Kip Moore is known for his strong work ethic. This summer sees an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, a lengthy tour of America and Australasia, and a return to South Africa where he previously played to a crowd of 40,000. We’re not left out either as he’s earned a coveted slot at State Fayre Festival. This is all in support of his new album, his second in two years. Reason To Believe was co-produced with Andrew DeRoberts (Stephen Wilson Jr., Tate McRae, Zac Brown Band). So, what does Kip Moore believe in? Let’s find out.
Kip Moore ‘Reason To Believe’ review
There’s a strong guitar twang and a driving Western solo but the vocal delivery blurs the genres – drawing as much from ’80s bombastic Springsteen or Creedence Clearwater Revival as current country drawlers. He knows country tropes (“I can see the train coming straight down the line”) but he’s not about to take on that outlaw country identity: “I ain’t no killer/I ain’t no victim/I ain’t on the bankroll of any politician.” Although he sings “ain’t the kind to go and draw a line in the sand,” he is doing it figuratively. He’s comfortable in his skin and not out to start trouble, but he’s no pushover either: “I’ve got both fists clenched if you’re looking for a fight.” The production is as clear and resolute as the lyrics, with guest vocals by Hillary Lindsey. Levee is the strongest country album openers we’ve heard in a while by a country mile.
Get What You Give opens with extended guitar feedback followed by a driving beat and another rousing 80s-influenced rocker; a high-gloss Americanized take on Status Quo‘s chugging rock ‘n’ roll. The inevitable stadium singalong is practically baked in to the production here. Lyrically, it’s a kiss-off about inevitabilities too. The hometown sweetheart who “sank this ship and stripped it for the wood” is now living the consequences of her choices: “he’s got his cocaine and his Cadillac but he don’t know how to make you laugh like I did/I hate to see you sad, baby, but it is what it is/get what you give, pretty baby.”
Moore’s drawl is prominent in The Darkness. Here we get more maritime iconography: “boy, you’re an anchor and I’m cutting the rope/try to look on the bright side, have a little hope/but I can’t pull you out of that river.” Between this and the confident delivery and strident production, we’re getting flavours of Sturgill Simpson. Thematically, with implied references to The River and the Darkness On The Edge of Town, we’re again hearing aspects of Springsteen (and how Brian Fallon reinterprets those worlds too). Still, it may well be Moore’s own ‘Janie’ that takes charge here, rather than Springsteen and The Gaslight Anthem’s ‘Janey.’
Heartbreaker? Yes, it’s Tom Petty-esque. The guitar work, the singalong simplicity, the reverb, the wildflower reference, and the baked-in nostalgia: “At least now I know what to look for/devil in a red dress/out there on the dance floor/don’t catch her eye, no/don’t drink that whiskey/but, if I know me, I’ll fall again.” It’s another inevitability. After all, we already know that Moore’s long since known there’s “somethin’ ’bout a girl in a red sundress.”
Strong but slightly vulnerable, we hear a 46-year old deftly projecting advanced age and wisdom in the song Headlights. Country is a genre replete in carefree truck songs (hell, Moore’s own breakthrough track was Something ‘Bout A Truck!) but this one hits different. There’s a lifetime of regret in the chorus: “I lose myself in who I think you thought I’d be/yeah, I let you go/yeah, I set you free/but I still get high on could’ve beens and slow down at your street/I shine my headlights on your window/Oh, but I know you ain’t waitin’ there for me.”
For You & Me, Hillary Lindsey is back, as a co-writer this time. By now, Moore has set us up to wait for the other shoe to drop like in the Springsteenian narratives he and we are used to. We’re sure we know what to expect when we hear “we learned real quick it can change on a dime/when you came to my door/holdin’ up them two pink lines.” But this isn’t The River. Metaphorically, the levee holds and the relationship survives and strengthens. In fact, it’s a happy ending version of Jack & Diane by John Mellencamp (performing as John Cougar). Moore’s ‘American kids growing up in the heartland’ kept the thrill of living. Happily, their only heartbreak was their beloved kids leaving the nest, but even then they’ve still had each other and their enduring love.
