Justin Moore Rides "Small Town" To Big Results

Justin Moore photo by Kristin Barlowe, courtesy of The Valory Music Co.

Aug. 6, 2009 — Good things, according to an old adage, come to those who wait. One case where that’s proven true is in the career of Justin Moore, whose "Small Town USA" reached the Top 10 this week on the USA Today Mediabase country singles chart.

That’s a particularly impressive feat because the song is — gulp! — seven years old. That’s a long, long wait in a town like Nashville, which can be extremely disheartening for artists trying to get a boot in the door.

"I was just talking about missing home because I had only been here for six or eight months at the time," Justin says of the writing session with Brian Dean Maher and Jeremy Stover. "I obviously didn’t have anything going on, and I was like, ‘Man, I feel like I’m walking on quicksand here. I just miss home and want to go home.’"

Hailing from Poyen, Ark., which boasts a population of fewer than 300 people, Justin paid homage to the work ethic of folks in his hometown and threw in imagery of Saturday-evening beers, Sunday-morning church services and the musical inspiration of Hank Williams Jr., David Allan Coe and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"Some of the songs you write you go, ‘Eh, maybe it’s all right,’ and later you find out that it’s really cool," Justin says. "That was one of those songs where I remember going, ‘That’s a special song. I think it can be a big song for us at some point.’ That’s the days you leave the writing room pretty happy."

Watch the video for "Small Town USA" now »

Big song indeed. His record label sent it to radio stations in January, and it crept and crawled up the charts for seven months before finally arriving in the Top 10 this week. Justin might have had to wait, but the timing ultimately could not have been better. "Small Town USA" is peaking just as his self-titled debut album reaches stores next Tuesday.