Album Review: Up All Night by Kip Moore

Like so many country singers from the Music City, Kip Moore got started as a songwriter, penning tunes for the duo Thompson Square. Moore displays a certain commercial savvy throughout his 2012 debut, Up All Night, sculpting his tunes with care, polishing them until they gleam, writing about all the things country boys love -- faith, pretty girls, beer money, and partying -- throwing them all together in his hit single "Somethin' 'Bout a Truck," a song that could happily double as an advertisement for either beer or trucks. That kind of commercialism is alternately alienating and alluring: the machinations behind the music are so transparent that it's a bit off-putting, yet the album is executed so well it can nevertheless suck you in against your will.

Full Review >>

Kip Moore’s single “Somethin’ About a Truck” has one of those perfectly generic titles; imagine it as a sketch of country radio overall today. What was that song I heard yesterday? I don’t know, somethin’ about a truck. Or somethin’ about a truck and a cold beer and a girl in a dress—oh yes, all of those are here, too. One the one hand, that the actual song’s “there’s somethin’ about a truck” proclamation sounds readymade for a Ford truck commercial—something I can visualize right now—makes the song disappointing, compared to the possibilities the title sets up.

Full Review >>