bag that cougar once and for all

Apparently, duder's been playing this song for a few years, and it wasn't written just to sell trucks.

One question now is what impact a commercial that has been running for months can have on sales of a new album. Some executives at Universal Republic, Mr. Mellencamp’s label, are concerned that the exposure peaked too soon, and that the audience has already tired of the song. Mr. Mellencamp admits that the situation has put radio programmers “in a position they’ve never been in before,” adding that he never anticipated that the ad would be played so frequently. “They sure pounded it,” he said with a chuckle.

Uh, yeah, I think I may have seen it once or twice. Joan Baez admires it's "subtlety." Still no explanation regarding "the dixie highway."
Oh, this is funny, too:

The album’s most striking songs, though, display a more intimate depiction of the small-town life that Mr. Mellencamp, 55 and a lifelong Indiana resident, knows so well. The acoustic “Rural Route” is an account of a crystal meth-fueled murder in which the victim’s body was found at the edge of his parents’ property.

Intimate.