Faith In The Wind starts traditional but then picks up an unexpected beat. It’s still a heartfelt confessional reckoning with a dark night of the soul but it extols standing up resolute by trusting in whatever combination of chance, fate and faith propels him on to keep blowing in the wind: “When I left home/it was in my favor/life’s a breeze when it’s at your back/I guess I’ve learned to finally savour/every time I feel on track.”
At this point in this album, it should be no surprise that the title track, Reason To Believe, is an ode to enduring, redeeming love. Even the tone of the chorus picks up with optimistic promise: “goodbye lonely nights/so long restless sleep/I’ll be yours and you’ll be my reason to believe.”
Lonely Tonight mixes Springsteen’s Thunder Road with a bit of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Who‘s Baba O’Reilly and more than a bit of Meat Loaf. It’s a miniature rock opera that takes place over one too-short night: “You can say goodbye when the dawn arrives/we knew you were destined to go/I won’t complicate these emotions at stake/there’s nothin’ I need to know/she said I know the truth with a guy like you/so baby tell me no lies.”
Simply drawled out Long Time Coming is ostensibly about a real love arriving in its own sweet time, developing deep and slow. However, in a more meta way, it also encapsulates the album: “like rock ‘n’ roll, baby, coming back in style.”
Wild Things Like You is perhaps the most traditionally “country” song in the record, all “I tried to quit you baby” and Kentucky rain. It gets you wondering if this is the truth – or at least the deep-seated fear – the darkness that Moore keep returning to despite all his hope in the power of love: “Well I guess I always thought someday you’d plant some roots/and then I’d finally catch you/maybe plant a couple too/Who am I kiddin’ baby?/That fairytale ain’t true/I’ll always be out chasin’ wild things like you.”
If we’ve heard a lot of ’80s rock influences so far, Sober mixes in additional influences from generation further back with pop rhymes and summer vibes and also a generation forward with some Kings of Leon Sex on Fire sounds.
Josephine shares the same writers and includes metaphor about future and fate, wondering if there are still options and self-determination and hope in the heartland: “We’re long way gone But we ain’t dead yet…Such a damn struggle just living this life/doing what we can ’cause we don’t live twice/Josephine, I’ve never seen you cry/underneath it all, are you screaming why?”
So, is there still reason to believe as the album title says? Yes. The abiding sentiment is “if in the end you can still call me a friend/that’s enough for me to have no regrets that we didn’t do much but we did our best.” The placement at the end of the album seems significant, earned, and heartbreakingly poignant because this album is a farewell and tribute to Moore’s first producer, songwriter and mentor, Brett James. So, that’s it, that’s the message – friendship, no regrets, do your best. On an album of darkness edged out by hope, belief, love and endurance, those qualities are more than enough to represent a life well lived and well loved.
“I felt like I was describing more of who I am as a human. This album is my daily thoughts. In here. It’s an ‘in here’ kind of thing.”
– Kip Moore
Reason To Believe Tracklisting
1. Levee (Kip Moore, Luke Preston, Hank Born)
2. Get What Ya Give (Kip Moore, Luke Preston)
3. The Darkness (Kip Moore, Andrew DeRoberts, Luke Preston)
4. Heartbreaker (Kip Moore, Jaren Johnston, Casey Beathard)
5. Headlights (Kip Moore, Andrew DeRoberts)
6. You & Me (Kip Moore, Andrew DeRoberts, Hillary Lindsey)
7. Faith In The Wind (Kip Moore, Andrew DeRoberts, Luke Preston)
8. Reason To Believe (Kip Moore, Dan Couch, Scott Stepakoff)
9. Lonely Tonight (Kip Moore, Casey Beathard)
10. Long Time Coming (Kip Moore, Andrew DeRoberts, Luke Preston)
11. Wild Things Like You (Kip Moore, Dan Couch)
12. Sober (Kip Moore, Manny Medina, Dave Nassie, Erich Wigdahl, Hank Born, Will Lynde)
13. Josephine (Kip Moore, Manny Medina, Dave Nassie, Erich Wigdahl, Hank Born, Will Lynde)
Reason To Believe is out now on Virgin Music Group.
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