Dust on the Bible Belt

The air hangs thick with Sunday silence

Heavier than the summer heat

Every house got a porch swing creaking

And every sign says Jesus saves down the street

My daddy preached forgiveness

Mama prayed I wouldn't stray

But the weight of all that mourning

Choked the breath right out of my day

The cross on the county line was the first thing that I saw

And it was the last thing I swore

I'd ever bow down to before the Lord

There's dust on the Bible belt, and I'm wiping it off

My shoes left a town that promised heaven

But only offered me the blues

Swapped a hymnal for a steel guitar

Traded sermons for the sound of an engine

Humming freedom on the cracked and thirsty ground

Yeah, I'm shaking off that dust, though the ghost of it still clings

Finally heard the song my restless, weary heart truly sings

Tried to fit in the choir dress

Tried to memorize the book

But my soul kept wandering down the alley

Where the light could never look

They called it sin to feel the fire

Called it wrong to want the road

So I packed my sixth string in my spirit

And I shed that heavy load

The town judge watched me leave

Said, girl, you'll regret this run

But the only thing I regret

Is not leaving before the day was done

There's dust on the Bible belt, and I'm wiping it off

My shoes left a town that promised heaven

But only offered me the blues

Swapped a hymnal for a steel guitar

Traded sermons for the sound of an engine

Humming freedom on the cracked and thirsty ground

Yeah, I'm shaking off that dust, though the ghost of it still clings

Finally heard the song my restless, weary heart truly sings

There's dust on the belt

On the belt, on me