Typically my Headphone Headlights series includes an up and coming artist that I want to share because they’re fresh to the music scene, don’t have an insane following just yet, and maybe have an EP or two (if we’re lucky!) on Spotify. This time it’s a little different, and a lot more personal.
Kip Moore has been a longtime favorite of mine for more reasons than one. I didn’t discover him on a Spotify playlist. I didn’t come across him on one of our Nashville trips. He wasn’t random, he was intentional.
Over three years ago Ben and I went to our first concert together at Dallas Bull to see Kip live. We loved his single at the time Somethin’ Bout a Truck, and figured it was worth the trip to Tampa to see it performed live. It was a pretty crowded house for someone that we only knew for one song. What we soon figured out was that it wasn’t just one song that Kip had that was good, it was all of them. After every song that he played, Ben and I would turn to each other saying how much we loved it more than the last (much like we still do now at concerts we go to). By the time Truck came on at the end, I knew I was hooked as a Kip fan and not just an “I-only-love-his-current-single” fan.
When I say that we downloaded the entire album on our phones in the car while we drove home from the concert that night, I’m not exaggerating. As we played the album through my car speakers, I can still remember the giddiness of realizing over and over how great every song was, and honestly still is.
It’s an understatement to say that Kip’s sophomore album has been long awaited. Its title track Wild Ones is a total anthem for any fan of his, old and new. Every track tells a story. Some will get you dancing (What Ya Got On Tonight, Come and Get It). Others will tug at the heartstrings (Running For You, That Was Us), and some will have that catchy hook that just sticks with you (Complicated).
Kip’s to blame for the speakers you’ll most likely blow out while jammin’ to Wild Ones. But if you miss out on this album and this artist, you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself.
