‘Broken Branches’ by Dierks Bentley, John Anderson & Riley Green - Lyrics & Meaning

Arriving on June 13th as the title-track from Dierks Bentley's 11th studio album, on paper, you might assume ‘Broken Branches’ is going to be a bittersweet, weighty reflection on how the ‘broken’ parts of ourselves make us who we are. However, in reality, it's a light-hearted, whiskey-soaked, honky-tonkin’ anthem that finds Bentley, Riley Green and John Anderson shrugging off their worries and holing up in a dive bar.

‘Broken Branches’ takes on a classic, late 2000's country feel, with the trio trading verses across an uptempo and wonderfully twangy instrumental. Aptly, given the subject-matter the track sounds like the exact kind of song you could expect to hear if you stumbled into an old dive bar. Dierks Bentley has always had a penchant for infusing levity and a tongue-in-cheek tone into his music - particularly during his rip-roaring live shows - and he exemplifies this on ‘Broken Branches’.

“Once upon a time there was a farmer
Planted roots down in the holler
By the water on the riverbank

He watered it with whiskey
So it grew a little tipsy
But that S.O.B. still kickin'
Like it ain't no thang”

‘Broken Branches’ is packed with witty, branch-themed wordplay, with Bentley kicking things off by regaling listeners with the tale of a farmer who settles down and ‘plants roots’ by the river. He keeps the metaphor going by jokingly recalling how he ‘watered’ those roots with whiskey, suggesting he became a little alcohol-dependent. But don't fret, because the farmer is “still kickin’ / Like it ain't no thang”.

“But there's one thing that's true
It dropped some rotten fruit
And them apples ain't fell far
Hell they rolled right in this bar”

Did you think the metaphor was going to stop there? This is a Dierks Bentley song, after all. Here, Riley Green admits that the farmer's whiskey-drenched roots ending up producing some ‘rotten fruit’ - and you know what they say about the apple not falling far from the tree. Rather than lamenting the way things turned out, Bentley, Green and Anderson decide to celebrate how all the misfits and slightly ‘broken‘ branches of the tree come together and find their home in the bar.

“Drinkin' all night long
Till the lights come on
Spendin' paycheck money
Singin' jukebox songs
Blame it on our bloodline
For lovin' us a good time
Soakin' up the neon light

We're the never stood a chancer's hangin' out in the breeze
A bunch of broken branches off the family tree

Throughout the uplifting hook, they simply pay homage to the celebratory evening they're enjoying, with plenty of jukebox anthems and neon-tinged revelry ahead of them.

“We shoulda gone to college
Coulda gained a little knowledge
Maybe then we would be smart enough to change our ways
We're just repeat offenders
Mixin' liquor in a blender
Turnin' Mondays into benders
Like we just got paid

But around 4:45
Only one thing's on our mind
Findin' us a Delta dime
Draggin' boots to closing time”

John Anderson doubles-down on the overarching message of the track, as he admits that maybe, in another life, these ‘broken branches’ might have cleaned up their act, gone to college and learned how to ‘change their ways’. But what would be the fun in that?

“Whole bunch of broken branches
Yeah, they tried for generations to cut us down
But I'll go out on a limb and say we're stickin' around”

We get another flurry of branch-related wordplay here, with Bentley closing with the amusingly pun-filled line, “But I'll go out on a limb and say we're stickin’ around”.

Speaking to Apple Music's Kelleigh Bannen ahead of the album's release, Dierks Bentley revealed how this star-studded link-up with Riley Green and John Anderson came about, “There’s never any sort of plotting or planning, for better or for worse, when it comes to collaborations and strategy and all that stuff. The song dictates everything. And I heard that song. I love the song. I love the idea that we’re all broken branches off the family tree, and we’re little misfits here in Nashville where you make your own friend group. I heard it as a duet right away.”

“Once upon a time there was a farmer
Planted roots down in the holler
By the water on the riverbank

-

He watered it with whiskey
So it grew a little tipsy
But that S.O.B. still kickin'
Like it ain't no thang

-

But there's one thing that's true
It dropped some rotten fruit
And them apples ain't fell far
Hell they rolled right in this bar

-

Drinkin' all night long
Till the lights come on
Spendin' paycheck money
Singin' jukebox songs
Blame it on our bloodline
For lovin' us a good time
Soakin' up the neon light

-

We're the never stood a chancer's hangin' out in the breeze
A bunch of broken branches off the family tree

-

We shoulda gone to college
Coulda gained a little knowledge
Maybe then we would be smart enough to change our ways
We're just repeat offenders
Mixin' liquor in a blender
Turnin' Mondays into benders
Like we just got paid

-

But around 4:45
Only one thing's on our mind
Findin' us a Delta dime
Draggin' boots to closing time

-

Drinkin' all night long
Till the lights come on
Spendin' paycheck money
Singin' jukebox songs
Blame it on our bloodline
For lovin' us a good time
Soakin' up the neon light

-

We're the never stood a chancer's hangin' out in the breeze
A bunch of broken branches off the family tree

-

Whole bunch of broken branches
Yeah, they tried for generations to cut us down
But I'll go out on a limb and say we're stickin' around

-

Drinkin' all night long
Till the lights come on
Spendin' paycheck money
Singin' old Hank songs
Blame it on our bloodlines
For lovin' us a good time
Soakin' up some neon lights

-

We're the never stood a chancer's hangin' out in the breeze
A bunch of broken branches off the family tree

-

That's right”

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