Kip Moore discusses his new album Wild Ones. Photo: Alan Poizner

Three years ago, on his debut album, Kip Moore sang “don’t give up on me yet, I’m still growing up.” Fans and his MCA Nashville team stuck with him, and his long-awaited sophomore effort proves why—and how much he grew up in the meantime.

Up All Night was a quality project marked by Moore’s restlessness, with songs about moving around (“Everything But You,” “Reckless”) and youthful loving and leaving (“Crazy One More Time”). Today he’s mostly left behind the field parties and small town shenanigans (“Beer Money,” “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck”) that populated the first album.

What hasn’t changed on his upcoming release is Moore’s penchant for red dresses (“What Ya Got On Tonight”), back seats (“That Was Us,” and, yes, “Backseat”) and passing green around the campfire (“That’s Alright With Me”), as he told the crowd gathered at his short performance last night (Aug. 12) at the Basement East in Nashville.

“I like to have a song on the record that’s a statement song about who I am, and ‘Reckless’ was that song on the Up All Night record,” he said. “People say I can’t talk about left–handed cigarettes in music, and I say ‘yes I can.’”

Today he’s a man who knows what he wants, and he’s upfront about it: “Girl what’s the matter with you… Come and get it,” he sings on the new album. He also knows what his fans want. He never stopped touring between projects and the title track “Wild Ones” is an ode to them.

MCA Nashville’s Kip Moore, UMG Nashville Chairman and CEO Mike Dungan. Photo: Alan Poizner

Overall, Wild Ones shares the same top-notch songwriting as his first album but with a heavier sound and bolder lyrics. Whatever a song’s mood, Moore owns it—whether it’s the quieter introspection of “Comeback Kid” or the brashy “I’m To Blame,” where he sings, “Where there’s blue lights, just read me my rights.” Other standout tracks include “What Ya Got On Tonight,” and “Girl of the Summer.” Of the latter, Moore got the idea during a trip to the beach, and the storyline is reminiscent of Don Henley’s classic “Boys of Summer.”

Moore said, “I’ve kept the same core group of writers, because I believe in them and they believe in me. I keep the people close to me that were there for me at the beginning. But Westin [Davis] introduced me to this quirky bird named Luke Dick a little while back. And I love the dude. He really expanded my mind in a different way on this record.”

Moore, Davis and Dick conjured up “Magic,” an album highlight. “We were talking about all the fairy tale stuff that’s written and how we didn’t feel that way a lot of times about love,” said Moore. “So that’s how the song started.”

He closed the set with “Running For You,” which could be the next single. Wild Ones will be released Aug. 21.

Wild Ones Tracklist
1. Wild Ones (Kip Moore, Chris DeStefano, Brett James)
2. Come And Get It (Kip Moore, Brett James, Manny Medina)
3. Girl of Summer (Kip Moore, Troy Verges, Blair Daly)
4. Magic (Kip Moore, Westin Davis, Luke Dick)
5. That Was Us (Kip Moore, Westin Davis, Dan Couch)
6. Lipstick (Kip Moore, Justin Weaver, David Frasier, Westin Davis)
7. What Ya Got On Tonight (Kip Moore, Troy Verges, Blair Daly)
8. Heart’s Desire (Kip Moore, Dan Couch, Adam Browder, Erich Wigdahl)
9. Complicated (Kip Moore, Chris DeStefano, Rodney Clawson)
10. I’m To Blame (Kip Moore, Justin Weaver, Westin Davis)
11. That’s Alright With Me (Kip Moore, Dan Couch, Luke Dick)
12. Running For You (Kip Moore, Troy Verges, Blair Daly)
13. Comeback Kid (Kip Moore, Erik Dylan, Ross Copperman, Jeff Hyde)

Lee Ann Womack performs at ASCAP’s 2015 P.R.O.mote The Vote event.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) held its second annual “P.R.O.mote The Vote” industry showcase yesterday (Aug. 11), the same day CMA ballots were emailed to voting members. The invitation-only crowd gathered mid-day at The Rosewall in Nashville to enjoy a much-welcomed schmoozefest, complimentary cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, and artist performances.

Michael Martin, who heads the ASCAP Nashville membership office, says, “ASCAP created this event to remind people that every vote counts, and that just one vote can make the difference in these artists getting on the CMA Awards final ballot. We developed P.R.O.mote the Vote to raise as much awareness as possible on the day the CMA Awards second round ballot comes out.”

(L-R): RaeLynn, Kelsea Ballerini, Striking Matches’ Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis

ASCAP Creative Director Robert Filhart adds, “​We created P.R.O.mote the Vote in 2014 as a way to recognize our ASCAP artist members and all of their accomplishments of the past year​,​ and to support them in the upcoming CMA Awards​ voting season. ​Building on ​last year’s ​event, we once again partnered with​ ​Fifth Third Bank’s music group​ and Loe​b & Loeb ​for another hugely successful event that we plan to​ continue for years to come.”

ASCAP Executive V.P. of Membership John Titta served as host and introduced featured acoustic performers RaeLynn, Striking Matches, Kelsea Ballerini, Canaan Smith and Lee Ann Womack. While welcoming the crowd from the stage, he quipped, “Thank you for letting a New York guy come up here!”

(L-R): ASCAP Nashville VP Michael Martin, Lee Ann Womack, ASCAP EVP of Membership John Titta

Valory Music Co.’s RaeLynn opened the performances with a new song, “The Zoo” followed by her hit, “God Made Girls,” but not before expressing how thankful she was to everyone in the room for the song’s success. I.R.S. Records’ recording artist Striking Matches (Justin Davis and Sarah Zimmermann) hit the stage next with two songs from their project, Nothing But The Silence, produced by T Bone Burnett. After performing “Trouble Is As Trouble Does” and “Make A Liar Out Of Me,” there was no doubt Zimmermann had left the audience mesmerized with her signature guitar shredding.

Black River’s Kelsea Ballerini was up next and performed the Eddy Arnold classic, “Make The World Go Away.” Having celebrated her first No. 1 song the previous day for “Love Me Like You Mean It,” Ballerini sang her chart topper while everyone grooved along.

Canaan Smith then took the stage with “American Muscle” and “One of Those” from his recently released album, Bronco. He excitedly shared news that he was upgrading to his first touring bus right after the party was over.

“This is the stuff legends are made of,” proclaimed Titta as he introduced Lee Ann Womack who rounded out the “P.R.O.mote The Vote” bash with “Chances Are” followed by the title track to her latest album, “The Way I’m Livin’.”

Now it was time to go vote. CMA ballots for the second round have been sent out and voting closes Thursday, Aug. 20 at 6:00 p.m. CST.

Artist Canaan Smith and ASCAP’s EVP John Titta

All Photos: Ed Rode