Seasoned singer-songwriter Kip Moore has delivered an introspective, emotional collection of songs with his fifth studio album, Damn Love. The 13 tracks, co-produced by Moore along with Jaren Johnston (The Cadillac Three), offer the familiar grit and passion fans have come to know and love, along with a new sense of vulnerability.
Moore opened up to Music Mayhem and other media about the complexities of Damn Love, what he wants fans to take away from the album, and more.
The “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck” singer emerged onto the mainstream country scene in 2012, captivating audiences with his raw vocals and authentic storytelling. Since then, Moore describes the progression from his first album to this fifth album as a journey of “self realization.”
Recalling the early days of his career, Moore “was having a really difficult time finding any peace because I was so stressed about keeping the ship moving and keeping everyone happy and keeping the circus going, and not having to go back to the jobs that I was doing before.” At the time, he felt that he was finally doing what he loved, but he wasn’t enjoying the fruits of his labors. “I wish that I could have been more present in that time, because there were a lot of beautiful things happening that I wasn’t really seeing. But now I can see.”
With this record, Moore says he continues to figure out where he fits in. “I’ve always felt like I’ve been a little bit on the outside edges and a little bit of an outsider, sometimes misunderstood.” He hears things said about him that don’t match his true identity. “Just because I might be a little more quiet as an artist and not walk in like, ‘here I am!’ and people take it as I’m being whatever.”
In addition to exploring his identity, Moore also examines the contradiction of love. “Some people are experiencing the power of it and the good feelings from it and the euphoric nature it can bring. And then the next person is literally dying of heartache from the same exact word, you know?” The combination of those ideas have Moore reflecting on where he fits in with being able to give and receive love. “There’s that constant kind of search for it throughout this record.”
“Damn Love”
Moore wrote or co-wrote 12 of the 13 tracks, but he cut one outside song – the title track, “Damn Love.” Co-producer Jaren Johnston “forced” Moore to listen to the song he’d helped write. The pair had already written “Peace and Love” together, which started to shape the record’s theme. Johnston, who rarely pitches his own music, asked if he could play “Damn Love” for him. “Sonically I loved it right away,” says Moore, who felt that the tune had an edge to it that fit in right away.
Once he saw the title, he felt it encompassed everything on the album. “That embodied everything because of the complexities of that word [damn]. And there’s a frustration with that word and trying to figure out the way you see it.” For Moore, it’s about the challenges of how to give and receive love as you get older. “Once we get past a certain age, it’s like we lose our innocence little by little. These things chip away at us and then we start getting more and more guarded and all these things.” He describes being young and fearless, then getting a few battle scars and heartache that make it harder to accept love. “I think that’s why I felt like it was a perfect title track for the record.”
Moore admits that he’s more likely to be himself and open in his music than in real life with strangers. “A lot of times that can be kind of dark to people. But it’s how I feel at times.” One of those times was when he wrote the track “Mickey’s Bar” while sitting at his kitchen table at 2am after being on the road for a month overseas. “I’ve always kind of slipped in and out of dark spaces, and I can find my way out and navigate and try to understand why I’m in it,” he admits. “Lines like, ‘Bobby had a dream playing for the Yankees, but two bad knees, and he’s a junkyard car.’ That’s a metaphor for myself. It’s a metaphor for, once I’m not an asset, I’m another number and they’ll be on to the next.”
Written under similar circumstances, “Guitar Slinger” is another autobiographical track on the album. Feeling sleep-deprived between gigs on a long tour, Moore says his body “felt just completely broken down.” He’d poured himself a glass of whiskey and felt a song coming on. “That lyric fell out right away. And that was just an honest statement of exactly what my life is. ‘Another dawn creeping in and I guess it’s my bedtime again.’”
