Russell Moore is the guitarist and lead singer of IIIrd Tyme Out, the band he co-founded in 1991. He has won IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year six times, a record. IIIrd Tyme Out won IBMA Vocal Group of the Year seven years in a row, from 1994 to 2000. In 2025 he joined Alison Krauss and Union Station for the album Arcadia and its tour.
Why Moore matters
Moore shows what a rhythm guitarist who sings lead can do for a band. IIIrd Tyme Out built its name on vocal blend, and that blend sits on top of Moore’s guitar. He keeps the tempo, marks the changes with G-runs, and sings a clear tenor lead at the same time. Thirty years of bandleading and six vocalist awards say the approach works.
Life and career
Moore was born on December 21, 1963, in Pasadena, Texas. He grew up a few miles from Gilley’s, the country music club, but the music that caught him was bluegrass. His family went to see Johnny Martin and the Bluegrass Ramblers of Texas, and Moore watched their rehearsals up close. He began playing at age eleven and joined a regional band at fifteen, working shows in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Around 1982 he formed Southern Connection in Arlington, Texas, with Scott and Curtis Vestal.
Doyle Lawson hired him for Quicksilver. Moore spent six years there and recorded seven albums with the band before he left in 1991. Lawson taught him how a band works on stage and on the road.
In 1991 Moore, Terry Baucom, Ray Deaton, Mike Hartgrove, and Alan Bibey formed IIIrd Tyme Out. The name came from the fact that most members were on their third professional band. The group recorded IIIrd Tyme Out (1991), Puttin’ New Roots Down (1992), and Grandpa’s Mandolin (1993) for Rebel Records, then moved to Rounder for Letter to Home (1996), Living on the Other Side (1997), Live at the Mac (1998), John & Mary (1999), and Back to the Mac (2001). Later records include Prime Tyme (Rural Rhythm, 2011). The band is now billed as Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out and is based in Cumming, Georgia.
In December 2024 Alison Krauss announced that Moore would join Union Station on guitar and vocals. He played on Arcadia, released March 28, 2025, the band’s first album since Paper Airplane in 2011, and toured with the group from April through September 2025.
Playing style
Moore plays rhythm guitar in the Doyle Lawson school. The beat is firm and the chords are clean. He uses the guitar to set up the vocal trio, with a solid bass note under each downbeat and a short G-run to close a phrase. In a band known for its vocals, the guitar has to stay out of the way and still hold the time.
His voice is the reason people know his name. It is a high, full tenor lead with a lot of power. He has said he sings “full throated” by habit, and that joining Union Station meant learning to pull back and blend under Krauss instead of standing out. That range, from a driving lead to a soft harmony part, is the mark of a singer who has spent decades listening to the other voices in the band.
Influences and legacy
Moore points to the Osborne Brothers as his first inspiration. Doyle Lawson shaped his sense of band craft and his feel for vocal arrangement. The Vestal brothers played beside him in Southern Connection before all three moved on to national bands.
IIIrd Tyme Out set the standard for bluegrass vocal groups through the 1990s. Moore now holds the guitar and lead chair once held by Dan Tyminski in Union Station, working beside Alison Krauss.
Signature tunes and songs
John and Mary My Lord’s Gonna Be There Gentle on My Mind Take Me Home, Country Roads.
Essential recordings
IIIrd Tyme Out (Rebel, 1991) Letter to Home (Rounder, 1996) Live at the Mac (Rounder, 1998) John & Mary (Rounder, 1999) Arcadia, with Alison Krauss and Union Station (2025)
Awards and honors
IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year (1994, 1997, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2019) IBMA Vocal Group of the Year, IIIrd Tyme Out (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000) SPBGMA Bluegrass Vocal Group of the Year and Contemporary Gospel Group of the Year, IIIrd Tyme Out (2001) IBMA Album of the Year, Celebration of Life: Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, with IIIrd Tyme Out (2006)
Watch and listen
Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out play John & Mary on Music City Roots. Watch how his guitar carries the song under the vocal.
The band plays Take Me Home, Country Roads at WAMU’s Bluegrass Country. Listen to how the trio blend sits on top of the rhythm guitar.
What to learn from Moore
Learn John and Mary and sing it while you play. The song moves at a medium tempo, so you can hear whether your right hand stays steady when your attention goes to the words. The technique to steal is his rhythm under a vocal trio. Play along with Letter to Home and copy the bass note, the strum, and the space between them. A singer who can hold time with one guitar under three voices can lead any jam.
Sources
Russell Moore, IBMA award recipients IIIrd Tyme Out, IBMA award recipients Russell Moore, Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out official site IIIrd Tyme Out, Rebel Records Singer Russell Moore takes Tyme Out to tour with Alison Krauss, WMOT Not easy shoes to fill: Russell Moore gets the gig of a lifetime, The Bluegrass Situation Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out, Wikipedia
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more singing guitarists. Moore followed Dan Tyminski into Union Station. Dudley Connell and Junior Sisk lead bands from the same rhythm guitar chair.