I absolutely believe that what you sing and how you act when you're in this position, should be the definition of who you are and where your heart and character stands.

Cody Johnson

Categorized in : Believe Character Heart

In my opinion, if you buy a ticket to see me you're buying experience. People don't want to see me stand there and play guitar, they want to party with us.

guitar party play

My album was recorded in Nashville. It used to be all about "We're from Texas, forget Nashville," well you'll never hear me say that. Nashville isn't bad as long as you're true to yourself.

nashville texas long

My publishing deal is out of Nashville, my management is split between Nashville and Texas, but we are also getting to play eight other states as well as Canada and Europe this year. I don't want to pigeon-hole myself. When people ask me if I'm Texas or Nashville, I tell them I am just Cody Johnson.

nashville eight texas

Once we get out on the road, my tour manager who is also my guitar player does a great job of taking weight off of my shoulders where I can just focus on playing the shows.About two hours before every show, the pacing starts and the anticipation builds. I prepare for it just like I would when I used ride bulls, slap yourself in the face, wake yourself up and get your heart going.

player heart jobs

Some people weren't sure whether they wanted to get on board until the very end, and by then it's too late - so we just shake their hand and thank them for their time as well. I don't know that I'm beating anyone at their own game, other than just being myself and doing what I've promised my fans, my family, and my team that I'm going to do.

team games hands

When we got to Steamboat, we were on that big stage at five in the afternoon, and it was almost at capacity. I told my guys 'no matter what we've done to get to this point, no matter what lows, what highs, right now we are here and we've got a point to prove." It was probably one of my most memorable performances thus far.

guy done memorable

I don't know about one moment that has pivoted my career. I do know that one thing that hit me and made me take a few steps back was a year at Steamboat.

careers steps years

There's that area, right there, where you can be too hard on yourself or you need to be really hard on yourself - I'm trying to ride that line by telling myself that I can always write better, sing better, what can we do to make the show more interesting? Pretend that you're the guy who's been in the front row for the last five shows; what would make it new for you?

guy writing interesting

I think that no matter what you do, whether you rodeo, whether you work in an office, you work in the oilfield or you play music for a living, eventually if you do enough of it, the devil in the back of your head tries to turn it into work. You have to find new ways to make it new and make it exciting to keep that drive there.

office play thinking

I really tried to push every genre that I could into this record. I wanted every song to have this feel, where as soon as the listener tunes in, they say "That's CoJo, that's Cody right there." That being said, it is a little different. There's Americana, there's Bluegrass, there's some rock, there's some really George Jones-style stuff on it, slow-style Ray Price country elements, there's some modern country, a little of this and a little of that. We tried to push a lot for show versatility, because I grew up with a lot of versatility in my music.

rocks song country

Also, I think I'd like to see more out-of-state shows, man. As bad as I hate to say this, I'm looking forward to playing for nobody. That's what happens when you're a guy like me and you travel out to Sacramento, California.

hate men thinking

Pushing myself against my own will really, because some of this stuff is hard. I don't consider myself to be a great guitar player, so pushing myself as a guitar player or pushing myself as a singer, as a performer, and just riding that fine line between being so hard on yourself that it's counter-productive and being so hard on yourself that nothing is ever good enough is what drives me.

guitar lines player

It's something that Cory Morrow said to me a long time ago - "Don't ever forget why Nashville is Nashville. The Opry is there for a reason. Country music lives there. Don't be bitter. And don't ever treat Texas or Nashville like either one isn't important."

nashville texas country

I don't like reality TV as far as it being scripted and not being... by Cody Johnson

I don't like reality TV as far as it being scripted and not being true reality.

being-true tvs reality

I don't know that we're beating anyone at their own game. I just think that we tried to include a lot of Nashville entities from the very beginning, just to see if that would work. We were trying to take my music to a different level and some people wanted me to change my style and my image, obviously that's not going to happen so we simply thanked those people for their time.

nashville games thinking

Without changing my style and who I am, they [Trent Willmon and Dan Couch and Dale Oliver ] know how to draw those things out of me. It was a really cool experience on this record, because I tried really hard on the writing to make sure that I wasn't just writing it just like I wanted to.

style who-i-am writing

The people that have looked out for me and helped to steer me in the right direction, I just can't thank them enough. So, the drive, a lot of times it just comes down to looking around at the people who love and believe in you and realizing that you owe it to them. Even if I have a bad attitude on a certain occasion, I owe it to all these people around me to just come out and drive, push, and try to make this thing the best that I can

attitude believe people

I really think it's just the people you put around you. For instance, you mentioned "Kiss Goodbye," that was a song that was brought to me by Dan Couch and Dale Oliver. They had already started writing it without. They had put together this whole demo of music with no lyrics.

writing song goodbye

Obviously the way that I talk and the way that I dress all has to do with the way that I was raised. As far as the drive, when I was 18 or 21 years old, everything I did was because I wanted to go play music simply because that's what I wanted to do.

play way years

For me, when I got married and when I had my daughter, those are two things that - when it does feel like work - makes me feel like I'm working for my family. I look around and just feel so blessed, because the opportunities that have been laid at my feet are second-to-none.

daughter blessed opportunity