Justin Moore’s Daughter Is a ‘Daddy’s Girl’ … and a Hank Fan

Justin Moore and his wife Kate welcomed their first child, Ella Kole, back in February. Although Justin hasn't had much of a break from the road to spend at home with his new bundle of joy, he makes the most of his time with his daughter on rare days off.

"I change diapers and all of that stuff ... a lot of my friends who have kids don't do that," Justin tells The Boot. "It's probably because I'm on the road so much, and I want to be as involved with her as I can when I am home. It's cool."

In addition to diaper duty, Justin does get to see one advantage of spending time away from his daughter once he returns home. "She's started rocking into you and smiling and stuff. My wife gets mad because I'll get home, and Ella's been bawlin' and squallin', but if I go talk to her, she automatically starts smiling. I think she's a bit of a daddy's girl. She probably recognizes my voice, because when she was still in my wife's stomach, I would sing Hank Williams, Jr. songs to her. My wife was like, 'Justin, really? You have to sing Hank Jr. to our unborn child?'"

Justin says the role of fatherhood has surprisingly become an easy one for him. "My buddy was asking me the other day how do I know how to handle everything," Justin says. "I was like I don't know ... you just automatically know what to do. It's kind of weird. It's your natural instinct to take care of her and protect her."

Although he would have no problems taking the night shifts when home due to his late-night "musician hours," Justin says it hasn't been necessary in recent weeks. "She's finally gotten to the point where she sleeps all night, but I tried to help out with night shifts when I could. We did a show in Baton Rouge recently with Kenny Chesney and Brooks & Dunn and a couple of other folks. Ella and Kate rode the bus with me, and Ella slept all night, even on the bus. I was impressed!"

This summer, Justin is on the road with Brad Paisley and the H2O World Tour. He's hoping Kate and Ella can hop on the bus with him for a date or two. "She's going to be a world traveler by the time she's one. We're going up to Canada with Brad at some point so we just got her a passport, and her picture is hilarious!"

Overall, Justin is amazed every day by his new little blessing in life. "I've been very fortunate to have a lot of good things go on in my life. I'm proud of a lot of them, but I'm not prouder of anything I have other than her."

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