Justin Moore knows what a Justin Moore song should say.
"If I'm writing [a song], I say exactly what I want to say," the country musician says.
That's why Hank Williams Jr. plays on the radio, there's a six pack of light beer in the future and a dirt road that leads nowhere but paradise in the autobiographical "Small Town USA," Moore's first No. 1 country single back in 2009.
The tune, a relaxed acoustic slice of the idyllic life co-written by Moore, is pretty simple. Nothing fancy. Moore sings what he wants to say about wishing for a Saturday night and promising Sunday morning grace in small town U.S.A., a fictional town probably based on Moore's hometown of Poyen, a tiny collection of right-angle streets between Malvern and Sheridan in Grant County.
At other times what Moore says with one of his country songs is a little louder, such as with "Lettin' the Night Roll," a No. 1 hit once again co-written by Moore from his 2013 album Off the Beaten Path. Here, Moore's aw-shucks vocals are matched with '80s guitar rock and a soaring modern-day country chorus. It's music that reaches the edge of the country music genre stratosphere.
And even when Moore, 32, doesn't write a Justin Moore song, he knows what they should say.
"The process I take with recording outside music is ... if I hear a song I wish I had written, then that's a good song for me," he says. "That's kind of the mentality I take to it and the approach I take to it. Some you know; some you just go, 'That's so me.'"
Knowing when a tune is a Justin Moore song is how Moore selected tracks for his fourth album, Kinda Don't Care, which comes out this Friday.
The album is somewhat of a departure. On Moore's previous three albums -- his self-titled debut in 2009, Outlaws Like Me in 2011 and Off the Beaten Path -- Moore co-wrote many of the songs. This time around, though, most of the songwriting was done by others with Moore singing their words.
"Some [songs] you have to listen to a few times, but I really enjoyed the process of listening to a lot of music this go around," Moore says. "It was something a little new and different for me."
That's how one gets the hard-charging "Robbin' Trains," the first track on Kinda Don't Care. It's perfect for Moore: the tale of a hell-bent, happy and charming outlaw who knows a mischievous grin is sometimes his best weapon.
The 11 tunes that follow are vintage Moore (a deluxe version of the album includes five additional tracks). Some are playful; some are serious; some fast and loud; others are slow and put a tear in your beer.
The album's first single, "You Look Like I Need a Drink," with its crisp drums and stabbing '90s roots rock rhythm, is already a Top 20 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. Other songs from Kinda Don't Care are set to barrel into the charts.
And then there's a tune Moore is ready to unleash: "More Middle Fingers," a duet with Brantley Gilbert. Moore is currently touring with Gilbert on his Take It Outside Tour.
"It's perfectly timed for this tour, and [Gilbert] and I have discussed maybe doing a video," Moore says. "We had a hit record together a few years ago called 'Small Town Throwdown,' and this is like the second coming of that. I'm looking forward to that one."
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Moore and his hometown are a natural fit; like a voice from the heavens cried out long before either existed and said, "Justin Moore is Poyen, and Poyen is Justin Moore. So be it."
Growing up, Moore was a good student -- "a bright kid," he says, and salutatorian of his class -- but he graciously mentions all he cared about was playing baseball and basketball. (Moore was a member of Poyen's 2002 Class AA state title basketball team.)
Beyond sports, though, there were really no "plans or aspirations of doing anything." And that left Moore a little scared.
Here's where Moore received some fatherly advice: What about pursuing music as a career, his father asked. The younger Moore grew up a music fan, listening to country and other genres, singing tunes by Dwight Yoakam and George Strait, and singing at church and winning a local talent search contest in Poyen.
But he never seriously considered music until his senior year of high school, when he started playing professionally. He and his father educated themselves about the business, so much so that after Moore's high school graduation in 2002, he moved to Nashville, Tenn., by himself that fall.
"I [didn't] want to wake up and wonder, 'What if?' when I [was] 30 years old," Moore says. "Even if I [didn't] become a successful country artist or songwriter or whatever, I at least wanted to be able to look myself in the mirror and say that I tried. That's kind of the path that led me to where we are."
That path was paved with talent, hard work, long nights playing club shows in Nashville and hot days playing festivals back home in Arkansas, and, what Moore simply admits was luck.
"It's so much luck involved," he says. "I've always said that the people who are successful -- no matter what business it is, whether it's the music business or any other business -- you have to, on your own terms before you're successful, you have to be prepared to take advantage when opportunities present themselves. That's the difference between people who are successful and people who aren't. ... I always tried to prepare myself so if I got a shot to take full advantage of it."
Part of that luck was being introduced to producer Jeremy Stover, who has produced all four of Moore's albums and co-written songs with Moore such as "Small Town USA."
