Former Animal Band frontman Jim Moore said he has always appreciated the opportunities his music career provided for him and his family, but as he neared his 70th birthday earlier this month, the memories took on an even deeper meaning for the South Pittsburg, Tennessee, native.
Moore's list of accomplishments include performing all over the world, visiting the White House during the George H.W. Bush administration and Congress during Bill Clinton's term in office, playing to sellout crowds at the Grand Ole Opry several times and headlining concerts and festivals. He was on the bill at Michigan's Pontiac Music Festival in 1988 with a lineup of acts that included The Doobie Brothers, Sister Sledge, KC & The Sunshine Band, Little Richard, Aaron Tippin and The Smithereens.
"We had nothing growing up in South Pittsburg, so how does a kid like that do all of the things that I've done?" he said in an interview at his home in Ringgold, Georgia.
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Whether it was the birthday milestone, or just a desire to organize his attic and office space, Moore has spent the last several weeks culling through his collection of Animal Band memorabilia, including boxes full of newspaper clippings, photos, CDs, cassettes, books and stuffed animals based on the characters that made up the band.
The Animal Band was known as a family-friendly act that sang songs with such titles as "Rockasaurus Pop," "Clean Up Your Room," "911" and "I Like Reading a Book." Moore said he and the band connected with kids and adults who loved their positive messages and high-energy, interactive stage shows.
It was "I Like Reading a Book" that caught the attention of first lady Barbara Bush, which led to the chance to perform for a crowd in the White House Rose Garden in 1992.
"It was wild," Moore said. "(Children's entertainer) Shari Lewis was there, and (NBC weatherman) Willard Scott hosted it. My son was 3 and sat on Barbara's lap."
In 2004, Moore was invited to appear before Congress, where he was given a 911 Honor Award for media and entertainment excellence. His song "911," explaining how and when to use the emergency number, was credited by a young boy for helping him save his father's life.
Moore said going through all of the memorabilia and memories took him back to his childhood in South Pittsburg.
"We didn't have hardly anything, but my grandmother always had a pot of pinto beans on the stove so that anybody who was hungry had something to eat," he said. "It didn't matter who it was, and she'd make us sit with them so they didn't eat alone."
Among the other stories he recalled was being accidentally shot in the shoulder by his younger brother while they cleaned guns they shouldn't have been shooting earlier in the day.
"I was always into something," he said. "Like the time I jumped off the house with an umbrella."
It went like you would imagine, he said.
Moore said he was a small child not blessed with strength or athleticism. He credits a football coach with suggesting he focus on music. As a young teenager, he learned to play guitar and figured out that he liked to perform in front of people.
"I realized I had a captive audience in the local hospital, so I'd go there and play for people," he said.
One was a young boy with a rare form of cancer who responded to Moore's music. The family asked him to be in the room when the boy died a few days later, he said.
At 15, Moore had to testify in court against two counterfeiters who'd given him a bogus $20 at the burger joint where he was working, he recalled. Moore said that when he returned to the men's car with their change, police showed up with guns drawn.
"I hadn't gotten my 25-cent tip yet, so I just stood there, waiting," he said. "I was going to get my tip."
Moore said he was so naive as a teen, that later, when he was driven to Chattanooga to testify in the case, he thought the whole affair was over their failure to tip him.
"I really did," he said. "I sat there on the stand repeating it over and over, and they laughed."
While at South Pittsburg High School, Moore formed a band with some friends called The Constitutions that included Norris Hall, who would go on to become a well-respected illustrator. Hall did the artwork for "The All Animal Band," a book Moore wrote based on the characters in The Animal Band. Hall also illustrated The Animal Band cassettes, CDs and DVD covers.
According to the book jacket, "Ollie the Owl plays the bass, Slick the Snake beats the drums, and Dan the Dog and Fredi the Frog sing in perfect harmony."
Over the years, members of the band also included Dan Schafer, Mark Horwitz, Mike Wyatt, Rina Melius Vartanian, Bryan Cumming, Craig Langford and Zig Wajler.
Moore's first big break came by accident, or at least it was not something he had planned, or had even seen coming.
After starting a family, he put his guitar away and forgot about it until his daughter Amber, who was in the third grade, came home from school in 1988 and said her teacher wanted to know what kind of songs he'd be singing at the school the next day.
"I panicked," Moore said. "I had to put strings on the guitar and didn't have anything to sing."
He wrote the first song, "All Animal Band," running just a minute and 48 seconds, that night and came up with a few other age-appropriate songs. "It rekindled that dream for me," he said.
Moore had a small business making eyeglass frames. He said he opened a warehouse in Nashville in part so that he could pursue a music career. He sought out places to play at open mics and ended up at the famous Bluebird Cafe, where people like Vince Gill were also performing.
He said while the other performers were playing songs about heartache and broken dreams, he was singing his happy songs. A record executive told him that he had something different and to stick with it.
In 1990, he and his band recorded a six-song demo tape and had 500 copies made.
"We hand-printed the labels and sent them to newspapers and radio stations all over. The media was just as intrigued by their unique message and sound. Soon, the band was doing TV spots, including on public-access channels.
They played Chattanooga's Riverbend Festival in 1994, a year when the performances were held all over town.
"We played in the Tivoli," Moore said.
By then, their merchandise included books, toys and stuffed animals.
"Even my family didn't realize the extent of our business," Moore said.
Elena Roberts was president of the Parent Teacher Organization at an elementary school in Hayden, Alabama, when she read about Moore and the band in a PTO trade magazine. This was in 2001, and Moore was doing visits to schools to help the schools raise funds.
"He was a huge hit, and everyone fell in love with him," Roberts said.
The PTO had him back again in the spring. By that December, she was president of The Animal Band Fan Club, answering mail, selling merchandise and booking the band and Moore at festivals, libraries and school events.
"It was crazy," she said.
Roberts would cold-call different organizations, and if they agreed to have Moore, she would organize a songwriting contest among the kids at each location. She and Moore would choose a winner, and Moore would perform the winning song at the show.
"It was a lot of fun," she said. "When I believe in something, and I've seen the evidence of how influential for the good it can be, I will talk about it."
She is still talking about it and said she has never officially stopped being the band's fan club president.
"I'm a better person for having known Jim, and so are my kids," she said. "And the music is timeless."
Tammy Walkup, an agent with Class Acts Entertainment in Columbus, Ohio, became the band's booking agent in 2003 after she booked them for an event at the Columbus Zoo for her client Bed, Bath & Beyond.
"There was nothing like them at the time," she said.
"I had such a blast," she said. "In fact, I was just talking to him, and I said I was so bummed because back in olden days, we didn't have cameras on our phone, so I have nothing -- no pics or videos. I have twins boys and a third boy, and I have toys and the book, but not the videos."
Walkup said she believes Moore's path into the music business "was charted by God" and that she wishes he was still spreading his message to schoolkids about following up on their dreams.
"Man, we need that right now," she said.
Around 2007, Moore said, "the business" of the band had grown to include other people outside of his control, and stress began to wear on him. They played their last show in 2008 in Erie, Pennsylvania.
For almost the last decade, Moore has worked for Unum Insurance, advising people on their coverage plans. He said he went nearly two years before a co-worker recognized him as the leader of The Animal Band.
He gets just as misty-eyed talking about a man he helped realize his insurance would cover his care for cancer as he does later when reading a letter from a mother who used his song "First Step" to help her daughter overcome her fear of learning to ride a bike.
"It's all about helping people, and you just never know how you might be helping someone," he said.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.