Justin Moore's Stolen Guitar Returned - with an Apology

[Richland123]

Justin Moore's Stolen Guitar Returned - with an Apology
Posted Mar 16th 2010 9:00AM by Alanna Conaway

After playing an "amazing show" at the Royal Oaks Music Theatre in Michigan on Friday night (March 12), Justin Moore headed toward his tour bus when his road and production manager informed him that his guitar had been stolen.

"I thought they were playing a joke on me," says Justin. "Come to find out, a fan just walked on stage after the show and grabbed it."

Justin immediately took to his Twitter page to notify fans about the guitar in hopes that someone would know something. "Great show in MI tonight," Justin tweeted. "But somebody stole my guitar off stage. Please own up. It means more to me than you know. Don't be a [jerk]. Do right."

The next morning, WYCD morning show personality Dr. Don came to Justin's aid and posted news on their website in hopes of helping recover the guitar. By Sunday, an anonymous fan contacted the station and arranged to return the instrument.

"It felt like a scene from a movie as I met one of the guy's friends in a pre-arranged location Sunday to get the guitar back," Dr. Don posted on the WYCD website. "I texted photos of it to Justin who called to thank the guy, and I wanted to thank the guy who took it for owning up and doing the right thing."

Inside the returned guitar case was a letter to Justin from the fan who apologized for his actions. "Look, man, I messed up major, man," the fan wrote. "It was a drunken mistake. I love your music so much!! God will get me for what I have done. Well, hope to see you in MI soon. But I would like to deeply and sincerely apologize for what I've done. Like your wonderful song, 'How I Got to Be This Way,' we all make mistakes ... I'm going out and buying 50 of your CDs today. I hope and pray you have a wonderful and long career."

Justin was on cloud nine Sunday, tweeting a picture of newborn daughter, Ella Kole, and saying, "Ella's really happy I got my guitar back. I had already told her I'd give it to her one day."

"The guitar means more to me than just about any guitar I have," Justin said Monday. "It sounds incredible, and I've written every song in the last year on it. My next album will be full of songs written on that guitar. I hate we had to deal with this, but I'm thankful for the fans, Dr. Don, and the rest of the folks from WYCD for helping me get it back. Also, I want to thank the guy for doing the right thing. We all make mistakes, but we don't always make it right. It says a lot about the guy."

Justin is gearing up to hit the road hard in May as he serves as the opening act, along with Darius Rucker, on Brad Paisley's H20 tour.