| Justin Moore | |
|---|---|
Justin Moore at the 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Justin Cole Moore |
| Born | March 30, 1984 [1] |
| Origin | Poyen, Arkansas, USA |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar |
| Years active | 2007-present |
| Labels | Valory Music Group[2] |
| Associated acts | Randy Houser |
Justin Cole Moore (born March 30, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter signed to Big Machine Records imprint Valory Music Group. He has released two albums for Big Machine Records: Justin Moore in 2009 and Outlaws Like Me in 2011. He has charted six times on the Hot Country Songs charts, including the number one hits "Small Town USA" and "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" and the top 10 hit "Backwoods".
Contents |
Moore began performing during his senior year of high school.[3] After graduating, he joined his uncle's Southern rock band and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2002.[3]
Through his music attorney Bernie Cahill,[4] he met a young producer in Nashville, Jeremy Stover, who introduced him to Scott Borchetta, a respected industry executive who was planning to launch The Valory Music Co. Borchetta promised to give him a record deal if he would be patient.[3]
Justin Moore has been criticized for his style of cowboy hats. His hat is hand made but comes from the line of Atwood Straw Cowboy hats.
In mid-2008, Moore signed to the Valory Music Group, an imprint of the independent record label Big Machine Records. The label then released the digital single "I Could Kick Your Ass". His first radio single, "Back That Thing Up", was co-written by his producer Jeremy Stover and Universal South Records artist Randy Houser. It reached number 38 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. He continued working on his debut album, which was part of a special promotion called "So You Want to Be a Record Label Executive". This promotion placed his music on social networking sites such as MySpace and iLike, where fans were allowed to create playlists comprising ten of his songs; the top ten songs picked were then included on the final album.[5] His next single, "Small Town USA", entered the charts in February 2009,[6] followed by a digital EP entitled The "You Asked for It" EP.
On August 11, the label released his self-titled debut album, on which he co-wrote nine of ten tracks.[7] Justin Moore debuted at #3 on the Top Country Albums chart.[8] He promoted the single and album on a "Small Town USA" tour which began in his hometown of Poyen and included several stops in small towns, as well as acoustic shows at Walmart stores.[7] On the Billboard charts dated for October 3, 2009, "Small Town USA" became his first Number One hit. "Backwoods" was released as the album's third single in October 2009; the song was his second Top 10 hit with a peak of #6 in April 2010. The album's fourth single, "How I Got to Be This Way", debuted at #54 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of June 12, 2010; it became his third Top 20 country hit.
In February 2011, he released the song "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away", which was originally recorded by Rhett Akins on his 2007 album People Like Me but did not chart. Justin Moore's rendition debuted at #46 on the Hot Country songs chart. In June 2011, the song became his third top ten hit on that chart, and a month later, reached Number One. "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" serves as the lead-off single to his 2011 album Outlaws Like Me, released June 21, 2011.
He will appear on the Flatts Fest 2011 Tour with Rascal Flatts, Sara Evans, and Easton Corbin.
Steve Leggett of Allmusic describes him as having "a ready-made image. He was that good kid from a small town with a rowdy heart of gold who just happened to be able to sing about it."[6] He has said that he learned to write songs because, when he had first moved to Nashville, no songwriters wanted to offer him material.[7] His album has received mixed reviews from music critics: Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time referred to him as a "poseur" for name-dropping,[9] and Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic referred to it as "anonymous country rock."[6] The 9513's Karlie Justus said that his influences were comparatively more authentic than most other acts on country radio,[10] and Matt Bjorke of Roughstock said that his music has "a heavy dose of southern, country charm and twang."[11]
Justin Moore married his wife, Kate of Houma, Louisiana, in 2007. They have two daughters, Ella Kole, born February 11, 2010, and Kennedy Faye born November 21, 2011.
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [12] |
US [13] |
||
| Justin Moore |
|
3 | 10 |
| Outlaws Like Me |
|
1 | 5 |
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [12] |
US Heat [14] |
||
| The "You Asked for It" EP |
|
54 | 49 |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [15] |
US [16] |
CAN [17] |
|||||||
| 2008 | "Back That Thing Up" | 38 | — | — | Justin Moore | ||||
| 2009 | "Small Town USA" | 1 | 44 | — | |||||
| "Backwoods" | 6 | 69 | — | ||||||
| 2010 | "How I Got to Be This Way"[A] | 17 | 101 | — | |||||
| 2011 | "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" | 1 | 49 | 76 |
|
Outlaws Like Me | |||
| "Bait a Hook"[B] | 19 | 73 | |||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [20] |
|||
| 2012 | "Run Rudolph Run" | 58 | The Country Christmas Collection |
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | "Back That Thing Up" | Wes Edwards |
| 2009 | "Small Town USA" | Chris Hicky |
| "Backwoods" | Kristin Barlowe | |
| 2010 | "How I Got to Be This Way" | Chris Hicky |
| 2011 | "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" | Peter Zavadil |
| "Bait a Hook" | Shane Drake |
| Year | Association | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Inspirational Country Music Awards | Mainstream Inspirational Country Song - "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away"[22] | Won |
| Inspirational Video - "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away"[22] | Won |
<ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Country_Songs; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text
|
|||||||||||