Blurring the lines between rock, rap, soul, and gospel, Dax’s ‘Lonely Dirt Road’ is a dazzling and personal song by the infamous Dax with a tight rhythm, ample melancholy, side by side with inspiring lyrics about the artist’s own long journey through mental health ordeals and self-discovery.
Based in Wichita, Kansas, calling Dax a Christian rock artist would be doing him a big disservice. Dax’s music, usually revolving around his spiritual relationship with God in their lyrics, also usually revolving around his own struggles and stories with growth and self-discovery, is mostly personable, accessible, and easy to relate to. ‘Lonely Dirt Road’ belongs more to the latter category, delving into Dax’s personal experiences.
With its skeletal and easy-to-follow arrangement, ‘Lonely Dirt Road’ is full of heart and honesty. The bittersweet chord sequences and atmospheric ambient elements used by Dax create an environment that’s dramatic and charged with emotions, carried even further by Dax’s fantastic rapping and his personal lines about growing up and finding God. The production is bold in its minimalism, leaving massive room for Dax’s lines to take up, with all their confrontational honesty and personal lines that see-saw between the hopeful and the difficult.
This authentic and heartfelt release has been recorded in Nashville, a city infamous for being incapable of producing bad music, and the merits of this alone, ‘Lonely Dirt Road’ is a winner. With Dax’s stark honesty and beautiful songwriting, we are left with a stunning, genre-defying release that has already garnered gargantuan attention, readily deserved.