Dirt Road

Album: single release only (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • Speaking with Radio.com, Kip Moore explained the background to this song: "I grew up in a small Southern Baptist town, and the song is speaking of what that's like as a young kid and young teenager," he explained. "Being 12, 13 years old and trying to understand hellfire, damnation every single Sunday morning. Trying to process that is a tough thing, so that's where that song originated from, and I think there's going to be a lot of people who are going to connect with the song."
  • Kip Moore wrote the uptempo song with frequent collaborator Dan Couch and Westin Davis (Thompson Square's "Let's Fight") and it quickly became a favorite on his live shows. "The groove of this song is something that really grabbed me," he said. "I actually worked it up with the band on the road, and we played it live that same night. We did that with a lot of the new songs and in a way the live crowds helped shape this album because of that."
  • Kip Moore has a strong Christian faith and this song is not a rejection of God. The singer explained to Taste of Country that he is harking back to his younger days when he was confused and was asking questions rather than just accepting what he was told. He said: "It's not about a dirt road and it's not about beer. And it's more about the rebellion of that youth … when you have that youth and you're trying to figure out who you are. And it's that rebellion against what theories and beliefs are being pushed on you kind of thing."

    "And I know that me personally, it's something that maybe fans can't understand if they didn't grow up like that," Moore continued. "But I was very content at a young age with those fishin' holes and hanging out with my buddies and riding dirt roads. And that was a way of life kind of thing. And when somebody was describing, you know, golden streets and these kind of things … well you know I like what's here."

    "It's not about not believing," he added. "Of course you don't take it literal. I mean if I'm at the pearly gates and God says come on in, I'm not gonna say, 'Nope not coming in unless you got a dirt road.'"
  • This was released as a single from Kip Moore's second album. However, it barely cracked the Top 40 of the country chart, causing the singer and his team to regroup and give more time for material to emerge. "Because of 'Dirt Road' stalling and me having more time than I thought, I scrapped the record and started over," Moore revealed prior to the release of Wild Ones. "The record was supposed to come out a year ago, and that stalled. And because I never stopped writing, my writing morphed into a whole 'nother thing. I liked where the body of work was going, so I decided to make that the record."

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