Festival performer tops Billboard country chart
The July 6 concert during the 2012 Festival of the Bells will now feature a rising country artist who has topped the Billboard charts.
Kip Moore, scheduled to perform during the festival's Friday night concert, has the number one single with his song, "Somethin' 'Bout a Truck," according to the Billboard Hot Country Song Chart and the Mediabase/Country Aircheck chart.
Rick Williams, chair of the Festival of the Bells entertainment committee said that they are excited to once again have an artist heading to Highland County who is on the rise.
"We're really happy about Kip hitting number one," Williams told The Highland County Press on Thursday. "We're tried to get some people coming to town who are just about to really hit it, and it looks like we've done it again."
According to a press release sent out by MCA Nashville, Moore was in Rome, Ga. when he heard the news.
"I was speechless," Moore said. "I still can't wrap my head around this whole thing. I have dreamed about it for a long time, so it's going to take a while to understand what is happening. It means everything to me, as a writer. It's a validation that all of the years that you kept telling yourself to stick to your guns and and stick to what you know, that you are on the right path and doing what you are supposed to do. People called me crazy at first because we wrote four verses before we get to the chorus, but I stuck to my guns and said, 'This is how I am supposed to write this song.' For this to go number one and the American public to fall in love with this song, that is a validation for how I like to write, and that is with no boundaries."
Williams said, "(The committee is) very happy. He has written lots of song for lots of people. I think this kid really has something. We're pretty happy about it."
Moore performed with Tim McGraw on Memorial Day at New York City's Beacon Theatre. He will perform at the 2012 CMA Music Festival in Nashville on June 9.
Moore wrote or co-wrote every song on his debut album "Up All Night," which was released on April.
"We're going to have one heck of a festival," Williams said.