Salt & Pine country music from South Jersey. "Where We Grew Up" out April 10, 2026. Craig Whitaker makes his Barefoot Country Music Festival debut June 20.
Craig Whitaker is asking New Jersey to be in his music video. Not as extras. Not as a backdrop. As the whole point.
Starting today, Whitaker is calling on residents across the state to submit their own footage — home video clips, phone recordings, anything that captures the places and people that feel like home — to be woven into the official video for his new EP, "Where We Grew Up." Submissions are open now at craigwhitakermusic.com/where-we-grew-up. The deadline is April 6, four days before the EP drops.
It's an unusual ask. It's also exactly the kind of thing Blue Claw Country was built to do.
"Where We Grew Up" arrives April 10, 2026 on all major streaming platforms. Produced by Jim Riley — the drummer of Rascal Flatts — it is the third project Riley and Whitaker have made together, and the fullest expression yet of what Blue Claw Country is: Salt & Pine country music rooted in South Jersey, and the communities that hold both together.
The EP features performances by some of Nashville's most respected session musicians, including Jenee Fleenor, a multiple CMA Musician of the Year, and Travis Toy, a 16-year Rascal Flatts veteran now touring with Luke Bryan.
On June 20, Whitaker will take the stage at the Barefoot Country Music Festival in Wildwood, New Jersey — the Northeast's largest outdoor country music festival, drawing more than 100,000 attendees each year. For Whitaker, the show carries more weight than most.
His great-grandfather immigrated from Italy in 1922 and settled in Wildwood. It's where his family put down roots. Standing on that stage in June will be, in his words, a homecoming in ways that are hard to put into words.
Between now and then, he's asking New Jersey to come along for the ride.
The community video campaign runs through April 6 at craigwhitakermusic.com/where-we-grew-up. "Where We Grew Up" is available to pre-save now at craigwhitakermusic.com/wwgu-presave.html and releases everywhere April 10, 2026.
He made the thing he needed. Then he opened the doors.
Blue Claw Country is Salt & Pine country music from South Jersey — rooted in the Jersey Shore, the Pine Barrens, and the communities that hold both together. Built by Craig Whitaker, a lifelong New Jerseyan who believes music and belonging are inseparable. Fans are Citizens of Blue Claw Country. The door is always open.
