Justin Cole Moore (born March 30, 1984 in Poyen, Arkansas) is an American country music singer and songwriter signed to Big Machine Records imprint Valory Music Group. He has released one album for the label, the self-titled Justin Moore, which has accounted for four Top 40 singles on the Hot Country Songs charts. Among these singles are the Number One "Small Town USA" and the Top Ten single "Backwoods.".
Music career
Justin 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]
Moore 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 Moore a record deal if the singer would be patient.
2008-present
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 #38 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts late in the year. Moore 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.[4] His next single, "Small Town USA," entered the charts in February 2009,[5] 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 Moore co-wrote nine of ten tracks.[6] Justin Moore debuted at #3 on the Top Country Albums charts.[7] Moore 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.[6] 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, which has become Moore's third Top 20 hit on the country charts.
Musical styles
Steve Leggett of Allmusic describes Moore 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."[5] Moore has said that he learned to write songs because, when he had first moved to Nashville, no songwriters wanted to offer him material.[6] His album has received mixed reviews from music critics: Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time referred to Moore as a "poseur" for name-dropping,[8] and Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic referred to it as "anonymous country rock."[5] The 9513's Karlie Justus said that Moore's influences were comparatively more authentic than most other acts on country radio,[9] and Matt Bjorke of Roughstock said that his music has "a heavy dose of southern, country charm and twang."
Studio albumsYear Album details Peak chart positions US Country US CAN Country 2009 Justin Moore Released: August 11, 2009 Label: Valory Music Group 3 10 40
EPsYear Album details Chart positions US Country US Heat 2009 The "You Asked for It" EP Released: June 9, 2009 Label: Valory Music Group 54 49
SinglesYear Single Peak chart positions[11] Album US Country US 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 — "—" denotes releases that did not chart
Music videosYear 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
