JOHNSON CITY (Aug. 4, 2021) – Country artist Kip Moore will headline East Tennessee State University’s SGA Weeks of Welcome Outdoor Country Concert on Sunday, Aug. 29, at 7:30 p.m.
This concert, sponsored by the Student Government Association at ETSU, will be held at the Wayne G. Basler Center for Physical Activity “Back Yard.” Admission is free for ETSU students, staff and faculty with ID.
Kip Moore’s stop at ETSU is part of his “How High Tour” in support of his latest album, “Wild World.”
“I’ve always felt different, like when other people see blue, I see red,” the singer/songwriter says, explaining the thoughtful headspace behind his fourth studio album, a revelatory collection written as he traveled the globe like a self-described “lone wolf.” The album aims to “make sense of a world battling nothing short of an identity crisis.” Maui, Costa Rica, Australia, Scotland and beyond became the setting for Moore’s searching, and slowly, through isolation and nature, a simple peace emerged. It wasn’t the first time this blue-collar poet looked within for inspiration, but it became the clearest expression of the wisdom he found.
“Music is the one thing where I really try to unveil where I’m at mentally, where my soul is,” he explains. “As you get older, you start thinking about bigger concepts and where you fit in the grand scheme of this whole thing, and I’ve always lived my life simple. But the more I’ve lived, the more I understand that all this stuff we crave and seek, I see how much of life is smoke and mirrors. When I strip it down to the bare essentials, that’s when I’m the most happy.”
That hasn’t always been Moore’s approach. He splashed into the mainstream in 2012 with the double-platinum “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck,” along with the hits “Hey Pretty Girl” and “Beer Money” from the “Up All Night” album and “More Girls Like You” from the 2017 album “Slowheart.” He toured the world, earning acclaim and a fierce following as an all-in performer in each setting. But the Georgia native also found another side to success – the long stretches away, physical and emotional fatigue, and the never-ending stress of staying “relevant.”
But “Wild World” finds him learning to leave it behind, and open his heart to a new future.
“I don’t think you ever find the true purpose of life, but I’m always searching for that peace and joy of what God means to me and the whole spectrum of where my place is,” Moore says. “I think with this record, you really get a bird’s eye view of that.”
Opening for Moore will be artists Kylie Morgan and Saul Brooks.
Morgan is known for her breakout singles “I Only Date Cowboys” and “Break Things” from her debut EP, “Love, Kylie.”
“It’s a pretty vulnerable state,” she said of releasing her first collection of songs, all six of which she co-wrote. “I realized that every song that I’ve been writing has been either about me, about my family, about a friend, or about someone I know. I wanted the whole EP to feel like a cohesive story and for every song to feel like a chapter.”
The New Castle, Oklahoma, native made her first songwriting to trip to Nashville at age 15 after spending 10 years as a childhood gymnast, and then moved to Music City in December 2014. Riding on the success of her EP, Morgan is one of three artists chosen for the CMA KixStart program, one of CMT’s Next Women of Country, and the only country artist named one of VEVO’s 2021 DSCVR Artists to Watch, which highlights 19 of the world’s top emerging artists poised to break out over the next year.
Brooks is a singer/songwriter whose unique crossover style and powerful voice are drawing attention from a growing fan base and who is poised to become one of the true rising stars of the country and rock genres. This marks Brooks’ second appearance at ETSU, as he performed the university’s spring Homecoming Outdoor Concert earlier this year.
ETSU students may bring two guests for free, and university staff and faculty may bring immediate family members for free.
A limited number of non-ETSU guest tickets will be available the day of the show at the gate for $25 each.
For complete concert details and guidelines, visit www.etsu.edu/concerts or call ETSU Student Activities and Organizations at 423-439-6633.
For disability accommodations, such as accessible seating or sign language interpreters, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services by Monday, Aug. 23, at 423-439-8346.