This song is really what kicked off the bro country popularity. Like all bro country that followed it, it's alcohol, chicks, small town nostalgia, back roads, boots, and pickup trucks, with some incredibly shitty rapping mixed in(his rhymes drop at about 1:45). Pure garbage.
According to The Boot, Aldean's publicist teased about the song, suggesting Aldean listened to "a little Snoop Dogg in his time;" regarding the song, Aldean said he did not consider "Dirt Road Anthem" a rap song. He continued by saying, "...if I was to do anything like that, it's not going to be like Kanye West-style or anything."[3]
"Dirt Road Anthem" has received overall mixed reception from music critics. Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave "Dirt Road Anthem" a 4.5 star rating, saying, "Jason Aldean knows he’s not a rapper and this isn’t a style of music that he’ll continuously do...but as for a new song with a different sound, it certainly works.