While growing up in the city known as the Home of the Blues, J.R. Moore was surrounded by the best of the best of blues, rock and country. Now, after a decade of fronting the rock band Ingram Hill, this father of two has embarked on his solo career with his EP Rocket, released on November 30. Each of the five-tracks tells of real-life stories while revealing Moore’s own take on country music.
We caught up with the Memphis native prior to the new year to talk about his background, the EP and what is to come in 2019.
CN: For our readers who may not be familiar with you, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
JR: Well, I’m a singer, songwriter, and guitar player, born and raised (and still live) in Memphis, TN, and I have been a professionally musician for my entire adult life. I spent a good chunk of that touring the world as the lead singer of a band called Ingram Hill, and I have just recently released my first solo album. I’m a huge sports fan, and a faithful, and often frustrated, follower of the Memphis Grizzlies and Tigers.
CN: Growing up in Memphis, you were surrounded by rock, country, and blues. At what age did you personally discover music? What kind of an impact did growing up among all that music history have on you as a musician?
JR: I’m not totally sure I know exactly when I discovered music. I was just always into it. Though I do vividly remember, at 14 and in the midst of believing my parents were complete idiots and not cool at all, my dad brought me into his room and played me Steppenwolf, Janis Joplin, and Jerry Jeff Walker records (on vinyl, of course), and it blowing my mind that my dad owned cool music. At that point jumped into his record collection with both feet and discovered tons of great music. I do think that growing up in Memphis kind of added a natural grit to what I do, and not in a conscious way. When you’re constantly surrounded by blues, rock, and country, and in the city where a ton of it originated, it just kind of gets in your blood.
CN: Which musicians have influenced you both personally and as an artist?
JR: At this point, I feel like that list changes all the time. There are just many good artists and writers out, that I get moved and inspired by new people all the time. But in the beginning, I wanted to be some sort of mix of Tom Petty and Elton John. Those were my guys.
CN: You have written with some of Nashville’s leading songwriters including Adam Hambrick and Bruce Wallace. Can you take us through your song writing process? Do you draw mostly from personal experiences, or from those around you?
JR: I typically start with a melody. That can be a good or bad thing. It’s quite common for country writers to have a title first, and then write around that. I can do it, but it’s not my normal process. I certainly think writing flows better when I write from personal experience, though sometimes others people’s experiences are just too good (or bad!) to pass up.
CN: Do you remember the first song you wrote?
JR: I do. I was a senior in high school. Naturally, it was about a girl I had a crush on. It was an awful song. She never heard it.
CN: Following a decade-long career with Ingram Hill, you decided to go solo and released your debut EP Rocket at the end of November. What inspired you to take the leap and go out on your own?
JR: Well there’s a scope of what kind of records you can make with your band, and that limitation can be great, as when you have great chemistry, you can make great records, which I think we have and we did. Making a solo album allowed me to try new things, with new players, sounds, and ideas that weren’t available to me before. I was able to do something that felt totally fresh, but still felt true to me.
CN: How did it feel to see this personal project come together? What was your process in selecting which songs made the cut?
JR: It felt great, and it was a relief. It took a lot of time and effort to get the ball rolling, and I sometimes worried we’d never get started, much less finish a record. But it’s a terrific feeling to see it through, and I’m so happy with the outcome.
When we were selecting songs, Matt, Lawrence, and I just made our own private lists, and then cross-referenced each other’s. We somehow got super lucky that we all agreed four of the songs, and the fifth was really a toss-up. Thankfully, no one got their feelings hurt by a song being left out.
CN: The EP features five tracks including the heart-touching lead single “More Than Anyone’s Ever Loved.” We would love to hear the stories behind these songs.
JR: When we wrote these songs, we had it in the back of our minds of these songs combining to tell a story throughout an entire album. But we didn’t want it to be a bland, on the surface story. We wanted that detailed rawness to come through, because relationships aren’t just always sunshine and rainbows. But when they are sunshine and rainbows, we wanted it to it to be vivid. There was no way we could that by creating some faux situation and writing songs about it. We talked about it, named specific people in our lives, and specific stories, and then built songs around those feelings and memories. Whether it be the moment my friend met his wife, or the waitress I had in a restaurant in a tiny town in Tennessee. It was real stuff.
CN: Memphis is represented throughout the album via blues and rock influences such as in “Now You’re Gone”. Was it important to you to give the album a Memphis-country sound to it as homage to your roots?
JR: Absolutely. We wanted my Memphis-ness to show through. It was just another level of authenticity to this album. Even though I love redneck country, it wouldn’t be all that believable for me to make an album like that. We literally went in with the mindset of “what would a country album sound like coming out of Memphis instead of Nashville?”
CN: What was the first concert you ever attended?
JR: Tim McGraw, Little Texas, and Blackhawk at The Pyramid in Memphis. Though Blackhawk had to cancel because a bandmember’s wife had some sort of emergency. Sadly, that was the band I wanted to see the most.
CN: Do you have a dream collaboration in mind?
JR: I mean, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to work with someone like Kendrick Lamar, or other smart hip hop writers. But I don’t think Rob Thomas has ever written a bad song in his life. Or Brandi Carlile.
CN: If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be and why?
JR: Such a tough, tough choice between perfect and handsome…
CN: With 2019 right on our doorstep, do you have any plans already in motion for the New Year? Tour dates?
JR: I do. Working on tour dates at the moment, and will hopefully have some stuff announced soon.
For more information on J.R. Moore, visit his website at www.jrmooremusic.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.