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Cody Johnson Scores Third CMA Award

Cody Johnson won his third CMA award last night (11/20) when his album Leather won the coveted Album of the Year award. Before the show, Cody told us how excited…

Cody Johnson stats backstage at the CMA awards, holding his award wearing a black blazer and a black cowboy hat.
Tribina Hobson/Getty Images

Cody Johnson won his third CMA award last night (11/20) when his album Leather won the coveted Album of the Year award.

Before the show, Cody told us how excited he was to be nominated for CMAs this year. He said, "All the years of hard work that went into it, I’m finally invited to the party, and that’s incredible. I know people say this and it sounds like a cliché, but just to be nominated is a win."

The budding country superstar performed with Carrie Underwood, their duet. "I’m Gonna Love You," and it was one of the highlights of the CMA Awards last night (11/20). As Cody told us, it’s performing at an award show that makes him the most happy.

He said, "I cut my teeth in the bars and honkytonks playing live music, and I always enjoy the award shows and to perform on the CMA‘s. It's probably my favorite part of it because that’s my wheelhouse. That’s when I get to show everybody why I’m nominated."

Johnson recently got the chance to play a hometown show in Arlington, Texas. Cody sold out his first-ever headline stadium concert, playing for 40,643 fans at Globe Life Field in his native Arlington.

Special guests included Jon Pardi, Tracy Byrd, and Ella Langley. To announce this show the singer attended batting practice and threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a home Texas Rangers game this spring and returned to the field to perform the National Anthem at the 2024 MLB All-Star Game in July.

Cody told us before the hometown show, "I haven’t got a chance to play in Texas a whole lot, you know, obviously home is where the heart is, and that’s my heart’s always in Texas. The one date I’m looking forward to the most, the baseball stadium in Arlington. And I think that’s just going to be amazing. I got to play it once in 2020 when the Wrangler NFR was there in Arlington, and it’s a pretty big deal."

He added, "So, I’m looking forward to that…but those are easy. Anytime we’re playing in Texas, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll just come in that day and skip sound check and I’ll play the show and just go home.’ And actually in Arlington, the day after I’ve got a team roping I’m going to right there in Fort Worth. So, it’s double good for me."

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.