"This Is My Dirt," is a song not only about how you grew up, but more specifically, where you grew up, and in particular, where I grew up. The land that I live on – and the land am raising my children on — is the same land that I grew up on. My mom was raised on this land, and it has been in our family since the late 1800s. My great, great grandfather raised my grandfather here. My grandpa inherited the land from him, and then I inherited it from my grandpa. So, it's really special to us, for obvious reasons. But, no matter where you grew up, I think everybody holds a special place in their heart for that place — whether it's a subdivision or thousands of acres. This song is about taking pride in wherever it is that you call "your dirt."[1]
Content
In the song, Justin Moore sings about the hard work that his family has put into taking care of land which they have owned for generations[2] and his refusal to sell the property.[3] The song is composed in the key of C# major with a 4/4 time signature and approximate tempo of 77 beats per minute. It mainly follows the chord progression C-F-G.
Critical reception
Billy Dukes of Taste of Country gave a positive review of the song, remarking "Defending what you've worked for is an American quality that's universal, and that makes this song from an upcoming project easy to find yourself in. That Moore sings the heck out of it certainly doesn't hurt his chances at scoring another No. 1 hit."[3]
Single and album differences
The original single version runs at 3:37. The album version (which was released on July 26, 2024) runs for 4:14. Two features were deleted from the single version:
The guitar solo before the bridge was cut two bars.
The last four lines of the outro verse: "Deep down, it's a part of me / this is my dirt / this is my dirt / this is my dirt / this is my dirt / Yeah, this is my dirt / Nobody else's, this is my dirt"
