[Verse 1]
Boots in the red at first light again
Same old fence with a lean in the wind
Town talks clever from a padded chair
Out here the ground still tells on a man

[Verse 2]
You can shine a story till it looks like gold
You can sell a version that the city will hold
I drag a post and I set it true
This dirt don't care what you said you would do

[Chorus]
Dirt don't lie
Never did, never will
It shows who stayed
And who ran for the hill
You can dress it up
You can talk it high
When the sun comes up
Dirt don't lie

[Verse 3]
Granddad said it with a hammer in hand
A man's a pattern, not a one-night plan
I learned that young and I live it still
Work is the witness. Talk is a hill.

[Chorus]
Dirt don't lie
Black hat, red clay
I keep my word
That's the whole of the day

[Verse 1]
Folded flag in a frame by the door
Porch light on like it was before
I don't need a speech to know what I owe
I work this ground. That's how it shows.

[Chorus]
Call me a patriot
I won't flinch at the name
It ain't a costume I wear for a game
I stand when they play
I lock the same door
Same country tomorrow
Same work as before

[Verse 2]
Some men love it loud and some men love it cheap
I love it quiet with the dirt on my feet
If the talking got heavy and the meaning got thin
I still pay the cost. I still let it in.

[Bridge]
Red on the porch
White on the rail
Blue in the evening
When the last light fails

[Chorus]
Call me a patriot
I won't flinch at the name
It ain't a costume I wear for a game
I stand when they play
I lock the same door
Same country tomorrow
Same work as before

[Verse 1]
Neon on a cheap glass of something brown
Sawdust stuck to a Saturday town
She caught my eye from the far side rail
I tipped the brim. That's the whole of the tale.

[Chorus]
Slide that hat
Don't say too much
Let the band talk
Let the floor do the rest
If she wants a dancer
She'll know where I'm at
One look is plenty
Just slide that hat

[Verse 2]
I ain't here hunting a forever plan
I came for a song and a working man's stand
If the night turns kind I might stay for two
If it don't, the truck still knows the way through.

[Chorus]
Slide that hat
Don't say too much
Let the band talk
Let the floor do the rest
If she wants a dancer
She'll know where I'm at
One look is plenty
Just slide that hat

[Verse 1]
I was raised on a porch, not a lecture hall
Worked for my keep and I answered the call
I don't hate a soul for the blood in their vein
I just won't kneel to a made-up shame

[Chorus]
Being white ain't wrong
It ain't a crime
I didn't pick it
Same as any other kind
I'll stand for a man by the word that he keeps
Not the color he carries
Not the team that he speaks

[Verse 2]
I judge a handshake, I judge a day's work
I don't need a slogan to know what that's worth
If you came here honest I'll meet you the same
Leave the guilt at the gate. That ain't my game.

[Bridge]
Love your people
Don't hate the rest
That's the whole sermon
That's the whole test

[Chorus]
Being white ain't wrong
It ain't a crime
I didn't pick it
Same as any other kind
I'll stand for a man by the word that he keeps
Not the color he carries
Not the team that he speaks

[Verse 1]
Bench seat cracked like a dry river bed
Radio stuck on a station that's dead
Granddad bought it when the paint was still proud
I keep it running. That's my kind of loud.

[Chorus]
Eighty-five Ford
Ain't pretty, ain't new
Turns over honest
When the work is due
You can keep your shine
I'll keep the roar
Me and that rust
And that eighty-five Ford

[Verse 2]
She used to ride with the window rolled down
Hair in the wind heading out of this town
The truck still remembers the shape of that door
I don't replace what still knows what it's for

[Chorus]
Eighty-five Ford
Ain't pretty, ain't new
Turns over honest
When the work is due
You can keep your shine
I'll keep the roar
Me and that rust
And that eighty-five Ford

[Verse 1]
She packed light and she didn't look back twice
Said this ranch was a beautiful kind of vice
I stood on the boards with the porch light on
Watched those red lights eat the dark and be gone

[Chorus]
She went west
I stayed true
That's the split
That's the whole of the news
I don't chase a woman who needed the sky
I keep the land
And I let her fly

[Verse 2]
Coffee still set for a two-cup dawn
I pour one now and I drink it alone
If she found a city that fits her better
I hope it holds. I hope it lets her.

