Justin Moore is a small town boy with a heart of gold, who has been releasing hit records and thrilling audiences with his brand of Country Music for 17 years. His fan appeal and stage show have made him a perfect addition to many Country Music festivals and he will return to The Country Fest at Clay’s Resort Jellystone Park in North Lawrence, Ohio, for his fourth time this Friday night (June 14).
We had a chance to talk to Justin about his return to The Country Fest when we caught up to him while on hiatus at his home in Poyen, Arkansas. Justin made the move back to his hometown after spending years in Music City, and explained why the move has been so important to him and his family.
“It’s great, but Nashville was good to me,” Justin admits. “I lived there about 9 years. When my wife and I had our oldest daughter, who is now 14, we decided that we would move back home. It’s been really good for us and our family.”
One of the biggest factors of moving back to Arkansas was family. Justin and his wife Kate married in 2007 and have been growing their family ever since. While living in Nashville, they would only see each other a day or two a week, while Justin was spending a lot of time on the road touring. Now with a family with 3 girls and 1 boy, having family around comes in handy.
“We have four kids, so having grandma and grandpa around really helps,” stated Justin.
Justin will instill the help of family when he hits the road this week and makes his way back to The Country Fest stage.
“It’s a great festival,” states Justin. “We’re looking forward to coming back because this is one of the better one’s.”
“It’s fun. In the summertime when you get to do these kinds of things where there’s a number of different artists,” Justin continued. “In a lot cases we’re friends, but don’t have the opportunity to tour together on a regular basis, or see each other’s shows, catch up with each other face to face. It’s just a different energy.”
“People ask me all the time do you like playing arenas, amphitheaters, or festivals,” Justin explained. “I enjoy it all, and we’re a band that thrives off doing different things.”
We asked Aaron Green of The Country Fest about having Justin perform for the fourth time at their event and he stated, “Justin’s show is electric, Ohio loves him and The Country Fest fans love him. I’d have him play every year if he could.”
Justin Moore performing at The Country Fest in 2016. (Photo: CCM)
Justin has a long list of hits and #1’s to pull from when he takes the stage on Friday night. “We’ve been really blessed, I don’t know what to attribute it to, were thankful – (interruption by his son who was celebrating his birthday on the day we spoke). “Sorry, my son just came in here,” Justin interjects. “It’s his seventh Birthday today, so he is a wild man.”
After a welcome interruption from the birthday boy, Justin went on to state, “We’ve been really lucky, and I say this as humble as I possibly can, we’ve had a lot of hit records.”
“It’s hard to pull those (hit songs) out of there (set list), but there are times there are hit songs we don’t get to play, said Justin. “I would have never thought that when I first started. I’m just so grateful.”
“I’ve never been a drug guy, but being on the road is kind of like a drug,” said Justin. “I learned that during covid. I thought man, I could give this up at anytime and I’d be happy at the house, and I love being home, don’t get me wrong. I learned throughout that, being home for a year and a half or something like that, and not getting to play music live in front of the fans. Then I thought I can’t do this, I need the adrenaline rush or the connection or whatever it is. It’s probably a lot of things.”
We had our own song requests for Justin on Friday night and asked was if he will perform “You, Me & Whiskey” with Priscilla Block, who will be performing right before Justin on Friday at The Country Fest. The pair recorded the duet which became Priscilla’s first chart topper and Justin’s eleventh.
“Yeah, we’ll have to do that,” stated Justin. “Priscilla and I haven’t spoken. She texted me a couple of days back and I need to text her back. That would be awesome.”
Justin and Priscilla have performed the song live numerous times before. “She went out and toured with us last year when we were working the song,” explained Justin. “We did 20 – 30 shows together last year. We became really good friends over the past couple of years and anytime we have the opportunity to work together and do the tune together, we take advantage for sure.”
“It’s a lot more fun to sing it with her, than it is to sing it without her,” he laughingly admitted.
Justin Moore performing at The Country Fest in 2017. (Photo: CCM)
I asked Justin one more question, which I like to ask a lot of people I interview. If you were not playing music, what would you be doing?
“Something with sports. I’m just as passionate about sports, if not more so, as I am about music, Justin states. “I tell people all the time, if I was 6’6″ instead of 5″6″, I would have played a lot longer than I did. Be it in baseball or basketball. But, that didn’t happen and I picked up a guitar.”
Not a surprising answer in the least knowing his affection for sports. But, I know there are a lot of Country Music that are happy it turned out this way, including this one.
Justin Moore will be performing at The Country Fest at Clay’s Resort Jellystone Park in North Lawrence, Ohio, on Friday, June 14th at 8pm. Tickets are available at TheCountryFest.com.
