Riley Green Brings Brooks & Dunn Into a Nostalgic New Take on “Red Dirt Road”
Riley Green has found a fitting way to connect his own memories of small-town Alabama with one of Brooks & Dunn’s most recognizable songs.
On his new 19-track album That’s Just Me, released September 18, 2026, Green teams up with Brooks & Dunn on “Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads,” a reflective song about changing rural landscapes, childhood memories, family, faith and the places that helped shape him. The collaboration appears as the 13th track on the album.
The song also gives Green the opportunity to bring the artists behind “Red Dirt Road” directly into the story. Brooks & Dunn appear toward the end, revisiting their 2003 hit and tying Green’s new song back to the memories and experiences at the center of the original.
It is a natural pairing for Green, whose music has continued to draw heavily from his Alabama upbringing even as his career has expanded.
Riley Green Keeps His Alabama Roots at the Center
Green recently discussed that approach during an interview with sports personality Pat McAfee for Spotify.
As his career has grown, Green said he makes a point of returning to the same small-town Alabama perspective that influenced his earliest songwriting. He explained that he tries to go home and write several songs for every album from the standpoint of his upbringing, family values and the experiences he has written about since the beginning.
That philosophy is particularly evident on “Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads.”
Rather than simply looking backward, the song considers what happens when familiar parts of a rural community begin to disappear. Fields, woods and old landmarks give way to gas stations, convenience stores, housing developments and pavement, leaving behind memories that cannot necessarily be recreated.
The result is a song built around a very personal question: what happens to the experiences that shaped you when the places where they happened are no longer there?
A Direct Connection to Brooks & Dunn’s “Red Dirt Road”
The connection becomes clear from the title alone.
Brooks & Dunn released “Red Dirt Road” in 2003 as the lead single and title track from their album of the same name. The song became the duo’s 18th No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and reached No. 25 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.
The original song looks back on the formative experiences associated with a rural road. Drinking a first beer, wrecking a first car, discovering faith and meeting someone special all become part of the same stretch of road and, ultimately, part of the story of growing up.
Green takes that basic idea and approaches it from another direction.
In “Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads,” he remembers the fields and familiar spots from his childhood while watching them disappear beneath new development. A place that once served as a family hunting spot is now associated with a Dairy Queen. An old barn is about to be replaced by a new convenience store. The memories remain, but the physical landscape is changing around them.
That gives the song a strong connection to the Brooks & Dunn classic without simply repeating its story.
Family, Faith and Firsts Along the Road
The most personal moments come through Green’s memories of his father and the places where he experienced some of life’s earliest milestones.
The song looks back on drinking beer with his dad, taking a curve too quickly and putting his Ford into a creek. It also recalls the church pew where he found his faith and the green-eyed girl who climbed into the bench seat beside him.
Those details turn the changing landscape into something more meaningful. The roads and fields matter because of what happened there.
Green is essentially asking where those same memories could have been made if the places that once provided them had already been paved over.
The idea also mirrors the central theme of Brooks & Dunn’s “Red Dirt Road,” which uses a single stretch of rural road as a backdrop for memories of youth, mistakes, faith and growing up.
Brooks & Dunn Complete the Circle
The most effective part of Green’s arrangement comes late in the song.
Brooks & Dunn enter for the closing section and sing a portion of “Red Dirt Road,” bringing the two songs together. The references to a first beer, finding Jesus and wrecking a first car suddenly connect Green’s memories with the experiences Brooks & Dunn put into their 2003 hit.
Green then joins them as the song closes with the hope that those red dirt roads will never be paved.
According to Holler, the track was written by Green and Dallas Davidson, produced by Dann Huff, and released as part of That’s Just Me on September 18, 2026. The publication describes the song as a musical counterpart to Brooks & Dunn’s “Red Dirt Road,” with the duo appearing at the end to perform part of the song that inspired Green’s new track.
There is also a personal connection behind the collaboration. In a recent MusicRow interview, Green explained that he wanted to use the album to highlight artists who influenced him, including Brooks & Dunn and Randy Owen. He also recalled texting Ronnie Dunn about “Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads,” with Dunn responding that he could sing on it the following Monday.
That makes the appearance feel especially appropriate within the larger concept of That’s Just Me.
A Standout on That’s Just Me
“Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads” sits within a 19-song album that also features Hannah McFarland, Jake Worthington and Randy Owen of Alabama. Green worked with Dann Huff on the project, while longtime collaborator Erik Dylan served as associate producer.
The collaborations reflect the broader approach Green has described for the record: continuing to grow while staying connected to the people, places and music that influenced him.
That balance is particularly clear here. The song deals with a familiar rural experience, but the Brooks & Dunn connection gives the idea another layer. Their appearance turns a song about Green’s own childhood into a conversation with a country classic from more than two decades earlier.
Most importantly, the collaboration does not feel disconnected from Green’s established songwriting themes. His memories of small-town Alabama, family, faith and the changing landscape all fit naturally alongside the story Brooks & Dunn first told in “Red Dirt Road.”
For listeners who know the 2003 classic, the connection is immediate. For those discovering it through Green, the song works on its own as a reflection on how quickly familiar places can change.
And when Brooks & Dunn finally arrive near the end, the full circle moment is unmistakable.
“Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads” featuring Brooks & Dunn is track 13 on Riley Green’s That’s Just Me, available now.
“Pave All Them Dirt Roads (feat. Brooks & Dunn)”
“Red Dirt Road”