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Justin Moore: From “Small Town U.S.A.” to Music City U.S.A
By: Alanna Conaway
Seven years ago when Justin Moore left Poyen, Arkansas for Nashville, he had the hopes and dreams that all aspiring, young artists have. The years of hard work and determination eventually paid off for the 24 year-old when Scott Borchetta signed him to his independent label, Valory Music Group.
With his collection of songs, written during his time in Nashville, Justin headed into the studio, but he was surprised by the amount of work that was still ahead of him.
“I didn’t realize what all went into making an album. I’d done demos in town for years and years, but it’s a process,” he says. “It was really hard to pick songs because they are kind of like your babies…you can’t just pick one or two of them. I was going to the record label going ‘we’ve gotta put this on the record…ok, this is another one we’ve gotta put on the record.’ Finally, Scott goes ‘Justin, we’re not putting a box set out on your first album!’”
The album’s first single was the fun-loving “Back That Thing Up” which reached No. 38 on the charts. His follow-up single “Small Town U.S.A.” broke records for the newcomer by becoming the only song in 2009 to reach the top spot on Billboard’s country singles chart by a breakout artist.
“This was the first or second song that I wrote seven years ago when I moved to town. I knew that it was special to me because I wrote it about missing home and being homesick,” Justin explains. “I thought, well, the people who grew up like me are going to get this song, but nobody else will. Thank goodness I was wrong!”
Although he had hopes of seeing the song top the charts, Justin knew there were two people standing close by who could possibly prevent that from happening.
“We were kind of competing against two of the biggest artists in the last 20 years – Toby Keith and George Strait. It’s just pretty unbelievable,” he says of having a No. 1 single. “It’s surreal, to be honest with you. I grew up in a town with 300 people. This kind of thing just is unobtainable. It’s extremely humbling to be embraced by country radio and the fans the way that I have been.”
But Justin knows that getting a street sign honoring his achievement in Poyen, Arkansas probably won’t happen any time soon.
“We don’t even have a street light,” he says with wide eyes and a smile. “We’ve got two churches, a little bitty post office, a school, and a store where you can get a bologna sandwich and a lawnmower belt at the same time – and that’s it!”
As he closes in on playing around 200 dates this year, Justin is amazed night after night with the positive feedback he has been receiving from his fans.
“You hear people talk about there ain’t nothing like hearing everybody sing your song back to you. We had some of that with ‘Back That Thing Up,’ but it meant so much more with ‘Small Town U.S.A.’ because I wrote it, and I’m obviously a little closer to this song. The fans will never know how much that means to us. It’s pretty humbling every night to stand on stage and if I didn’t want to sing the song I don’t have to because they’re going to be there singing it for me. It means a whole lot.”
Justin’s next single off his self-titled album is “Backwoods” which sold more digital downloads than any of the other songs from his album after its release.
“I tell people I know it’s going to surprise you, but it’s another redneck song from me,” he laughs. “It’s a fun song to do live.”
The video for “Backwoods” will be shot this month and will be added to the video rotation on CMT and GAC in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, Justin and his wife Kate await the arrival of another project – the birth of their daughter, Ella Cole, in February.
“It’s funny because you know how little we’re home. I told my wife ‘Are you 100% sure this thing is mine? I ain’t been home but three days this year,” he says with laughter. “It was a surprise, obviously. We weren’t planning on it, but we’re very, very excited.”
So what is Justin’s fear of becoming a father?
“Having to kill a kid in 14 years for looking at her the wrong way and going to jail,” he jokes.
“I’m lucky that I have my wife,” he says on a serious note. “She gets this business. We’ve been together a long time. I’m lucky that she puts up with my crap and let’s me go out and do what I do. We’re out playing music and throwing a party every night for two hours onstage, but if you want to reach the level that most people want to reach in this business, you’ve got to eat, sleep and breathe it. You can’t half-ass it. Somebody’s waiting right behind you to take your spot.”
“It’s almost like I’ve been accepted,” he continues. “Obviously we’ve still got a whole lot of work to do and to keep doing my career the way we want to build it and to get to the point we want to get to eventually, but we’ve got a good start.”
Tags: back that thing up, backwoods, justin moore, small town u.s.a., small town usa, valory music
