‘Stray Dog’ Tracklist: 

1. “Everybody Get Along” (with Riley Green)  | Justin Moore, David Lee Murphy, Jeremy Stover
2. “That Wasn’t Jack”  | Justin Moore, David Lee Murphy, Chris Stevens, Jeremy Stover
3. “With A Woman You Love”  | Justin Moore, Paul DiGiovanni, Chase McGill, Jeremy Stover
4. “Better Slow”  | Justin Moore, Paul DiGiovanni, Randy Montana, Jeremy Stover
5. “Stray Dogs"  | Justin Moore, Paul DiGiovanni, Randy Montana, Jeremy Stover
6. “Country On It”  | Justin Moore, Casey Beathard, Paul DiGiovanni, Jeremy Stover
7. “You, Me, And Whiskey” (with Priscilla Block) | Jessi Alexander, Brock Berryhill, Cole Taylor
8. “Get Rich Or Drunk Trying” | Justin Moore, Casey Beathard, Paul DiGiovanni, Jeremy Stover

COMBINED ALBUM CREDITS:
Produced by Jeremy Stover and Scott Borchetta
Recorded by Julian King at The Castle Recording Studio (Franklin, TN) (Tracks 1, 2, 4 – 8), Backstage Studio (Track 1), Ronnie’s Place (Track 3); Assisted by Kam Luchterhand, Jordan Reed (Track 1)
Additional Recording by Jason Kyle Saetveit at RED Room Recording (Nashville, TN) and Bedbug Studios (Kingston Springs, TN) (Tracks 1 – 6, 8)
Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge at Mix LA (Tarzana, CA); Assisted by Brian Judd (Track 1)
Additional Engineering by Adam Chagnon (Track 1)
Mixed by Jim Cooley at Cooley’s Mix Room (Nashville, TN); Assisted by Zach Kuhlman (Tracks 2 – 8)
Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound (Nashville, TN)
Production Coordination by Jason Campbell
Lead Vocal – Justin Moore, Priscilla Block (Track 7), Riley Green (Track 1)
Acoustic Guitar – Danny Rader (Track 3), Ilya Toshinskiy (Tracks 1, 2, 4 – 8)
Electric Guitar – Brent Mason (Tracks 1, 2, 4 – 8), Rob McNelley (Track 3), Adam Shoenfeld (Tracks 2, 4 – 8), Derek Wells (Track 1)
Steel Guitar – Paul Franklin (Tracks 1, 2, 4 – 8)
Bass – Jimmie Lee Sloas
Keyboards – David Dorn (Tracks 2 – 8)
Drums – Chad Cromwell (Track 3), Evan Hutchings (Track 1), Chris McHugh (Tracks 2, 4 – 8)
Programming – Brock Berryhill (Track 7), Paul DiGiovanni (Tracks 2, 4, 5, 6)
Background Vocals – Jason Saetveit (Tracks 1 – 6, 8)

ALBUM PACKAGE ARTISTRY
Photographer: Cody Villalobos
Art Direction: Big Machine Creative: Sandi Spika Borchetta, Justin Ford
Graphic Design: Justin Ford

1. EVERYBODY GET ALONG (FEATURING RILEY GREEN)

This is probably the oldest song we recorded for this album. We’d recorded this song for the ‘Late Nights and Longnecks’ album, but it didn’t make it. To have Riley be a part of it, a guy who I have a ton of respect for as an artist, is great. I love the way he’s fashioned his career. He’s got that “it-factor.” We grew up the same way. He’s an Alabama guy; I’m an Arkansas guy. I’m happy to have him be a part of it. The song idea came randomly on one of those writer retreats down in Florida. We’d written a couple of songs that day, so every time we’re down there and get a song or two written by the afternoon, we’re feeling good about ourselves, and we can have a beer or two and relax. That’s the way this song came about as I recall. We were kidding about the fact that it doesn’t matter what you say or who you’re talking to –  nobody can get along with anybody at this point. This was 4-5 years ago - things were really volatile. We thought it would be funny if we did a song like this. It just kind of spilled out of us. “Why can’t everybody get along?” We chose to go the path of two guys that were 100% just alike. The things that they love in life are the same except the brand name. I personally drive a Ford truck, and I get into it with my friend who drives a Chevy. They’re essentially the same thing. We thought it was a funny thing to go at it from that angle. I get a kick out of it. 

