KIP MOORE

Just seeing people appreciate what you do, come out and support it, and sing the songs back, there's not a better feeling in the world.

I am not drawn to the fairytale kind of love. I am drawn to the real-life experiences between a woman and a man. I try to sing about the way it is, but yet at the same time, what you can hope for between a couple.

Being on the road is a great habitat for creating new music because there's so many different experiences.

Everyone, whether you are married or have a boyfriend or girlfriend, there's always someone who has a hold of your heart. You learn to let it go, but there's always a place in your heart. For me, it was someone I went to college with and we had an amazing bond, but I left.

Basketball was my whole life until I was 20 years old. All I knew was basketball. Then came golf, and I thought that's all I wanted to do then.

All I can do is focus on staying true to the style of music I write and sing because that is the only way it's going to come off as honest.

To hear people saying, 'The music you are doing has really touched my life and it's moved me in a lot of ways. It's helped me get through some tough times.' That's the best compliment that you could get.

I started playing guitar, like, when I was 17 or so, but where I'm from, you just don't hear about people moving to Nashville and making it. It was such a foreign thing to me. I never knew music was an option for me.

I'm depressed when I don't get to do music. Having to go back to doing something I don't like and am not passionate about would be a tough thing.

I think I've lived a pretty hard life. What I mean by hard is that... I've been kind of reckless with things. I'm a passionate person. I'm a super passionate person. I think there's definitely been sorrow in my life, good and bad. I think it comes through. I hope it comes through in my writing because to me that's what artistry is.

People ask who I am as an artist, who I am as a person. I don't ever want to tell them who I am; you can find that out in the music.

I'm treating country music like it's a sport. I'm looking at where my competition is and realized I needed to work on my songwriting.

You can't live your life trying to please people. You be courteous and you be respectful, but you've got to do things in the way that you want to do them.

I am my father's son. My sticking to my guns and doing it my way, and standing firm - that's definitely from him. And the music side, I was so lucky to have a dad that was as cool as he was.

I still live very, very simply. I'm afraid to get comfortable because I'm afraid I'll lose that sense of where I've come from and that drive that's gotten me to where I'm at. When I travel I could stay at the Four Seasons, but it doesn't do as much for my soul staying in those places. When I stay at a hostel, it keeps me centered and I love the people I meet. There are great people in those nice places too, but I'm going to relate more to that backpacker in that hostel who is super excited about life and seeing beauty in the small things the way that I am.

I've always been outspoken about the fact that I have no care for material things. I'm not going to post a picture of being inside a fancy jet. It doesn't mean anything to me. But I find it funny that - in an organic way - sometimes I find myself in this room with these wealthy businessmen drinking thousand dollar bottles of wine because of where I've gotten in my career.

I'm not comfortable walking on a red carpet. I think a lot of people actually love that part of it. I'll never be a "look at me" guy. It's not in my DNA and I struggle in those situations. What gives me anxiety is knowing I have to be honest with people, and as much as people say they want honesty, the minute you give it to them, they don't want it. Sometimes I can tell I'm being baited for a certain answer and that's not the answer I give and I can tell it upsets them.

I'm not afraid to talk about God and it's something I have a faith in. But I feel his presence more in those really profound, quiet moments of solitude. I can't seem to get those as much around here in Nashville, so I go to seek them out. Iceland is probably the closest I ever felt to it. That place did a lot for my soul.

I have a little two-bedroom house and that's the way I like it. We live in a time where it's cool to present this luxurious lifestyle on social media. I don't want to be a part of something that makes people not be happy with their own life and crave this false sense of reality. I don't want people who are working that blue-collar job and barely getting by to feel bad. I don't want those people to feel like they're not doing something right because they're not flying around on jets or driving fancy cars. I never want to make them feel like they're not worthy.

We're at a time now where there's a lot more "I'll do whatever it takes" attitude. I'm not going to say or do what you want me to say or do just because it might help me or be the politically correct thing to do to help my career. And that may have hurt me sometimes. I think about different collaborations that have been brought my way - it might have meant I'd get to be on TV to do certain things, but I've said, "No. It doesn't make sense. I'm not doing it." And other people might jump at the opportunity.

Having to go back to doing something I don't like and am not passionate about would be a tough thing.

I think there can be a misrepresentation of who I am a lot of times because I might be more quiet than other artists. I don't walk in the room going, "Here I am!" I'm going to be the guy standing in the corner taking everything in. I think that can be taken the wrong way, as if I'm not interested in what's going on around, but it's not really the case.

I try not to focus on what people say too much because there's nothing I can do about it. All I can do is focus on staying true to the style of music I write and sing because that is the only way it's going to come off as honest.

At the end of the tour last year, I was completely fried. I felt my soul was begging me to give it a release. Two long trips to Costa Rica and to Iceland I've made were the best things I could have ever done for myself and you see it with the songs I wrote before I left and the songs I wrote after - there are two different Kips in there.