Luck also is Moore meeting his manager, Peter Hartung, who was first introduced to Moore through a CD that Moore's father sent to a studio in Nashville that was owned by Hartung's friend.
The two have been together for 14 years, with Hartung saying Moore is "one of the best singers in our genre," while also praising his genuineness and integrity.
"He lives and breathes country music," Hartung says. "I honestly have never met anyone so young who knows the history and the songs that represent the earliest days of country music. It's pretty incredible how he can hear a song once or twice and sing the lyrics and exact melody."
The friendships, the work, the talent and the luck came together in 2008, when Moore was signed to The Valory Music Co., part of the Big Machine Label Group.
His debut album arrived in August 2009. The first single, "Back That Thing Up," co-written by Stover and Randy Houser, who was mostly known as just a songwriter then, did pretty well, entering the Top 40 of the country charts.
The next single was "Small Town USA."
Listeners, country music fans, radio disc jockeys, music executives, critics all took notice. Moore had it. That sound.
"Justin's sound and swagger is authentic as it gets," says Joey Gonzales, Moore's tour manager for seven years. "He truly is a great ambassador for country music."
The Poyen boy made big.
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Here Moore is now. Thirty-two and a country music superstar.
That's right. Superstar. Count the six No. 1 country hits between Billboard's Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. The two No. 1 Billboard Top Country Albums (among three released, and everything points to Kinda Don't Care being another No. 1 hit).
Then there are the tours, including headlining and tours with fellow superstars such as Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert and Gilbert.
Throw in the red carpet appearances. The music videos. The print, online, TV and radio interviews and appearances.
In 2014, he was named New Artist of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
Yes, superstar. Not bad for a boy from Poyen, a town where people support the local schools -- go Indians! -- the Arkansas Razorbacks and each other. A town of 290 souls, where the hottest thing in town is ... well, Moore.
Moore's next Arkansas concert is Aug. 15 at the Metroplex in Little Rock. He'll probably have a few more Arkansas shows before the end of the year, too. There's talk of a fundraiser for Poyen Missionary Baptist Church, where he was baptized, which burned to the ground in May. Then there's Moore's "tradition" of playing a concert in connection with a Razorback football game.
And for the fourth year in a row he'll hold his acoustic benefit concert for the Boys & Girls Club of Saline County, a show that has raised almost $300,000 in the last three years.
By that time, this fall, right when the Take It Outside Tour ends and deer season and Razorback football starts ("Woo pig," says Moore), Moore hopes to be a Poyen boy again.
He and his family -- wife Kate and three daughters, Ella, Kennedy and Klein -- are building a house on family land in Grant County. Their old house in Saline County is sold. The family is currently renting a house in Malvern.
Moore's returning home.
"That's it," Moore says. "We ain't going anywhere else after that. I ain't moving one more time."
First, though, comes Kinda Don't Care. Don't mistake the title as Moore being unconcerned. He knows how important this album is. So do the people around him.
"His new album will not disappoint his fans and should also grow his fan base," Hartung says. "There's a little bit of what the fans would expect and some songs that push the limits just slightly for him without losing what he's known for."
Discussing Kinda Don't Care, Moore uses words and phrases such as "stretched my legs," "most diverse," "proud" and "best one." He says he's a better singer than he was on previous albums. He knows himself as an artist, what he wants to do, say and be. This country business is becoming clearer and clearer.
"It's like anything else," Moore says. "The more you do something, you typically get better at it. If not, you're probably doing the wrong thing. I think I've just grown and developed as an artist and a songwriter to a whole different level than where I was."
The album was recorded live at Starstruck Studios on Nashville's famed Music Row, a studio that counts Reba McEntire, Strait and Carrie Underwood among its clients.
The fun Moore and his band had in the studio is tangible on the album. But Moore also pushed himself with Kinda Don't Care, handing the songwriting over to others and concentrating on the music.
And it wasn't just Moore picking what songs to record. The people in the studio offered advice, but Moore also checked with his wife, who has a "good ear and good track record," he says.
"She listens from an unbiased perspective," Moore says. "She'll go, 'I hate that' or 'I love that.' She doesn't listen with business ears and go, 'Oh, it's too long. It's not fast enough. A radio station won't like this or that.' She just listens like I used to listen."
One song Kate singled out? "Got It Good," a song written by Stover and Jaren Johnston and Neil Mason of country rockers The Cadillac Three.
It's a tune Keith Urban wanted to record because Nicole Kidman loved it. That and Kate's recommendation were good enough for Moore to claim it for himself.
Now, it's on Kinda Don't Care, an album Moore is excited for his fans -- and perhaps some new ears -- to hear.
"There are a lot of songs on this album that I wouldn't have recorded not only earlier in my career but even the last couple of years," Moore says. "I tried some things and people pushed me to try some things so I think people will be happy."
Style on 08/07/2016