig" for giving him the van when he was at his lowest point.
• Hayes recounted to Taste of Country the tale of what happened when he shared the song with his church pal.
  
  "He tells the story of him hearing it as he was having a couple of bad weeks and was really down and dark," Hayes explained. "I just sent it to him, out of the blue. I sent it to him and his wife and just said, 'Thanks. I always wanted to just say thanks.' It crushed him. He listened to it in the parking lot of a theater and his wife texted me and said 'He heard it, he can't speak. He can't text you right now.' I think he was just losing it, crying."
• Walker Hayes was impressed that "Craig" didn't pass judge him during his hard times. "I had a lot of wrong preconceived notions about church-y folks, and I'm bad at judging the messenger not the message. But my wife dragged me to church. And I met this guy, Craig," the singer recalled to CMT. "I think I even showed up that night a little drunk after watching football all day. But this guy and I hit it off."
• During the COVID-19 tour shutdown, Hayes began writing several Christian-themed songs. His management and publishing team set up a co-write with Bart Millard, lead singer of the Contemporary Christian group MercyMe.
  
  Millard listened to "Craig" just before they met up for the writing session, and the MercyMe singer was impressed. "At some point, Bart said, 'Not enough people in the world have heard this song,' and I suggested that we redo that song together." Hayes recalled to Billboard.
  
  He agreed and suggested making it an entire MercyMe collaboration. Hayes included their remake on his 2022 Country Stuff album.
• Walker Hayes released his first book, Glad You're Here, co-written alongside Craig Cooper, on May 3, 2022. The tome tells us more about Craig, along with the positive impact he's had on Walker's life, leading him to the Christian faith.