Moore says he misses the mornings and describes the odd balance of his personality and career. “I’m an outdoor junkie who is a pure-introverted heart and I have the most extroverted career in the world. So that weighs on me. I love what I do and I feel so blessed [and] I feel so thankful to get to do something that I love to do, but being a frontman is not something that… I just always kind of wanted to write songs [and] I think it’s something that I’m good at, but it’s not always a natural place even though I feel very natural up there when I step away from it.” Moore describes “Guitar Slinger” as “a wrestle with the internal battle of staying and doing something that you love to do. Like I love it with everything I have, but there is a price that comes with it way too much.”
Moore intentionally took risks with the production of both “Mickey’s Bar” and “Guitar Slinger,” saying that he didn’t want them to fit in the confinements of three minutes “because I was hearing it as this completely, more anthemic journey with the music than the lyric. I already knew how dark the lyric was and I wanted to make sure the music took you on a heavy journey, just like the lyric.”
Listening to the album feels like a cinematic experience, which easily translates into the three music videos that have been released. Moore says, “I try to write from that standpoint, to be honest. I try to make the whole thing feel like a movie.” Although the video for “Kinda Bar” was released second, it’s actually the first part of the storyline where Moore and his love interest meet.
The second part of the storyline is “Damn Love,” which illustrates the joy of the couple’s relationship.
In the last piece of the story, “Sometimes She Stays” depicts Moore and his love interest revisiting moments in their relationship, set against the backdrop of New York City.
Although there are different things that Moore says the album does for him, he wants fans to take their own journey while listening to it. “I never really know what kind of journey people are gonna go on with these records. All I ever hoped for is that I make you feel something, I make you feel something internally, some kind of visceral reaction happens. I never want it to just be background noise.” He hopes that the music takes people through a spectrum of emotions, whether it’s sadness or joy. “I feel like sometimes in radio that we have to keep everything light and everybody just has to stay in this place of like, we’re still partying, even though the world’s freaking so scary right now, we’re still drinking beer and we’re still partying. And I don’t think that’s real. I don’t think that’s a real emotion.”
Moore recalled a moment when he experienced the cathartic power of music following the death of his father. He walked into a Kroger grocery store late one night recently and became emotional when he heard Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind.” Seger was his dad’s all-time favorite artist. “I just started weeping, just weeping uncontrollably,” said Moore. “I said, nope, not tonight, Kroger. And I walked out, got in my car, and I went home. And I’m glad I felt that. That’s the power of music, you know? So I just hope that I strike a chord with people and I help you tap into whatever it is you got buried, whatever it is you’re trying to release, whether it’s happiness, sadness, whatever that is.”
Kip Moore’s Damn Love Track List
1. Damn Love (Jason Gantt, Jaren Johnston, James McNair)
2. Kinda Bar (Kip Moore, Dan Couch)
3. Neon Blue (Kip Moore, Dan Couch, Jaren Johnston)
4. The Guitar Slinger (Kip Moore, Dan Couch)
5. Heart On Fire (Kip Moore, Jaren Johnston)
6. Another Night In Knoxville (Kip Moore, Dan Couch)
7. Silver And Gold (Kip Moore, Dan Couch, Chris DeStefano)
8. Peace & Love (Kip Moore, Jaren Johnston)
9. Sometimes She Stays (Kip Moore, Kenton Bryant)
10. Some Things (Kip Moore, Dan Couch)
11. One Heartbeat (Featuring Ashley McBryde) (Kip Moore)
12. Mr. Simple (Kip Moore, Jaren Johnston)
13. Micky’s Bar (Kip Moore, Dan Couch)
Moore recently kicked off his DAMN LOVE WORLD TOUR with multiple sold-out headlining shows in Australia and South Africa and he’ll continue the tour with headlining shows in Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K., along with a slot at Bonnaroo this summer. Inviting special guest The Cadillac Three along for his fall tour, Moore’s headlining U.S. run is set to launch in Saginaw, MI on Aug. 24th. For a full list of tour dates, visit kipmoore.net.
