Country Boots With Rock-And-Roll Roots: Kip Moore blends country and rock into one unique style

Kip Moore’s voice is scratchy and low after 15 shows in 20 nights, making him sound more like a rocker than a country star, and that suits him just fine.

Moore, who is ramping up for a concert at Bold Point Park in East Providence on August 20, says he happily defies traditional classification, despite his song titles about beer, girls and trucks leading the music industry to plug him as exclusively country.

“Shows are taxing on my body because I don’t really have the kind of songs that sit in an easy register,” Moore says in a phone interview from his Nashville home. “I rock and go really hard. I have one gear and that’s it… The amazing thing is that the body and voice hold up as long as they need to.”

Growing up in Georgia, despite being surrounded by country music, Moore was drawn more to the storytelling rock sound of Bob Segar and Jackson Brown. His own storytelling style emphasizes heartfelt messages against rock riffs.

“I always felt like they came from a pure place of honesty. If I can say it how I feel it, as vulnerable as I can get, as human as I can get, that’s where I want to be,” says the multi-platinum singer-songwriter, who recently released his latest song “Fire on Wheels” ahead of his fifth album planned for an early 2023 drop.

Some songs, he says, are not easy to write because they center on admitting “things I’m not proud of,” but he finds his muse in personal experience.

“I believe you should sing about what you’re living,” Moore says, adding quickly that it’s a process for him because he’s very private. “People know I hold my cards close in real life. My music is where I show vulnerability.”

Riding the success of songs like “Beer Money,” “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck” and “Hey Pretty Girl,” Moore says he loves hearing people unfamiliar with his music liken his shows to “old rock and roll concerts.”

“I feel my sound is like being out on the highway on your own, lost in the middle of nowhere,” he says of the rock-country blend he churns from his guitar. “When I sing, I’ve always had that rock-and-roll inflection.”

After being in the business for more than a decade, Moore says he no longer frets about coming up with the next song. He writes daily for however long feels right: sometimes an hour, sometimes several.

“I don’t force it like I used to. I just let it come. My career is different now – when I was a staff writer, I had to come up with two songs a day. Now, if I hit a wall, I go about my day and it will come to me,” Moore says.

Sometimes, it comes when he’s out.

“There are so many ways the songs come. I don’t mind singing into the recorder while walking city streets!” he laughs.

Kip Moore will be performing at Bold Point Park in East Providence on August 20. For more information on Moore’s show, go to www.waterfrontconcerts.com.