2. THAT WASN’T JACK

This was one of the first songs I wrote during the pandemic over Zoom, which was a great tool to use at the time because you couldn’t get together in person. It was David Lee Murphy’s idea, and I loved it. We were running with it, and he said, “Hey, do you like this?” Sometimes you write songs, and you know right away that it’s probably a hit record. And some of them you go, “Eh, I don’t know, we’ll see.” This one, as soon as we wrote it, we were all thinking “This is pretty damn good. I don’t know whether it’ll be a single, but I think it could be a big hit record.” To me, songs are good or bad based on the idea of the song. It might just be a saying in the South, “That wasn’t jack(shit).” We spun it to Jack Daniels.

3. WITH A WOMAN YOU LOVE

When we wrote this song, it was my idea and I thought, “Yeah, I don’t know. It’s alright.” But it was the one song everybody flipped out over when we turned it into the label. I was like, “Really? Okay.” My wife, who is my biggest fan and biggest critic, said, “That’s the song you need to put out.” Everybody saw it but me. I’m more of a fan of the beer-drinking songs, but we’ve never released a love song that didn’t go to #1, so maybe I need to do it more. 

4. BETTER SLOW

This was the last song that we wrote for the album. We wrote that in my pool house, and it was one of the few that made the album. Being in the studio, maybe you’ve got a few to pick one or two from, and I’ll never forget day 2 or 3. Scott was high on another song, and we said, “Let us play you this other song.” We went out to my producer’s truck and played it, and he said, “Yep, that’s it. Let’s go record it.” Throughout my career there have been songs that I’ve had to fight for, and this guy or that girl, whoever is in the position to help make those decisions, it’s taken a month of living with this song to convince them that we need to record this. And to play it one time and in 3 minutes go, “Not only did we just introduce you to this song, then we go record it.” The whole thing took 20 minutes.

We had to put down our 18-year-old dog, and there’s a line in the song referencing that. I say that to say that there are really good lines in the song that if I relate to, other people will too.
 

5. STRAY DOGS

I think this was a great example of what people are going to get on this album - some unique ideas and titles. I don’t know how much that matters to other artists. Back when we had CDs and cassette tapes and the titles were on the back, before I would listen to anything, be it some album I bought or a list of 20 songs I’d get pitched, I would read the titles and see if anything jumped off the page at me. When you read a title, you think, “Oh that’s about this,” and then when it surprises you, that’s always fun for me.

It’s really autobiographical - me personally, maybe more so me as an artist. I’ve kind of been the guy who’s fallen under the radar my entire career, which is totally fine with me. We go out and have X amount of hits, sell X amount of albums, and then we never get asked to be on the awards shows, which remains the case.

Me moving back to Arkansas 12 years ago was not a popular thing, I don’t necessarily play the game the same way everyone else plays it. I’ve always tried to be really honest with my fans which has not always been popular in certain areas. I’ve got to be able to go to bed at night and be proud of myself and my career. I’m a bit of an outcast. I thought that was a great metaphor - a stray dog. My producer had the idea for the song and I loved it. I hope it’s not too personal. I think once they read what I just said, they’ll totally understand.

Outcast is a strong word. Country radio has been amazing to me from the beginning of my career and my record label’s been amazing to me. There are pockets that have been incredibly kind and gracious and giving and I couldn’t appreciate it more. I’m talking more so about awards and TV shows. “If he’ll take the cowboy hat, we’ll put him on.” No, George Strait wears the cowboy hat. Kiss my ass.

