Kip Moore Opens Skateboarding Parks for Inner City Youth

What started as a “pipe dream” for Kip Moore is coming true. The country star is set to open a series of skateboarding parks serving inner city youth, starting in Nashville, Boston, San Marcos, Texas, and Annapolis, Maryland, with plans to expand to other cities down the road.

This is the first big project for Kip’s Kids Fund, the singer’s charitable foundation aimed at serving at-risk children and teenagers. The organization’s “Comeback Kid Skatepark Project” is named after an autobiographical song on Moore’s upcoming album, Wild Ones.

“It came from me wanting to give kids in inner cities a safe outlet, where they can form the bonds I know can be made from having somewhere awesome to go and be a part of something they enjoy,” he said Wednesday at a Nashville press conference announcing the initiative. “I wrote the song ‘Comeback Kid’ at a time when I felt like a comeback kid, but now when I sing it I think less about myself and more about the kids we are doing this for and how much I admire and respect them.”

Tentatively opening this fall, the first four skate parks will range from 1,500 to 3,000 square feet and will be designed so that everyone from beginners to seasoned skaters can enjoy them.

An avid skateboarder himself, Moore is finally rolling out his second album on August 21st, more than three years after his critically-acclaimed Up All Night LP. Wild Ones was largely written on the road, during soundchecks, backstage downtime or on the tour bus.

“The two major things that inspired this record, the first thing is the traveling circus that our life has become,” Moore says of his road weary band, who play about 200 shows per year. “It takes such a toll on you; it’s such a grind. It wears down your heart and soul. It plays tricks on your mind; it makes you think you’re losing people that you care about in your life and it makes you feel real distant from people. And in the same sense, it can bring you such joy and such exuberance, every single night. All of that inspired the colors of this record.

“And then, the fans had so much to do with this record because I now know who my fanbase is,” he continues. “And I refuse to make a record that doesn’t represent what we are and what they want to hear.”

The first taste of the project is “I’m to Blame,” which had more first-week radio adds than any of Moore’s previous radio releases (including his three Number Ones). The 35-year-old musician hits the road on Dierks Bentley’s Sounds of Summer Tour starting this Friday, June 5th.

Kip Moore, Wild Ones track list:

1. “Wild Ones” (Kip Moore, Chris DeStefano, Brett James)

2. “Come and Get It” (Kip Moore, Brett James, Manny Medina)

3. “Girl of Summer” (Kip Moore, Troy Verges, Blair Daly)

4. “Magic” (Kip Moore, Westin Davis, Luke Dick)

5. “That Was Us” (Kip Moore, Westin Davis, Dan Couch)

6. “Lipstick” (Kip Moore, Justin Weaver, David Frasier, Westin Davis)

7. “What Ya Got on Tonight” (Kip Moore, Troy Verges, Blair Daly)

8. “Heart’s Desire” (Kip Moore, Dan Couch, Adam Browder, Erich Wigdahl)

9. “Complicated” (Kip Moore, Chris DeStefano, Rodney Clawson)

10. “I’m to Blame” (Kip Moore, Justin Weaver, Westin Davis)

11. “That’s Alright With Me” (Kip Moore, Dan Couch, Luke Dick)

12.  “Running for You” (Kip Moore, Troy Verges, Blair Daly)

13. “Comeback Kid” (Kip Moore, Erik Dylan, Ross Copperman, Jeff Hyde)