On the Bus with Troy Vollhoffer
Grandparents, Grit, and Going Big: Justin Moore’s Rise
Thu, 15 May 2025
Justin Moore lasted just two weeks of college before dropping out. He left his tiny, 300-person hometown in Arkansas in search of a career in Music City. After a few years of hard work, he finally made it big by leaning on his modest roots, releasing the mega hit single, “Small Town USA.” Country Thunder CEO Troy Vollhofer is thrilled to be joined by Justin Moore. Troy really gets Justin to open up as he reveals why the more personal a song is to him, the more likely it is to resonate with fans, and he tries to honor the legacy of his grandparents. Troy has a good laugh when Justin details his confrontation with Luke Bryan after recording, “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away.” After touring for nearly two decades, Justin shares why he’ll never stop playing state fairs.
Chapter 1: Who is Justin Moore and what is his journey to fame?
We're out here at Country Thunder, Arizona, and are so thrilled to be joined by multi-platinum artist Justin Moore. Some of his biggest chart-topping hits have been songs like Small Town USA, If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away, and Beta Hook. Ever since he broke out in Country Scene in 2009, he had one goal, to stay true to himself.
After nearly two decades, Justin continues to make deep personal music that stays true to his roots and to his fans. His latest album, This Is My Dirt, is out now, and you can catch him on tour all summer long. Please join me in welcoming Justin Moore to the bus. Welcome.
Happy to be here, man. We appreciate the opportunity.
Well, we're looking forward to a great show tonight.
We are too.
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Chapter 2: How did Justin Moore's small town upbringing in Arkansas influence his music?
Let's go back to the beginnings, your childhood, where you came from. So you grew up in Arkansas. Tell me a little bit about how that was.
I grew up in a really, really small town of about 300 people in Arkansas. You know, blue collar folks, God-fearing, all the cliche small town stuff you can come up with. You know, it was kind of like the set of Varsity Blues during whatever sport was in season at the time. Everything shuts down, everybody goes to whatever game it is. But a great way to grow up, a great place to grow up.
Family was super important to most everyone. Everybody in high school was going, we can't wait to get the heck out of Dodge. And then we didn't leave, or they didn't leave, or they're back, for the most part. It's one of those kind of towns. But it was great, man. And I was way into sports growing up. I played baseball and basketball.
When I graduated high school, I started thinking about maybe going to school and playing baseball. That was my favorite. Anybody out there watching that knows anything about me knows I'm a bit vertically challenged. So basketball, I could hold my own in my weight class. I wasn't gonna go to college and do that. And so I thought about attempting to go play baseball.
And about that time I started playing music. My uncle had a Southern rock band and I would jump up and play with them anytime I could. And I always sang in church because my parents made me. But yeah, when I graduated high school, I went to college for literally two weeks and came home and told my parents, I don't think I'm going back to school. And they go, why are you sick? I go, no, like ever.
And they knew that I wanted to pursue music at some point. And so a few months after high school, moved to Nashville, I was 18. And just lucky that my parents were supportive. My wife and I have four kids. And if they came in and told me that at 18, I'd be like,
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Chapter 3: Why did Justin Moore drop out of college and move to Nashville?
hell no are you crazy so i i don't know why my parents were the way that they were but i'm thankful that that they were your guitar player did you write on guitar is that is that your instrument yeah so when i moved to town i moved there in 02 and it was still you know you're using a little recorder yeah and it's all work tapes and you're booking your
I was lucky when I had been there maybe a year to get a publishing deal. I got paid $12,000 a year though, so it's one of those kind of deals. But it allowed me to meet a lot of people, and it allowed me to really learn how to write a song, because I didn't have a clue what I was doing.
And I'm in the room with guys that I really didn't deserve to be in a room with, you know, but fortunately I could sing. So I think they thought there may be something here down the road. So it was still what I consider old school. You know, then it was it was there was no writing and building a track at the same time. And then you got the track done when you get finished writing the song.
And none of that existed. It was like today. No, it wasn't like that. I enjoy doing that, but I still write on guitar.
That's great. At Country Thunder here, we have a songwriter's tent that we just celebrate the songwriter. Because I think in this format especially, the songwriter is such an important element to the greatest songwriter.
I 100% agree.
i noticed that you write a lot of your own material which is pretty cool because you know to our listeners there's a lot of artists that may or may not participate in the song right i almost think it's more difficult to pick songs that you had nothing to do with you know being in the room writing them there's a knack to that and the fact that you know those guys have done it for for that long
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Chapter 4: How did Justin Moore get started with songwriting and what is his writing process?
and pick so many great songs. I have cut outside songs, but I write the majority of what I do. And I think it's kind of easier to weed through your own. But I've never been an artist that goes, I've got to write everything. You know, best song wins to me. The fans, in my opinion, deserve to get the best music, regardless whose name is on it.
