February 19, 2024 • 20 mins
Cody Johnson's career is hotter than ever, thanks to his latest album, Leather! Cody caught us up on the biggest show of his career and he may have even spilled details on new music we wern't suppose to hear yet!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Knowing you, it's little, butknowing you as much as I do,
that Bridgestone show hit a reset buttonfor you, or you know what I
mean, Like it felt I couldsee in your eyes and in your face
and in your smile. You letpeople in that night and you normally don't
do that. Well, here's thedifference, you know, when you spend
(00:20):
over a decade in that town beingtold you're not gonna make it your Texas,
your cowboy, you know your twotraditional you know, neo traditional leaning,
You're not going to sell records.There's a lot of work that goes
into going and doing an independent careerand then making the type of deal that
I did with Warner Music Nashville toget to the point where we have radio
(00:41):
hits and we are selling out placeslike Bridgestone. I mean, and between
me and you and whoever's watching this, really we probably could have done back
to back nights, but you know, we just be in that position.
That town was more so an accomplishmentthan any other show that I think I've
ever played. I mean, yougo sell out Houston Rodeo seventy five thousand
tickets. Well, I'm from Texas, I'm supposed to write. That's what
(01:03):
people always said. But when yousaw it Bridgestone in Nashville, it was
a statement. And when I gotto walk in there, it was almost
like a McGregor walks into the octagon. It's like, Hey, I'm not
here to play. I'm here toshow you guys exactly who I am and
exactly what the damage I've come todo. Man. And that's that's what
it felt like on stage, andthat at that point when you get a
crowd like that and you can slowdown and be quiet and you can hear
(01:25):
a pin drop, you know,oh my god, this is the most
this is the largest most intimate showI think I've ever played. So you
I'm glad you caught that because itwas real. Yeah, I could.
I could see it in your faceand you're and when I say you're not,
I feel like you don't necessarily letpeople in. I mean, you're
still working your ass off and puttingon a great show. I don't mean
that by any means, But therewas something about the look in your eyes
(01:45):
and in your face that night thatlike that was that was it's gonna be
tough to beat that night. Well, it didn't help that, right,
before the show, I got presentedwith a plaque that had like seventeen triple
platinum and platinum and gold records andall this crap on it, and the
radio room felt more like a meetand greet, and I was like,
everybody's telling me, oh, you'reit. You know, you're saving country
(02:05):
music and all this stuff. AndI was going like, boy, if
there's ever been a night to letit all hang out, tonight the night.
But you put on a hell ofa show man, and congratulations a
night. It's a night that's beentoo long in the making, but very
well deserved. Man. When yougot off stage that night, I feel
like you're a guy that feels accomplishedevery show, right, Like, and
maybe there's things that you noticed thata fan wouldn't that you like, got
(02:28):
to fix that for next time,got to fix when you got off stage
that night, what was there afeeling that you've never had before? Was
it? Was it different? Like? What was it about wrapping up that
show that might have been different fromyou know, the night before, the
weekend before, the year before.Man, there's you know, whether you're
whether you're riding bulls, playing football, whatever you're doing, you always feel
like you could have been better.You know, you could have been better
(02:51):
in some way, whether you're whetheryou're on stage, you feel like you
could have been better. Uh,that night, I felt like we threw
the perfect game. It was like, man, nothing went wrong. It
was almost like auto. It wastoo easy. It was too much fun.
And it reminded me of like whyI play music in the first place.
It should be that fun, Itshould be that fluid, it should
be that easy. And then afterwardsI came to the bus, got my
little girls and my wife. Wewent to the after party and hung out
(03:15):
for a little bit and my kidscomplained because they didn't have chicken nuggets at
the after party. It was prettysimple night. Man, that brings you
down to earth real quick. Soldout one of the biggest buildings in country
music doing you Dad, there's nochicken nuggets. They had lobster and like
filet bys and stuff. And thenthey're like that they don't have like giral
cheeses and chicken nuggets. You.You know what's funny about that is the
(03:38):
kids are off today for some reason. I know Monday is a holiday,
but they're off today too, AndI'm in Williamson County, so just south
of Nashville and so as I justwalked in from coming back from the studio.
