Justin Moore photo by Kristin Barlowe, courtesy of The Valory Music Co.

“I’m just a hick from Arkansas that half the time can sing on key.”

Justin Moore’s self-description on last week’s ABC special “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock” suggests that he hasn’t gotten a big head about his early career success. His rise to prominence gets dissected in another special, Justin Moore: How I Got To Be This Way, this week on GAC.

“I’ve decided that everybody wants to know what you sing about, what you write about and what you look like,” Justin says. “But I think it’s more important that they you’re at least a halfway-decent person before they spend 10 or 12 bucks on an album or 50 or 60 bucks on a concert ticket.”

Justin wasn’t necessarily groomed for the national stage. He grew up in Poyen, Ark., a community of less than 300 people 50 miles southwest of Little Rock. Since he was one of the few people in the tiny town that could sing on key, he got a lot of opportunities to sing solos in church. That on its own doesn’t separate him from a lot of people, but the experience certainly stuck with him. When Justin went to college and discovered he didn’t really know what he wanted to do, he quit just two weeks into his first semester and headed off to Nashville. Singing was something he definitely wanted to do.

It took a few years to get his shot, but once it came, he made the most of it. Justin’s earned a national audience with a trio of hits from his debut album: “Backwoods,” “Small Town USA” and “How I Got To Be This Way.” Despite his success, if you ask the musicians he tours with, you’d likely find they see Justin less as a boss than as a co-worker.

“Even though I’m a solo artist, we are a band,” he says. “I hire guys to do a job that I can’t do.”

Justin Moore: How I Got To Be This Way premieres on GAC Sunday, Sept. 12 at 9:30 p.m. ET.

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