How Jackson Dean's 'Blacktop Blues' went from rejected hook to live groover
Jackson Dean's "Blacktop Blues" is the subject of Billboard's Makin' Tracks column, published on 14 October 2026. The column breaks down how songs are written, and this instalment traces the track from a writing-room idea to a cut built for the stage. Billboard
The song was originated by Jimi Bell, Tucker Beathard and Luke Dick during a May 2025 writing session at Little Louder Music. Bell, a native of Hawkinsville, Ga., arrived with an opening title idea: "Red Dirt Blues." That idea developed into the central hook, the short repeated line designed to stick, with the lyric "I need a little red dirt for my blacktop blues."
Dean said no at first. On 6 June at the Carolina Country Music Festival in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Beathard and Bell pitched him the hook as lyrics only, with no music attached. He passed on it.
The decision changed the following week. Dick added a choppy slide guitar hook, played with a slide to give a sharp, cutting sound, and a slapping backbeat, a strong accent on the off-beat that drives a song forward. That combination won Dean over, according to the Billboard account.
Dean said the song is about getting home and getting back to respite. He described his own life in simple terms: "I got everything that I dreamed of, you know — a woman, and a cabin, and a dog, and one of the coolest jobs on planet Earth"
Musically, he kept the description plain. He called it "just three chords all the time" and "a groover" that "we can rip that live so good." For listeners, that means a simple structure with room to stretch out in concert.
Dean is a singer/songwriter signed to Big Machine Records. He has also released an official visualiser for "Blacktop Blues." YouTube
