Cody Johnson: ‘Not Just A Guy From Texas’

Cody Johnson is proud of his Texas heritage, but when it came to making it in Nashville, being from Texas made it harder for many to see him as commercially viable artist.  

Cody is celebrating his 37th birthday today (5/21) as a bonafide Nashville country star as he is often nominated among the best in country music for CMA and ACM Male Vocalist categories and got a recent Album of the Year nomination for his Leather project from the ACM. 

Cody performs at the ACM Awards in 2023 in Texas. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

Johnson told us that getting from Texas to Nashville stardom had some bumps in the road. He said, "I've spent so many years as an artist trying to prove to people that you could go from a Texas country artist and get a label in Nashville and not have to change your style, not have to change your producer." 

He said they even tried to change his look, "One of the first times I ever came to Nashville, they asked me to take my hat off, and I'm like, 'That's not me.'" 

Johnson concluded, "I think the independent spirit from that, I will always carry for the rest of my career where nobody's saying, 'You're just a guy from Texas.'"  

RELATED: Cody Johnson Takes Pride In Being An Entertainer

Cody recently revealed a tattoo in an odd place, in a recent conversation with CMT. 

He recently answered some questions for CMT and revealed the location of his favorite tattoo on his body. Johnson explained, "It is on the bottom of my foot. I had my tattoo artist come out with me on the road. All these (his many tattoos) have been done either at a venue or on my bus. I have done my entire right arm. I said (to my artist), 'Have you ever done the bottom of a foot?' and he's like, 'No, I never have.' And I was like, 'Tonight after the show, we're doing that.'"

Cody described what the tattoo on the bottom of his foot is, saying, "It's a line, you know if you're a carpenter, you'd say 'One foot over a line' and then the Waylon forever logo because my favorite Waylon Jennings song is 'I've always been crazy with one foot over the line.'"

Johnson added of the moment, "I literally just propped my foot up there on the table and took a big ole pull off a bottle, and he (started), and I'm like, 'It doesn't hurt, It kind of tickled honestly, but I was about half drunk."

Cody Johnson has been moving to country superstar status with the release of his new album Leather and the announcement of the accompanying tour.

Cody recently told us that early on in his career, before he signed with Warner Brothers Nashville, industry people wanted to change his style. He said, "You just have to stand your ground. I had a big fat record deal sitting in front of me when they asked me to take my hat off, and I turned it down. At the time, I was starving. My wife and I didn't have anything, and that was a hard pill to swallow. This is not an easy thing to do to stand up and say, 'I know who I am already. I don't need you to tell me who I am. This is who I am, musically and personally.'"

Johnson added, "It gets easier over the years because the bigger you get, the more people accept that. I think it's a hard road, and that's why a lot of people don't take it. They will let people influence them to change their name, change the way they dress, or change their producer because that producer had a lot of hits."

Cody told us he's glad he stood his ground, "It's been a hard road, but I'm thankful for it because I feel like I've earned everything. When you get to it good, it tastes so much sweeter. And that's really who I am, so I'm never gonna change that. I am not arrogant about it because I know who I am musically. I know who I am personally."

As Johnson expands his popularity in country music and becomes a major star, we decided to take a deep dive and give some details on the Cody Johnson songs everyone should know by now.

This was Johnson's first song released by his then-new label home, Warner Nashville. The song cracked the top 15, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard Hot Country Song chart. The lyrics include, "All the stars I've seen/ All the songs I've sung / All the beers I've drank / All the damage done / I was just passin' time / Kinda just passin' through / On my way to you."

This amazing song won the Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year and Video of the Year at the 56th Annual Country Music Association Awards in 2022 and the Grammy Award for Best Country Song at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in 2023. Johnson did not write the song but told the message in it, "In our world today, we could use more positivity."

While Johnson did not write this song either, he said that it is his most autobiographical song. It was released in 2011 and made the Billboard Country Airplay chart's top ten, peaking at eight. It is also the title track to his double Human album, which was also released in 2021.

Cody teamed up with Reba McEntire for a duet version of his song "Dear Rodeo." Johnson wrote the song as a very personal tribute to his previous career in bull riding, which struck a chord with Reba, who grew up on a family ranch competing in barrel racing.

Reba said then, "It was a thrill to sing 'Dear Rodeo' with Cody because we're both from the rodeo world. I grew up in a rodeo family; I'm a third-generation rodeo brat. So, the song means a lot to me because I did leave rodeo to be in the country music business. I sure miss it."

This song is bound to be a big hit. Even though Johnson did not write the song himself, it's about his marriage. He said, "My favorite lyric in 'The Painter' is 'For every wall I built, she saw a canvas.' If there's anything that describes my marriage with my wife, Brandi, it's that line. And that's why we've been together for 15 years."

Johnson added, "I hope my fans are encouraged to take the time to appreciate the people they have around them. The ones who make their life beautiful and bring all the beautiful colors to their world when it could just be black and white and dark. Remember them and tell them you love them."