It has been over 2 years now (April 24th, 2012), that one of the most exciting new albums in recent years was released. 'Up All Night' was the debut album by a new artist named Kip Moore.
While the album cover was so ugly, it would have been overlooked in
vinyl record bins, if they were still around, the musical content goes
to prove, 'Never judge a book by its cover'!
Kip brings a very unique voice that is both raspy and earthy along with a talent in writing deep songs about life which create big emotional pictures in the listeners mind. He had a hand in writing all 11 songs on the album and I would say, each one of them goes to prove, that country music lyrics have not (all) turned dumb in the wake of bro-country.
The musical style walks the line between country and some heartland rock touches with a great feel for hooks and melodies without getting hung up in repeat-loops of the chorus.
Already the first single from the album 'Somethin' Bout a Truck', with its visuals of pickup trucks in American culture set to music, stormed the top of the charts as one of the most popular songs of 2012.
Follow-up singles 'Beer Money' and 'Hey Pretty Girl' both went Top 10 (and even Top 5 on the Airplay charts, both being certified gold for over 500,000 copies sold), all creating images with their stories, which remind me of the classic 'Guitar Town' album by Steve Earle from the 80s.
Loved by fans, radio and critics alike, which is a rare case, everyone (including myself) was looking forward to a new album!
But as has become common practice with record companies, singles get a release way before the album does. This testing the water will actually influence the release date by delaying it if the pre-single does not work or moving it forward if commercial response promises good sales numbers for the album.
So a new single ('Young Love') was released in November of 2013, from a soon-to-be-released second album. The song again offers a great hook line, delivered with an emotional voice and some great guitar work along the nostalgic look back at young love memories.
For some strange reasons however, the song did not do as well on the charts as expected. It barely cracked the Top 30! As expected, this pushed the release of the album back to sometime around May of 2014.
Guess what, June has passed and the album has not been released but delayed again. "Kip needs more time to refine the music for the album". Is this a statement of some record executive who is not liking what he hears or has Kips well already run dry ... ? Is there no trust in a new fresh artist who has proven, that he is liked by everyone and can even prove it via his chart successes?
So the waters are tested again with a new song. 'Dirt Road' has a cool tough groove which lyrically is a modern version of Hank Williams Jr.'s 'If Heaven Ain't A Lot Like Dixie'. It has all the cliches of beer, trucks and rivers, but the rock-driven sound and the lyrical twist give it a different perspective. It is way above those songs that stop with the stereotypes (which some claim actually are true) by going above them in the true sense of the meaning.
Now, both of the latest songs were only released digitally in the US. So the songs are literally not available for purchase to anyone outside of the US. No Amazon, no itunes! In the days of the internet this sounds unbelievable; like a throwback to the times of Vinyl, when country music albums could only be obtained through special mail delivery imports. And then not all of them.
While I would love to buy the new album right now, even without having listened to it before, I might even be inclined to buy 'Dirt Road' up front, because I love it. But I am not able to do so! Do they know, that anything on youtube can be ripped to mp3 (for free)? Do those executives not want those songs being paid for?
While other new songs of Kip can already be found on youtube, we still do not know exactly when the new album will be out. Or what the title will be? Or whether the cover will be hopefully better than the one of 'Up All Night'.
I want more Kip Moore!
Kip brings a very unique voice that is both raspy and earthy along with a talent in writing deep songs about life which create big emotional pictures in the listeners mind. He had a hand in writing all 11 songs on the album and I would say, each one of them goes to prove, that country music lyrics have not (all) turned dumb in the wake of bro-country.
The musical style walks the line between country and some heartland rock touches with a great feel for hooks and melodies without getting hung up in repeat-loops of the chorus.
Already the first single from the album 'Somethin' Bout a Truck', with its visuals of pickup trucks in American culture set to music, stormed the top of the charts as one of the most popular songs of 2012.
Follow-up singles 'Beer Money' and 'Hey Pretty Girl' both went Top 10 (and even Top 5 on the Airplay charts, both being certified gold for over 500,000 copies sold), all creating images with their stories, which remind me of the classic 'Guitar Town' album by Steve Earle from the 80s.
Loved by fans, radio and critics alike, which is a rare case, everyone (including myself) was looking forward to a new album!
But as has become common practice with record companies, singles get a release way before the album does. This testing the water will actually influence the release date by delaying it if the pre-single does not work or moving it forward if commercial response promises good sales numbers for the album.
So a new single ('Young Love') was released in November of 2013, from a soon-to-be-released second album. The song again offers a great hook line, delivered with an emotional voice and some great guitar work along the nostalgic look back at young love memories.
For some strange reasons however, the song did not do as well on the charts as expected. It barely cracked the Top 30! As expected, this pushed the release of the album back to sometime around May of 2014.
Guess what, June has passed and the album has not been released but delayed again. "Kip needs more time to refine the music for the album". Is this a statement of some record executive who is not liking what he hears or has Kips well already run dry ... ? Is there no trust in a new fresh artist who has proven, that he is liked by everyone and can even prove it via his chart successes?
So the waters are tested again with a new song. 'Dirt Road' has a cool tough groove which lyrically is a modern version of Hank Williams Jr.'s 'If Heaven Ain't A Lot Like Dixie'. It has all the cliches of beer, trucks and rivers, but the rock-driven sound and the lyrical twist give it a different perspective. It is way above those songs that stop with the stereotypes (which some claim actually are true) by going above them in the true sense of the meaning.
Now, both of the latest songs were only released digitally in the US. So the songs are literally not available for purchase to anyone outside of the US. No Amazon, no itunes! In the days of the internet this sounds unbelievable; like a throwback to the times of Vinyl, when country music albums could only be obtained through special mail delivery imports. And then not all of them.
While I would love to buy the new album right now, even without having listened to it before, I might even be inclined to buy 'Dirt Road' up front, because I love it. But I am not able to do so! Do they know, that anything on youtube can be ripped to mp3 (for free)? Do those executives not want those songs being paid for?
While other new songs of Kip can already be found on youtube, we still do not know exactly when the new album will be out. Or what the title will be? Or whether the cover will be hopefully better than the one of 'Up All Night'.
I want more Kip Moore!
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