This Is My Dirt

Album: This Is My Dirt (2023)
Charted: 96
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Songfacts®:

  • "This Is My Dirt" paints a picture of a man deeply rooted in his land and his way of life. When a realtor comes knocking, dangling a tempting offer for his farm, the man's response is resolute: there's no way he's parting with his sacred soil. The repeated phrase "this is my dirt" serves as a powerful declaration of his identity and the deep connection he has to his roots.
  • "Dirt" is a common motif in country music. It acts as a bridge, linking listeners to the authentic rural experience, bringing to light the values, traditions, and struggles woven into life in the countryside. It's a rallying cry that stirs up a sense of place, belonging, and a genuine connection to the natural world – striking a chord with those who treasure the simple joys and the hard work of rural life. Other "dirt"-y country songs include:

    2003 "Red Dirt Road" by Brooks & Dunn
    2012 "Dirt Road Anthem" by Jason Aldean
    2012 "Dirt" by Florida Georgia Line
    2016 "Dirt on My Boots" by Jon Pardi
    2022 "Buy Dirt" by Jordan Davis
  • Moore wrote "This Is My Dirt" with his producer Jeremy Stover, Paul DiGiovanni and Randy Montana. The same four penned his 2020 single "We Didn't Have Much." Both songs share a common theme of an appreciation for traditional values and simple living.
  • Stover co-produced the song with Big Machine Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta. It was Stover who introduced Moore to Scott Borchetta after the artist made the move to Nashville. Borchetta outlined to the young singer his plans to launch The Valory Music Co., an imprint of the independent record label Big Machine Records, and signed him to the label in 2008. Moore has been a mainstay with Valory Music ever since. They released this song on November 17, 2023.
  • The musicians who played on the song are:

    Danny Rader: mandolin, baritone guitar, acoustic guitar
    Stephan LaPlante: electric guitar
    Roger Coleman: electric guitar
    Mike Johnson: steel guitar
    Dave Dubas: bass
    Tucker Wilson: drums
    Wil Houchens: keyboards
    Jason Kyle Saetveit: background vocals
  • After finding success in Nashville, Moore returned to the dirt he grew up on, moving back to his hometown of Poyen, Arkansas.
  • Randy Montana had a dream of owning a piece of land in Tennessee and building a house on it. He saw his dream come true as he watched the house being built on his property. He also noticed how the landscape around him was changing – how developers were buying up farmland and turning it into subdivisions.

    "It's just what's going on in Nashville," Montana told Bilboard. "It's growing so quick that a lot of these places are getting bought and turning into big subdivisions. And I get it. I love the growth. I love that people love this city. But I also have that nostalgia side of me. [The farms] are so aesthetically pretty that I wish they would stay that way."

    During a two-hour drive with his sons in the spring of 2023, Montana imagined a farmer who refused to sell his land, and came up with the title: "This is My Dirt."
  • Montana wrote some of the song in Nashville with DiGiovanni and Stover, and he completed it in a Zoom session from DiGiovanni's studio with Moore and Stover, who were in Destin, Florida.
  • You can't put a green bag dollar on what it's worth
    This is my dirt


    The hook was preceded by a different line in Montana's original draft: "You can't put a price on what it's worth." Then Stover suggested something more unique.

    "I'll never forget it," Montana recalled. "I remember Jeremy going, like, 'Dude, I just wish it was something a little odd.' And then he literally goes, 'What if it's like, 'You can't put a greenback dollar,'' And I thought that was so cool, because it's an old-school way of describing a dollar."

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