(Verse 1)
When I was seventeen, still wet behind the ears
I counted down the minutes, I calculated years
Said this small-town dust was choking out my dreams
Main Street felt too narrow, bursting at the seams.
I packed up my truck and swore I wouldn't look twice,
Chasing neon lights and better advice.
I couldn't wait to leave this boring place,
To find a faster future and a wide-open space.
(Chorus)
I drove a thousand miles just to realize,
The answer wasn't waiting underneath those city lights.
It wasn't in the rush, the fame, or the applause,
It was hidden in the quiet, in the natural laws.
This worn-out stretch of highway, this field of broken stone,
Is the only kind of solid ground I’ve ever known.
Yeah, this red dirt town is where I belong.
(Verse 2)
I chased the interstate from Oklahoma to the coast,
Looking for the treasure I thought I’d lost the most.
I saw the famous landmarks, the glamour and the hype,
But every rented room felt cold beneath the streetlight.
I shook a hundred hands and heard a thousand names,
Played a hundred transient, hollow little games.
Traveled the country looking to find the thing I was missing,
But all I ever found was concrete and soul-crushing loneliness.
(Chorus)
I drove a thousand miles just to realize,
The answer wasn't waiting underneath those city lights.
It wasn't in the rush, the fame, or the applause,
It was hidden in the quiet, in the natural laws.
This worn-out stretch of highway, this field of broken stone,
Is the only kind of solid ground I’ve ever known.
Yeah, this red dirt town is where I belong.
(Verse 3)
It took a broke down truck and three flat tires out west,
To figure out I was failing my own impossible test.
I pulled the map out, dusty, wrinkled, and old,
And saw the only story worth telling was still untold.
It took awhile, but I figured out what I was looking for all along,
The steady hum of life, the place I started strong.
The comfort I was missing was right there all the time,
In the sound of that old screen door and that worn-out porch chimes.
(Bridge)
You can run from home, but you can't run from history,
The only road that matters is the one that leads back to me.
(Chorus)
I drove a thousand miles just to realize,
The answer wasn't waiting underneath those city lights.
It wasn't in the rush, the fame, or the applause,
It was hidden in the quiet, in the natural laws.
This worn-out stretch of highway, this field of broken stone,
Is the only kind of solid ground I’ve ever known.
Yeah, this red dirt town is where I belong.
(Outro)
Yeah, this red dirt town...
Finally back where I belong.
