Songfacts®:

• "Dirt Cheap" is a heartfelt country ballad about the value of land, and life beyond material possessions. Cody Johnson released it via Warner Music Nashville as the second single from his third major-label album, Leather.
• The song kicks off with some fancy folks offering a rancher a boatload of cash for his land. But this rancher values the calloused hands, the wide-open spaces, and the legacy built on that land more than any fancy check.
  
  "Dirt Cheap" flips the script on the whole "cheap land" idea. The rancher isn't selling his memories or his connection to the earth for a quick buck. It's a down-home anthem for folks who understand the true richness of life isn't found in a bank account.
  
  "I love that song," Johnson told Apple Music. "I relate to that song so much. Literally on the ranch at home, I have the tree picked out where I want to be buried. I'm not impressed by money and fame and glitter.
  
  So whenever I'm old and somebody comes along and says, 'Hey, we want to pay you to build a subdivision here,' I don't really care what the check amount is. You're not putting a subdivision on my land. I want to keep it pure. And hopefully we're just going to keep adding more to it. That's what we've discussed, is that we're going to grow this thing as big as we can possibly get it."
• The song was written by Josh Phillips, known for penning Luke Combs songs such as "Angels Workin' Overtime" and "Can I Get An Outlaw," as well as Brantley Gilbert's "How To Talk To Girls."
  
  It resonated with Johnson because, like the rancher in the song, he isn't interested in the glitz and the glam – he just wants to keep his land pure and keep adding to it.
  
  "At 36, I had related to 'Dirt Cheap' because I would like to stay there," Johnson said. "My wife's like, 'The house is two stories. What about when we get old?' I was like, 'We're putting in an elevator.'"
• Justin Moore's 2023 single "This Is My Dirt" has a similar theme. Both songs offer a powerful message about the importance of land and its connection to identity.
• "Dirt Cheap" almost went to a different country crooner. Phillips originally sent it to Luke Combs, but the song got lost in the digital dust.
  
  "He's one of my great buddies, and I guess it got lost in the text chain and he didn't respond," Phillips recalled to Country Now. "I was like, man, I don't know who to send it to."
  
  With his song seemingly homeless, Phillips confided in his wife Jordan one gloomy night. "My wife was lying in bed watching TV," he said. "I was kind of just defeated. I said, 'Baby, I don't know who to send this to. It's one of my favorite songs I've ever written.' She said, 'Why don't you send it to Cody Johnson?'
  
  And I said, 'Well, it's funny that you say that, because back when I was an artist, many years ago, I wrote with his producer, Trent Willmon, I'll just send it to Trent if he's still producing him. Maybe in a long shot, Cody will hear it."
  
  When Wilmon heard the song, he knew it was perfect for Johnson. "Dirt Cheap" landed in the right hands, and the rest is history. Even Luke Combs, after learning of his near miss, admitted, "Man, you wrote a song of the year and I missed it. That's never going to happen again."
  
  Johnson thinks Combs is happy where it landed because it ended up in the perfect place. "I think God has a plan for everything," CoJo said, "and he definitely did with this song."
• Trent Wilmon's production incorporates a timeless country sound characterized by acoustic guitars, a consistent drumbeat, and Johnson's distinctive, soulful vocals. Wilmon also sang the background vocals with Louisiana singer Joanna Janét.
• The musicians are:
  
  Tim Galloway: acoustic guitar
  Scotty Sanders: pedal steel guitar
  James Mitchell: electric guitar
  Justin Ostrander: electric guitar
  Jimmie Lee Sloas; bass guitar
  Jim "Moose" Brown: synthesizer, Hammond B3 organ, keyboards
  Jerry Roe: drums
• Cody Johnson lives on a private ranch in East Texas. His home is set amid the rolling hills and open plains of the Texas Hill Country, where he raises his family and finds inspiration for his music. The ranch spans 30 acres and is designed to reflect his rustic lifestyle.
  
  "I am that old man in that song," Johnson said on Country Countdown USA. "The ranch mentality is very different. I've already got the oak tree picked out where I'm going to be buried. I want my grandkids to own this land."
• The Boot chose this as their Best Country Song of 2024. They wrote: "Lyrical integrity and Cody Johnson's sincere vocals make 'Dirt Cheap' the #1 song of 2024."
• "Dirt Cheap" won Song of the Year at the 2025 ACM Awards. "I started as a songwriter in Texas," Johnson said at the podium. "I came to Nashville and got a publishing deal because what I wanted be was a songwriter and I didn't know that it was gonna be a career where I get to record the greatest songs in country music written by some of the best songwriters in the world."