Justin Moore is a man who has always done things his own way. You don’t get 11 number ones spread over six albums any other way. New album ‘Stray Dogs’ is another slice of classic Moore, full of unapologetic anthems, guitar grit and melodies popping off all over the place. We were thrilled to talk to him all about it and his wider career in general in one of our favourite interviews in a while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justin, it’s an absolute pleasure to speak to you today, thank you for giving up your time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, thank you too. I appreciate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ‘Stray Dog’ is another great album, what a run you’ve been on since the debut in 2009. How do you feel like you’ve grown and changed as an artist in that time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The more and more you do something the goal has to be to get better and if you’re not you are probably doing the wrong thing! (laughing) I think the more you do this as an artist you learn who you are and what you want to say. I had an idea back in the day as to what I wanted to say and since then I’ve become a husband and a father of four and anytime you change as a person you also change as a songwriter too, as life happens to you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hopefully, I’ve matured a little over the years as a person and an artist. You learn different techniques in the studio too in terms of being able to craft a song better and even ‘sell’ it better in terms of the delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve always admired how you’ve always done things your on way and on your own terms. I’d love to have been in the room when you told the record label you were leaving Nashville and moving to Arkansas, which was a gutsy move all those years ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (laughing) Well, I didn’t really ever tell them! I did mention that I was thinking about it a few years prior to me doing it and they didn’t really like the idea so I didn’t bring it up again but I was on the phone with my manager one day, a couple of albums into our career and we had been fortunate enough to have some success, and he goes ‘You’re a grown man, dude, you can live where you wanna live!’ So I moved home and it wasn’t until 2-3 years after that the label president, Scott Borchetta, who I have a great relationship with, called me and we were talking about the single I had out at the time and he asks, ‘Oh, by the way, how long have you been living in Arkansas?’ (laughing) It was my goal to prove to them that I could do my job just as well from Arkansas as I could from Nashville. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I wanted to move back around family and it was healthy for my wife and I and the kids and the label understands that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The consistency in your career has been great. Your 11 number ones have been spread across all your albums rather than just coming in a glut at the beginning or from just one or two of your six albums.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s the first time someone has said that to me in that way before, it’s cool to think about it that way. Radio has been really good to me throughout my career. I signed my record deal in 2007 and the first single was late ’07 but it didn’t do very well but ever since then they’ve been fantastic to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve made and developed really great relationships with radio. Even when TV hasn’t been that great to me, radio has always been consistent and supportive. It’s one of the main lifebloods of our industry and we’ve been blessed to have had good relationships with them from the start, which is important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n