“I Want My Kids To Go…Dad Was Here” – Justin Moore Says Not Living In Nashville Has Cost Him Awards & Tours – But He Doesn’t Care

That’s what it’s all about.

Justin Moore has lived in his home state of Arkansas for much of his career, choosing to move back home after his career took off rather than staying in Nashville like most of his fellow country artists. (He’s even revealed in the past that it took years for his management to realize that he had moved back home).

And there’s no doubt it makes things harder for Justin’s career when his entire team is (for the most part) based in Nashville. But it was a sacrifice that he was willing to make – and for good reason.

During a recent appearance on the God’s Country Podcast, Justin shared his thought process behind the decision not to stay in Nashville and to instead move back to his family land in Arkansas:

“For me personally, I moved to town when I was 18 and I wanted to be George Strait. I wanted to be bigger than anybody, sell more tickets than anybody.

Then I got married, had kids, and my priorities changed. God is #1 for me, #2 is my family. It’s more important to me to be a good parent and a good husband than it is to be George Strait. So I thought for me personally, that would happen back home.

I have a lot of great friends here in Nashville. Nashville was really good to me. But it just wasn’t home. It just never felt like home. So we moved back home…

I live on the property I grew up on. I can hit a pitching wedge to my parent’s house where I grew up over a pond in a cow pasture.”

But he admits that it hasn’t come without sacrifices to his own career:

“It’s probably cost me some things in my career. It has. Awards and that kind of stuff, it’s cost me…

It’s cost me things in my career. Awards, probably tours. But I don’t give a sh-t to be honest with you.”

At the end of the day though, he says it was worth it to be able to raise his children and be with his family:

“I want my kids, 20 years from now, to go, ‘Dad was here. He was here and he made us the priority.'”

That’s what it’s all about.

There’s no doubt it’s hard to give your kids a normal life when you’re trying to balance a career that’s anything but normal. There’s time out on the road, songwriting sessions, media and fame, and everything else that comes with being a country music star.

But I’ve spent a fair amount of time talking to Justin, and I can tell you that he’s the most normal dude out there. Just a down-to-earth, regular guy (who makes incredible country music), who coaches his kids in softball and would much rather spend time at home with his family than in Nashville doing all of the other things that come with being a country star.

Obviously any career comes with choices that you have to make, and sacrifices when it comes to choosing your career or your family. But it’s pretty clear which one Justin chooses – and that he doesn’t have any regrets about it.

The post “I Want My Kids To Go…Dad Was Here” – Justin Moore Says Not Living In Nashville Has Cost Him Awards & Tours – But He Doesn’t Care first appeared on Whiskey Riff.