JUSTIN MOORE - This Is My Dirt - The Valory Music Co.

Multi-Platinum, country superstar Justin Moore has continued to grow his country music accolades in the second half of 2023, notching his 12^th #1 song with “You, Me, And Whiskey” as well as earning RIAA platinum certifications on “We Didn’t Have Much” and “The Ones That Didn’t Make It Back Home.”

With that clear showing that the modern era traditionalist continues to be one of the most respected artists of the genre, he now rides that wave of momentum into the release of his brand-new single “This Is My Dirt,” an ultra-personal outpouring that gives his eager fanbase their first look at things to come from his next album.

The song, written by Moore with Paul DiGiovanni, Randy Montana, and Jeremy Stover, leans into a soft strum of its acoustic laden melody as a modern era beat taps the backing rhythm allowing Moore to place pure emotion into his vocal as he weaves us through the idea of generational family heirlooms, in this case his homestead, while flipping through the pages of black and white Polaroids to tell the story of his last name and where he comes from.

Faced with the very honest situation of a real estate broker trying to slide in and buy your farmland for their freshest, new development, Moore uses the first verse to not only describe the type of blue collar farmer that his family elder is as being the type with hard work caked on his overalls, sweat on his neck, and chew in his jaw, but to also set in motion the storyboard chorus that arrives with him then providing a family tree lesson to the man who’s wanting to purchase the farm:

“This is my dirt, these are my fields

Where I harvest what I plant

That little pond, I catch bluegill

I built that barn with my two hands

Where I raise my babies a piece of me

Nah this ain’t just a piece of land

The money’d be great

But I can’t part ways with a life that works

You can’t put a green bag dollar on what it’s worth

This is my dirt”

Guiding through the five generations who have called this their homestead, Moore lands in the second chorus at the here and now where his family lives on that same land, lamenting on how he’d hate to be the first to have to sell it while metaphorically looking out the window at the memories outlining as far as the eyes can see; how his great-grandaddy and his brothers framed the old farmhouse, to how they put every fence post in the ground, ran the barbwire, pulled the plow, and baled the hay.

Justin Moore has a knack for knowing how to take something so topical to today’s society and pulling it down to the common-sense basics to make a strong point that change isn’t always good. He’s reminded us of what’s most important on “We Didn’t Have Much,” showed us that even in our differences we can still get along on “Everybody Get Along,” and has now uncovered that money doesn’t equal peace of mind on “This Is My Dirt.”

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis/Artwork c/o The Valory Music Co.)

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