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This Springsteen of the South mixes country with arena rock

If Bruce Springsteen hailed from the South instead of New Jersey, he might have sounded something like Kip Moore. The Georgia boy's gritty vocals, arena-sized rock 'n' roll moves, and blue-collar characters achieve a Dixie-fried brand of grandeur on tunes like "Dirt Road" and "Wild Ones." Of course, the greasy stomp of Moore's 2011 breakthrough hit "Somethin' 'Bout a Truck" is as country as country gets, but even there, the guitars are raw and dirty enough to have tumbled out of a ZZ Top tune. And when he's at his most romantic on cuts like "Young Love," Moore puts the "power" into "power ballad."

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