While it’s true that country radio and awards shows have both become somewhat friendlier to those who roam away from pop or bro-country (Chris Stapleton, case in point), it has also created a strange gray area for people like Moore.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that any artist, when they are putting their heart into something, they want people to appreciate their work. I got into this because I love to write and play music. “On this one, I probably need to hold my tongue,” he says after several seconds of silence. But Moore passed through awards season largely unrecognized, something he’ll only really talk about with more of those weighted pauses than words. Or that his powerful, raspy howl warranted a best vocalist nod. Singer Paulette McWilliams on Her Years With Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, and Steely Danīut there are things it hasn’t yielded, too, like a Number One single, massive record sales (it’s moved around 75k so far) or nominations at the CMAs, ACMs or Grammys - and one could make a case that the often introspective, Nineties-glossed Wild Ones deserved to float in the same category as albums like Kacey Musgraves’ Pageant Material. Since the album was released in August, it’s scored heaps of critical praise, reinforced his near cultish fanbase and allowed him to extend his headlining tour as far as Australia, where he’ll play a series of dates Down Under beginning this weekend.īlack Sabbath on the Making of 'Vol. It was an experience that spiraled the singer into a period of depression, but also birthed the excellent, emotionally charged Wild Ones. The Georgia-born Moore would know, after the entire follow-up to his now gold debut LP Up All Night was shelved when its lead single didn’t make an impression on radio. It’s not always easy, in today’s country climate, to follow an alternative point of view. “A lot of times, my team gets frustrated because they think I am trying to buck.

It’s something he tends to do a lot over the course of a conversation when things turn more personal - it’s not that he’s hesitating he’s just taking a moment to make sure he articulates himself just as he likes.

“I don’t purposefully go against the grain,” says Kip Moore, seated in a Nashville conference room in a Dakine hat and a little more scruff than his usual five o’clock shadow, looking up after a long and heavy pause.

Complicated lyrics kip moore