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We caught up with Kip Moore mid-tour, out promoting the triumphant release of his sophomore album, Wild Ones, to ask about his career and the new tunes.
Nashville Lifestyles (NL): You started out as a college athlete. How did you transition to full-time musician?
Kip Moore (KM): I initially went to college in Alabama to play basketball. My love was basketball, that's all I did. When I was 16 or 17 back in Georgia I used to play my brother's guitarI had to sneak around because I didn't want him to catch me playing it. When I was in Alabama, I got my first [guitar of my own], this old beat-up Yamaha. I just fell in love with it, everything else took a backseat at that point.
When I transferred schools and went down to Valdosta [State], I started playing in the bars four nights a week. I actually went down to Valdosta to play golf, but once I started playing in the bars I just didn't want to play golf anymore. I didn't want to do anything but play music. So I ended up quitting golf and just playing constantly.
NL: And then one summer you picked up surfing and got hooked…and you ended up living in Hawaii.
KM: I still didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I had no clue. You didn't hear about people making it as a songwriter where I was from. That was kind of a foreign thing to me. I knew I wanted to surf and I knew I wanted to play music, so I just bought a one-way ticket to the Big Island and would just figure out when I got there what I wanted to do with my life. I lived outside pretty much in a little lanai hut for like 50 bucks a month. I would surf all day and I'd write songs.
To be honest, I didn't know why I went there. [I was thinking] 'I don't know what I want to do in my lifethis is what I want to do right now in this moment.” But when I got out there I realized nothing was going to make me feel fulfilled but doing music.
NL: Was your new album, Wild Ones, born in Nashville or on the road?
KM: I wrote most of that record in [producer] Brett James's old studio building, behind Losers [bar in midtown]. I wrote 90 percent of it in there. I'm sure at some point pretty soon it will be torn down. Most of the properties around him have already sold; he's one of the last ones left around him. It's awful. I honestly will be emotional when that building gets torn down. I lived there for four years before I had a record deal and I spent every waking hour in that place. All the writers would leave and I would stay there till 2 in the morning writing. I learned so much about myself. It holds a special place in my heart.
NL: Have to ask about your writing process and how your current single, 'Running for You,” came about.
KM: A lot of times I'll start stuff by myself and then I'll call people that I'm close with and get together with them and finish. I wrote that song five or six years ago, during a time that I was really figuring out a lot of things about myself and life. People toss around the word love so casually. Even myself, I've been guilty of it. But I understand the power behind that word, what it really means. I feel like you see people say 'I love you” all the time…they keep the people they love in this box and as long as they can keep them [there] it makes them feel secure. You want them to have the world…to see the best things for them, you want them to be able to chase whatever they want to chase. And a lot of times that means that's going to be without youand having to accept that because you want the best for them. That's what the word means.
The guitar groove came about at about 2 in the morning. I'd just gotten off the road and was riffing around with that and singing the chorus melody. Then I got together with Troy Verges and Blair Daly the next day and we were talking about all of thatthat's what came out of it.
NL: Say you had a completely free day in Nashvilleno work allowed. What would you be doing?
KM: Well, yesterday I spent the whole day skating at Rocketown. I was the only one over 10 years old. I had a 10-year-old show me how to do tricks. I was so attentive! Otherwise, I'd be on a motorcycle ride. I'd go all through the countryside and then maybe go to a buddy's house and cook out. No obligations and weather permitting, that's what I'd do.