[Bridge]
Love ain't a fence you can make somebody keep
Some gates open. Some men still sleep.

[Chorus]
She went west
I stayed true
That's the split
That's the whole of the news
I don't chase a woman who needed the sky
I keep the land
And I let her fly

[Verse 1]
Neon writes Billings across a wet street
I parked the Ford where the old boys meet
One beer, maybe two, if the band is right
I don't stay long. I don't fight the night.

[Chorus]
Billings Saturday
A borrowed shine
I wear the town
Then I give it back at nine
Ranch in the morning
Dirt on the lane
City's a visitor
Home's the refrain

[Verse 2]
A girl on the sidewalk said I looked like a song
I smiled like a man who still had to get home
The lights look bigger when you don't belong
I like 'em fine. I don't stay too long.

[Chorus]
Billings Saturday
A borrowed shine
I wear the town
Then I give it back at nine
Ranch in the morning
Dirt on the lane
City's a visitor
Home's the refrain

[Verse 1]
He planted these pines when the ranch was still young
Said a man should leave more than the work that he done
I walk that row when the talking gets cheap
The wind in those trees is the closest I preach

[Chorus]
Wind through the pines
That's my church
No stained glass
No hired verse
If God still speaks
He speaks in that line
A long low hymn
Wind through the pines

[Verse 2]
I buried him east of the last fence post
Said I would keep what he loved the most
Some days I fail and some days I don't
The trees don't care. They just grow.

[Chorus]
Wind through the pines
That's my church
No stained glass
No hired verse
If God still speaks
He speaks in that line
A long low hymn
Wind through the pines

[Verse 1]
I don't need a contract thick as a brick
I don't need a lawyer to tell me what's right
Look a man in the eye and you give him your word
That's a handshake deal
That's how we sleep at night

[Verse 2]
If I said I'd be there then the truck is in gear
If I said I would pay then the money gets sent
This world got clever with the fine print talk
I still live on a promise
And I don't need it in ink

[Chorus]
Handshake deal
That's my whole creed
Say what you mean
Mean what you speak
Don't duck a debt
Don't duck a friend
Don't sell your name
For an easy weekend

[Bridge]
You can keep your loopholes
You can keep your shine
I'll keep the scar
Of a promise that's mine

[Chorus]
Handshake deal
That's my whole creed
Say what you mean
Mean what you speak
Don't duck a debt
Don't duck a friend
Don't sell your name
For an easy weekend

[Verse 1]
Coffee gone cold on the tailgate again
Fence still waiting like it always is
I ain't rich and I ain't running
I just woke up on the land I picked

[Chorus]
One more sunrise
Black hat, red dirt
One more day I get to work
Ain't no spotlight out here on this ridge
Just a man and a promise he made to this land
One more sunrise
I take it
I stay

[Verse 2]
She went west and the truck still turns
Granddad's pines still lean in the wind
I stand for the flag and I stand for my word
That's the whole map
That's the whole hymn

[Bridge]
If this is all I get
It's enough
If this is all I leave
It's honest
If they ask me what I was
Tell 'em he stayed

[Outro]
Cole Weston
Montana
Still here
Still mine

[Verse 1]
Kids in the yard with a cheap pack of sparklers
Porch light on and the grill still smoking
Granddad's Bible in the drawer by the window
Folded flag in a frame that he brought home unbroken

[Chorus]
Still 1776 in my blood
Not a costume I put on when the summer shows up
I work this ground
I stand when they play
I don't need a lecture
To love it this way

[Verse 2]
I don't worship a year like a man worships gold
I just remember what it cost to keep a word
If freedom's gone heavy
And the talking got cheap
I still owe the ones
Who paid it in heat

[Bridge]
Red on the porch
White on the rail
Blue in the evening
When the last sparkler fails

[Chorus]
Still 1776 in my blood
Not a costume I put on when the summer shows up
I work this ground
I stand when they play
I don't need a lecture
To love it this way