Justin Moore likes his country music
‘traditional’
“We’ve bent, but we haven’t broken”
By Preshias Harris for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show
Justin Moore recently celebrated his latest
No. 1 hit, “The Ones That Didn’t Make It Back Home” with the song’s
co-writers. He also talked about his
current single, “Why We Drink” (See my interview with Justin at the No. 1
party, previously posted here.)
Every type of music is constantly changing
– pop, R&B, jazz, even classical – and that is true about country music,
too. Just compare Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart’” (1952) with Luke
Bryan’s “Knockin’ Boots” (2019)! Over
the years there have been sub-genres such as countrypolitan, the Bakersfield
sound, outlaw country, honky tonk, bro-country and more.
Today, the country music of the 1990s is
what many fans consider ‘classic’ country. Justin Moore was born in 1984, so
the music he listened to in his teens was, of course, 90s country. That was the
music influenced his own music when he moved to Nashville in 2002. With help
from producer and songwriter Jeremy Stover, Justin met Scott Borchetta of Big
Machine Label Group. Borchetta signed Justin to Valory Music, a new label that
was part of BMLG.
At the media round-table before the
presentation of the No. 1 Awards, Justin talked about the music that he likes
to listen to, and how that influences the songs that he records.
“At the beginning of my career, [country
music] was more traditional-sounding,” he said. “Kind of in the middle of my
career, it shifted in a different direction, and now it’s kind of coming
back. It’s always going in circles. It’s
done this forever. It’s probably been more diverse over the last few years than
it ever has been. I’m not one of those guys that whines and gripes about it.
“Personally, what do I like hearing? I like more traditional stuff. When I turn on the radio, that’s what I want
to hear, but I’m also not ignorant to the fact that there are other people who
want to hear something different. I just
feel blessed to have stuck to our guns and made it through that window of time
where it went off in a different direction.
Now maybe we’re still relevant because we’ve stuck to our guns. I don’t know. Maybe if you told me it sounds
more traditional now than it has over the last decade or so, I’m not going to
gripe about it.”
Justin concluded by saying with a smile, “We’ve
bent a little but we haven’t broken, is the way I like to say it.”
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