One of the positive trends that has happened in 2020 (there aren’t many), is that artists who don’t usually give a crap about things like Twitter started to find other ways to connect with fans in the absence of performing. One of these outlets has been podcasts, and one of the best that we’ve seen is “The Justin Moore Podcast.”
Recently, Justin Moore hosted hit songwriter and “That Ain’t My Truck” singer (and Thomas Rhett’s dad) Rhett Akins on the show, and in the hour-long podcast they dove into topics like Rhett’s experiences with Hank Williams Jr. and the Atlanta Braves, but most interestingly, they also discussed the inspiration behind Moore’s hit song “Bait a Hook.”
Rhett said he got the idea for the song because of a conversation with a girl he knew in Georgia who went on a date with an NFL starting quarterback. And while they never actually reveal by name who the song is about, it’s pretty easy to figure out.
Rhett: “Right now, who it’s about is doing pretty good… he’s an NFL football player. He can’t bait a hook but he can throw a touchdown.”
Justin: “It happens to be the team that I root for so I’ve decided until he retires, maybe I’ll just leave this be.”
Of course, Justin roots for the Pittsburgh Steelers (dead giveaway), but Rhett went on to tell the story about how he came up with the title:
Rhett: “This female had been hanging out with this particular football player and he had been texting her and wanting to hang out more, and she said she wasn’t really that into him. So I said ‘really, that’s surprising, he’s a big NFL star, you think you’d be into something like that’ and she said ‘nah man, he just ain’t country enough for me. We went fishin’ the other day and he couldn’t even bait his own hook.'”
First off, the “mystery player” is described as “big time” and “right now doing pretty good” which means that we probably aren’t talking about a kicker here. Rhett then says “he might not be able to bait a hook, but he can throw a touchdown,” and Moore follows it up with, “I think he’d won a couple Super Bowls at that point.”
Any guesses?
It’s pretty obvious that they are talking about Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Ben joined the Steelers in 2004 and had won two Super Bowls by the time this song was written. He’s the only guy throwing touchdown passes on the team and with the Steelers going undefeated so far this year, it really couldn’t anybody else.
So just imagine being a grown man who is a 2-time Super Bowl Champion, a 6-time Pro Bowler, the 7th all-time passing yards leader in NFL history, and 8th all time in touchdowns in NFL history, and not even being able to put a worm on a hook. And not only did you not get the girl, you got a hit country song written about you… making fun of guys like you. Then again, Ben goes to sleep on a big pile of money every night, with two Super Bowl rings on his fingers… something tells me he isn’t too worried about it.
The conversation begins right at the beginning of the episode.
Although “Bait a Hook” only peaked at 17 on the charts, it might be Justin Moore’s most popular song at the live show. The song pokes fun at a guy who drives a Prius, eats sushi, and of course can’t bait his own hook, all while he is on a date with the singer’s girlfriend. The music video also features former NASCAR superstar, Carl Edwards.
“Bait A Hook”
Justin recently joined us on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, where we talked baseball’s return, airport beers, flying hungover, the music industry and Covid-19, his lethal handshake, moving out of Nashville, and a bunch more.
