Kentucky Man Refuses To Sell His Land To AI Company For Millions Of Dollars, & It’s Almost The Exact Story That Cody Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap” Lays Out

Standing strong and staying put.

It’s a tale as old as time. Some big corporation comes to Small Town, America and starts waiving around millions of dollars in an attempt to convince residents to hand over their land. Granted, some people will take the money and run. But for others – like Dr. Tim Grosser in Maysville, Kentucky – there’s not an amount of cash that you could offer to make him give up his home.

Though the company’s name is not available, what’s being described as one of the “world’s largest artificial intelligence companies” apparently has its eyes set on some land in Northern Kentucky. They want the sprawling farm land so that they can build a massive data center to further aid their AI development. But there’s only one problem.

A Kentucky man isn’t interested in giving his land up, and there’s apparently no amount of money that could convince him otherwise.

Tim Grosser has lived in Maysville, Kentucky for around three decades, and he owns about 250 acres that features creeks, beautiful rolling hills, and fertile soil for farming. The land is incredibly valuable, and not just in the monetary sense. The Kentucky man has amassed plenty of memories on his property, which now serves his family across multiple generations, as he told WKRC:

“My grandson loves to come up here and hunt deer and turkeys. It’s just what we do.”

Obviously, if he were to sell the land, Grosser and his family could no longer utilize the property. This AI company is looking for around 2,000 acres in the Maysville area, so the man’s acreage could knock out a significant chunk out of that goal. However, Grosser isn’t budging as the company continues to offer him millions of dollars for his land.

The market value of his entire property is around $2 million. The unnamed AI organization apparently offered him $4 million initially. He turned it down. They then upped their offer to over $8 million. Grosser turned them down on that as well. They’ve since told Grosser to name his price, and he refuses to do so.

When asked why by WKRC, the Maysville resident said this:

“That money can’t buy happiness.”

Sticking it to the man AI… I love it.

The company and the town could still opt to built the data center without Grosser’s land if other landowners in the area are willing to sell. That would mean that the Kentucky man’s property would be located right next to the data center, which in turn could hurt his property value. But Grosser still refuses to give in, because to him, the land he owns in the Bluegrass State is priceless.

Does that story sound familiar at all? Ring any bells whatsoever? Specifically in the country music world?

Becuase if you ask me, it’s eerily similar to the story that Cody Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap” lays out. Think about the intro to that song… a group comes in thinking they could pay “top dollar” to get an old man to move out of his home and off his land for a planned development.

“They came in thinkin’ top dollar
To that old cotton crop farmer
They knocked on his screen door, and he said
‘Lord, what you need, boys,’  and they said
‘You know all the others went and cashed out
We got the subdivision all mapped out
It’ll sit right here on this land
And you can leave town a rich man.’
And he said, ‘Boys, whatever you’re offerin’, it won’t be enough.'”

And why does the old man refuse to give in and accept the cash offer? Because the land has been in his family for so many years that the memories are worth more than the millions, as the chorus poetically puts it:

“‘Cause I got a little girl that used to swing right there
I still see her pink bow in her brown hair
She’s in the big city, but she still calls home
What’s she gonna do if she comes back, and we’re gone?
And over there, under that wide oak tree
Beneath the cross is where my best buddy’s buried
Lasted 13 huntin’ season runnin’ strong
Keep your money ’cause a man can’t leave his dog
And over there is where I got down on one knee
You can’t buy that kind of dirt cheap.'”

In other words, we have a real life “Dirt Cheap” situation playing out in Northern Kentucky, and something tells me that Dr. Tim Grosser’s decision to stand his ground and keep his land would have Cody Johnson’s approval.

“Dirt Cheap” by Cody Johnson

The post Kentucky Man Refuses To Sell His Land To AI Company For Millions Of Dollars, & It’s Almost The Exact Story That Cody Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap” Lays Out first appeared on Whiskey Riff.