Jaren Johnston looked at me before he sang his next song in front of a packed house at Nashville’s famed Bluebird Café and said, “How do I know you?”
I froze, feeling the room staring at me. I waited for a few beats, hoping my longtime buddy Kip Moore, who was hosting the songwriters’ night in honor of his new album Solitary Tracks, would jump in and save me. He didn’t.
My brain processed whether to go with, “Gees, Jaren. We went to college together more than 20 years ago and had the same classes.” Or possibly, “I’ve interviewed you about your band Cadillac 3, your songwriting, and your work as a producer a few times a year for the largest outlets in the country for the last decade.” Before I could decide, he jumped back in with, “This is awkward.” Shooting Moore the dirtiest look I could muster while resisting the urge to crawl under the table, I whispered: “I write about country music.”
Johnston said, “Oh yeah. I was drunk for 10 years.”
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“I Write About Country Music”
But this isn’t a Jaren Johnston story. He was just a lead character in Thursday night’s episode of my 12+ year series of Kip Moore adventures. Johnston and Moore are great friends. He co-wrote six of the 23 songs on Moore’s new album Solitary Tracks, and they co-produced the project together. Moore, Johnston, and fellow co-writer Casey Beathard played the private writers round. All of them seasoned professionals – and all of them nervous.
Moore, who headlines arenas worldwide, recently won the 2024 CMA International Artist Achievement Award. He’s a wildly charismatic, engaging performer who delivers a high-octane blend of country and rock where audiences don’t sit, and lyrics aren’t wasted. For him to walk into a renowned listening room where the industry audience must be quiet and no one stands up was a drastic change of scene. Each of them expressed their apprehension, and Johnston and Beathard admitted they weren’t sure they even knew the songs they wrote for Moore that they were supposed to sing. An intense thinker who takes the craft of songwriting as seriously as anyone, Moore good-naturedly needled Johnston and encouraged Beathard to sing whatever he wanted—regardless of if it was on his Solitary Tracks album.
Moore threw it to Beathard to launch the night. Beathard, who has written songs including Eric Church’s “Homeboy” and Kenny Chesney’s “Don’t Blink,” explained that Johnston stays up all night and Moore is “up at the crack of down.”
Kip Moore Is a Thinker Who Never Stops Thinking
“When you get out of bed, he’s going, ‘So, I got this,’” Beathard said. “I’m like, ‘Let me get my coffee first.’ He’s the real deal. The thinker never stops thinking, and his heart is in the right place.”
Beathard played the only song Moore didn’t co-write, “Bad Spot.” The song is a play on words about losing a relationship in “a bad spot,” as if the cell phone lost reception. Johnston followed with “Rivers Don’t Run” before Moore took over with “Livin’ Side,” which he and Dan Couch wrote with Kristian Bush.
The hopeful “Livin’ Side” includes the lyrics: But tonight I kicked out the footlights| That were shining on a broken man| Yea, hey took my deposits, so I cleaned out my closet| Shut the door on the boogieman
Kip Moore is Livin’
Much has changed for Moore since I first met him at another white tablecloth restaurant in Nashville well over a decade ago. Beverly Keel, who was over PR at Moore’s then-record label, called me and asked me to go to lunch with him. I didn’t know him and didn’t have time. She promised he was the label’s main priority. We met at Sunset Grill, and four hours later, we walked out, both feeling like we’d been to therapy. We were about the same age and talked about our parents, his sisters, and music. Nothing seemed off limits.
I watched as the label made good on its promise to prioritize Moore. “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck” was a chart-topping smash that enabled me to get him a huge front-page story at the outlet where I then worked. He’s the only artist that ever personally called to say thank you. He was nominated for awards, and other hits, including “Hey Pretty Girl,” “Beer Money,” and “More Girls Like You” followed. He kept letting me into his creative world. Once, he let me come to his house and sit in on a songwriting session with Dan Couch and Westin Davis. That story won one of the most significant awards of my career. But what I remember the most about that day—other than watching the men work on the back porch – was the gnats. After his friends left, Moore leaned on his kitchen counter, grabbed a box of healthy leftovers from the refrigerator, and asked what he should do.
That Time Kip Moore and I Built a Gnat Trap
We built a gnat trap from juice, a bowl, and aluminum foil. It was supposed to be plastic cling wrap and apple cider vinegar, but we used what we had. I have no clue if it worked.
One of his buddies started a gym. Moore, also known among country music fans for his physique, wanted to help his friend, so he called and asked if I would write a story. I did. His friend shared Moore’s workout, and people ate it up.
Another time, he came by my outlet in his truck, picked me up and we went driving to listen to his new music. He was melancholy at the feedback he received from the label about the songs. I could understand why. Moore was reaching deeper, and label executives weren’t excited about the new direction. We wound up at Walmart, where he left me sitting in the cab listening to his music while he went in to buy a new air filter.
After my dad died, Moore gently broached the subject, and we had one of the most comforting conversations about the timeline of healing that I’ve had.
So, when Johnston called me out in front of a room of people, and Moore didn’t come to my aid … I might have called him a jerk (or something else) to his face. He laughed and said that because of how people were sitting, he couldn’t see who Johnston was talking to. Then he hugged me.
Kip Moore Shows Up with Hugs—or Sends Liquor
While I was writing this story today, a large box arrived on my doorstep. I pried open the cardboard and found a big bottle of Jack Daniels emblazoned with Moore’s name, his logo, and two matching whiskey glasses. I’m sure the gift was a mailer planned long ago that many people received. However, as I’m contemplating opening the bottle, it does balm the Thursday night embarrassment.
Moore’s new album, Solitary Tracks, on his new record label, Virgin Music Group, is available now.
(Photo by PJ Brown)
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