Well, let's talk about your hits, because you've had some big ones.
We've been really lucky.
The first hit? Really lucky. What was your first hit?
My first hit was Small Town USA.
Yes. Was it about 2009?
That's probably when it peaked. We put it out, I think, in 08. Yeah, we had put a single out before that called Back That Thing Up. It went straight to 38 and straight down. And I thought...
oh boy and you know at the time because i signed my deal in 07 uh at the time talking about how the the industry and songwriting is different the whole entire industry is different as you well know if you had a couple two or three singles that missed yeah You got dropped. Nowadays, the labels stick with you for years and albums, and it's just changed in that regard.
So when the label wanted to put out Small Town USA after our first single that flopped, I thought, I dig this song because I wrote it about kind of being homesick. Right.
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Chapter 5: What are some of Justin Moore's biggest hits and how did they come about?
He likes to drink beer. Singing beer songs.
Right. And that song, when I got it, was 10 years old. Okay. And I'll never forget, I saw Luke Bryan at CRS Week. You know how crazy that is. Crazy. Yeah, absolutely. And for those out there watching that may not know, it's Country Radio Seminar. It's literally every artist, everybody in the industry, and you're bumping into each other at all these different places.
Everybody wants a pound of flesh, right?
Yeah, and Luke and I had become friends because one of the first tours I did was, just tell you how long ago it was. I was first, and I had put out two singles, but Small Town was the only hit. Right.
at the time if it was even at the time it may not have been luke brown was a middle act and i think he maybe had a his third song out at the time he was just ahead of me his were working though but so i'd gotten to know luke a little bit before that kind of before we both had record deals and then we got to know each other even better out on that tour
And I'll never forget, because a good friend of Luke's wrote Heaven. He was one of the co-writers on Heaven, Dallas Davidson.
Great writer.
Great writer. So back to the song, it was 10 years old at the time. And I'm going, how has this not been cut? Red Akins had cut it on an album, but it never came out as a single or anything. And so I see Luke at CRS, and he goes, I am pissed at you. And I'm like, what did I do? I mean, you know how goofy Luke is. I love him. He's a jokester.
Yeah, and I'm like, I know he's not really mad at me, but I'm like, what are you talking about? He goes, Dallas and Rhett and Rob Hatch, another great songwriter who's on the song. They've been trying to get me to cut that song for years and years. And I'm like, well, you're a dumbass. Like, how did you not hear that? I said, I heard it one time. and know it's a hit, he goes, I don't know!
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Chapter 6: What is the story behind the song 'If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away' and Justin's connection with Luke Bryan?
Let's talk about your relationship with your grandfather. Yeah. Because you lost your grandfather. I did. And that song obviously was picked because of the inspiration, right?
I grew up really close to all my grandparents. So the land that I grew up on, my mother was raised there by her mom and dad, and the other grandfather, and then I'll get to the one that
uh about the song but he was raised on this land by his grandfather um so it's been our family since the late 1800s so he raised my mom and her siblings there and uh when my wife and i made the decision after we had our first child in 2010 we made the decision to move back from nashville to to Arkansas and we went back to my hometown of 300 people. Now it's like 306 because there's six of us.
It still hasn't grown. We have gotten a Dollar General now. But there's no stoplights. I tell people that, and they're like, what about a Walmart? I'm like, no, y'all don't understand. When I say there's nothing, there is nothing.
So that's playing, right?
Yeah.
There's a gas station. Where is it close to?
It's between Little Rock and Hot Springs, kind of. I'm about 45, 50 miles south of Little Rock.
Sure.
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Chapter 7: How does Justin Moore honor the legacy of his grandparents in his life and music?
Fortunately, I can be a little more selective about what we do and, you know, we're going out and doing, we'll do, you know, the fairs and again, some of these big festivals. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I really try to just go out and do stuff with guys that I'm genuinely really good friends with. Joe and I have become friends over the last, I'd say, seven, eight years.
You know, Tracy Lawrence and I went out and did a deal together a couple, few years ago, which was for me a blast because I grew up a huge fan of Tracy Lawrence. And he's from Arkansas.
T.L. 's a great guy.
He is, man. We always talk about, he's just got a swag about him.
I love T.L. I've known him a long time.
Yeah, great guy. He is from Foreman.
Foreman, I see his homecoming show there.
You used to do that? Oh, that was a huge. See, when I was a kid, that was a huge, huge deal.
Yeah, we used to do that show. That's how I met you.
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