Who Is Up-And-Coming Country Star Cody Johnson?
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Growing up in a small town in Texas, Cody Johnson began his musical education with his mom and dad. "We would sit around the piano, and they would make me sing the harmony parts first," he recalled for his documentary film, "Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story." "Then I would have to sing the harmony parts of the song with nobody else singing." When he was about 12, he picked up the guitar, and as he tells it, played until his fingers bled.
All his practice has paid off. Johnson was named "Best New Country Artist" at the iHeart Music Radio Awards in 2023, his song "Til You Can't" won the "Country Song of the Year" Grammy, and he added "Performance of the Year" bragging rights at the 2023 CMT Awards. In November 2023, he released his latest album, "Leather," with its hit "The Painter," and has been selling out arenas ahead of his 2024 tour.
Music eventually became the way Johnson found fulfillment in a career, but it wasn't the singer's first choice. If things had gone differently, you wouldn't be listening to him perform his music as the headliner at a rodeo music concert — you would have been watching him receive a giant gold buckle after riding a bull at the event.
Rodeo was his first love
Though he grew up with music, Cody Johnson didn't set out to be famous a country singer. To him, music was a way to support his other dream, becoming a rodeo champion. "The minute I went to my first high-school rodeo ... I fell in love with whole show, the whole thing," the star explained in "Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story." "I just wanted to be a part of it."
In high school, Johnson would drive from arena to arena to compete on the rodeo circuit, an endeavor that didn't come cheap. To keep up with expenses, he would play guitar in the back of his pick-up truck after the rodeo, selling home-made CDs for five dollars a pop. The arenas where he rode bulls even picked up on his musical talent, even playing one of his songs over the speakers while he competed. "It was me on drums, me on the bass, me on acoustic guitar and me singing," Johnson told The Boot about the tune he recorded in a garage. "I ended up riding a bull while my song was playing."
When his rodeo career came to an end, he was devastated, and turned to music to began a new dream. His song, "Dear Rodeo," is a post-break-up love letter written to his bull-riding days. "Every night since I've written it and that I've played it, I smile." He recorded the song both solo, and as a duet with Reba McEntire.
The CoJo Nation is real
By the time Cody Johnson decided to pursue a full-time career in music, he already had a loyal fan base, especially in his home state of Texas. While he was riding bulls, fans were picking up his garage-made CDs and had formed their own brand of musical worship, known as the CoJo Nation — something Johnson has embraced and promotes regularly through his concerts and social media pages, often using the hashtag #COJONation.
Built from the ground up, the country singer released his first six studio albums as an independent artist and even hit the number-two spot on Billboard's Country Album chart without even having a song released nationwide. In 2019, he dropped the album "Ain't Nothin' to It" under his own label, CoJo Music, and Warner Music Nashville. He followed that up with the double album "Human" in 2021, and "Leather" in 2023.
In December 2023, the cowboy circled back to his original music roots with the TV special, "CMT Presents: A Cody Johnson Christmas." Johnson's marriage partner Brandi and their two young daughters for some sing-a-longs — and of course, his mom and dad, a long-time wish come true. "I've always wanted to have them," he shared on Instagram about including his parents in the special. "That's the foundation of where my music comes from; sitting around that piano with my dad, my mom."