Early in my career I tried to people-please and do things so that I could achieve x, y and z. Fortunately for me, I decided, “You know what? You’re never going to be happy doing that. You’ve got to be yourself and let the chips fall where they may. You’ve got to do you.” And so I did. During the “bro country” era, all that stuff was blowing up, but that’s not what I do, even if it grew our format. I wasn’t comfortable doing it, and somehow, we kept the boat afloat during those years doing it our way. I don’t know how other than the fans, radio and the label sticking with me.

That was also around the time I moved home and that was not taken all that well. It was a funny story; I told my label president and Executive Producer Scott that I really wanted to move home. He said, “Don’t do that.” My wife and I had just had our first daughter, and my manager goes, “You’re a grown man. Do whatever you want to do.” So I did.

Fast forward a couple of years, we’d been having success and we’re probably on album 2 or 3, and Scott calls. We’re talking about whatever, and he goes, “How long have you been living in Arkansas?” I said, “2-3 years.” He said “Really?” I said, “I told you I could do my job from anywhere.” He said, “I guess you’re right.”

I didn’t play the game to achieve things that weren’t going to make me happy. As much as I love and respect music and appreciate the opportunities that I had at the time, music’s about 3rd for me on the priority list. I’ve been honest with fans about that. God’s at the top of the list, then my wife and kids, and then music. I’ll take care of one and then two, and then I’ll take care of three.

Stray Dog as a title encapsulates all of those things. 

6. COUNTRY ON IT

I was sitting there talking with Paul Digiovani, who’s a co-writer on this and most of the album. He builds all these tracks and plays. He had an R&B-like track built as a joke and we started writing a Nelly kind of song, and we liked the idea of “Rub a little country on it.” We didn’t think anything else about it. Casey Bedford, a co-writer on it, sends us the version that you hear now and said, “I think this could be really good and it fits you.” He deserves a lot of credit for that. He found the way to do it that matches my personality and style.
 

7. YOU, ME, AND WHISKEY (DUET WITH PRISCILLA BLOCK)

I’ve done a number of duets over the years with Miranda, Charlie Daniels, etc., but we’ve never actually released a duet as a single. I liked the idea of cutting a song that was a little more sultry than most of what I’ve done.

I was contemplating who to approach to do the other part, and maybe a couple of months prior to getting that song, I played a show with Lee Brice, Chase Rice, and then this new artist Priscilla Block. As a new artist, you have to go do these guitar pulls and you play a song nobody knows, and then this one plays a number one, this one plays a number one, this one plays a number one, then it’s back to you. I remember me as a new artist being like, “Why am I here? Nobody cares.” It’s hard work. It’s fun but it’s tough. I was blown away by her. The rest of us would play a hit, and she’d tell some great story and sing her butt off and the crowd would go berserk. I was very impressed. Hadn’t heard of her at the time, but she and I spoke that evening and I told her, “Anything I can do for you, I’d be more than happy to help in any way I can.” She’s got a really bright future ahead of her.

8. GET RICH OR DRUNK TRYING

That’s the most fun song on the album. This is an idea that I’ve had. I don’t know if I saw a quote or something, but I’m old enough to remember, “Get rich or die trying.” That’s a song title and a t-shirt right there. As a songwriter, you always keep your ears perked up. That was years ago. We all keep notes of ideas for song titles. I’ve thrown that idea out as a title for that long.
 

**MORE ABOUT THE ALBUM:

I think it’s a mature album. I think the ideas and titles are somewhat unique. Sonically, it’s exactly what my fans would expect from me. And, in no way being boastful, I think with experience I’m singing as well or better than I ever have, and hopefully we can continue to. We’ve been doing it for 15 years. Hopefully we can do it as long as we want to. But I’m just appreciative of the fans and their support over the years, and for country radio because they’ve been obviously pivotal in my career.

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