I'm working from home the rest ofthe day. My son had left
over chicken nuggets, so I goooh, and I dipped one and the
yeah, right, take me throughnow. I want to talk obviously the
(04:01):
number one song, but the albumLeather is seeing a ton of success and
every time I turn around. Thecool thing is if we interact with your
fans at the show, we interactwith fans of Cody Johnson on the radio,
on social media. You're to thepoint now where when you're like,
what's your favorite song, you're gettingalbum cuts just as much as you're getting
singles, which has got it,which has got to be a great feeling.
(04:23):
But for you, do you lookpast this album now? I know
that last time we talked there wasyou were poking around on the idea of
like a deluxe or like a parttwo, or where are you at with
that deluxe album? The deluxe editionof Leather. There's thirteen more songs coming
and we'll have it out in thefall. We're gonna be coming a right
(04:43):
back with right after the Painter.We're coming with Dirt Cheap, everybody was
like, you need to go tempo, You need to go tempo. Look,
you want tempo, come to myshow. It's very energetic. I
don't think I'm ever gonna be labeledas a ballad guy. But when you
have a song like dirt Cheap that'salready charting and we haven't gone for ads
yet, like, why would younot go to radio with that song?
So many people at the shows we'replaying Dirt Cheap and they're singing it just
as loud as the painter, andI'm going, man, this is this
(05:05):
is the song? You know,But there's so many songs on this album,
like People in the Back. Irecorded that just to go play it
live shows. We have an entirelight show around the song People in the
Back, and it's like, youknow, you know me, man,
I'm never gonna chase the number oneI'm gonna chase songs I believe in.
Whether their spot is that one timeI play a long live country music with
Brooks and Done, that may bethe only time we ever play it live.
(05:27):
But we recorded it for that purposeand it still has a statement piece
on the record. Now, thedeluxe edition will come out sometime in the
fall, sometimes September through November ish. I'm not really sure where that'll be,
but there will be DSPs coming outbefore that to kind of to kind
of guide people into the next partof the record. I still I feel
like we've got a lot of singlesto go, you know, either from
Leather. We want to call itPart one or Part two, just because
(05:50):
it was such an integral record inthe in the in the point that we
went into make a record to makea record, not to go get anything.
We were just making country music.And I think that that alone,
in and of itself, is astatement, and it stands alone when you
say it's it's a deluxe edition orLeather to two point zero whatever, it's
(06:11):
thirteen songs, that's a whole newalbum. Why why do they fit under
the Leather category versus a whole newalbum. Well, because whenever I was
picking songs for Leather, I justpicked good songs, and I was writing
and trying to stay with good songs, and I was like, shit,
now we've got twenty four of thesethings, Like and I just did Human
the double album, and I didn'twant to create another double album. So
(06:34):
what Chris Lacey with Warner suggested wassince these songs all hold value together in
and of themselves as one piece ofwork, why don't we just split it
up and then that we can havesimilar artwork. We can have similar here.
Sorry, this i'v thing. Areyou are you? Are you?
Are you bleeding this a little bit? No, I feel like they will
(06:59):
compliment them. So here's what Idid when I took twelve and twelve and
separated them, and I made surethat subject matter wise, tempo wise,
key, all that stuff was separate, so that if I had two set
lists, two twelve song set lists, I could play you two different set
lists, but it's all still thesame show, you know, so it's
like each one. It's basically ifI were to play you in the same
(07:19):
if I play two Knots at Bridgetome, I could play leather and then I
could play leather with the deluxe editionhas two different set lists, and so
that's kind of where my thought processwas. So let me ask you this.
I spent five years on the radioin Las Vegas. That's where I
first Well, I met you atStage Coach, but I was working for
the Vegas radio station at the time. George Strait had his residency in Vegas
(07:40):
and he would play back to backnights. That was his thing during this
residency. He'd go Friday Saturday,come back in a couple weeks Friday Saturday,
and he would do sixty songs hisall of his number ones, and
he would do that Night one,you get thirty, Night two, you
get thirty, and he'd mix itup any part of that inspired by King
George. For you, it's ironicnot to no, but not really.
(08:03):
I mean I didn't even know thatfact. Honestly, I think it was
more so I went in to makea record, picked the songs I wanted,
and I thought, man, thisis a lot. I don't want
to do the same thing twice.How do we make it different? And
I thought about doing a part oneand a part two, but that separates
it. You know, if you'redoing a volume one and a Volume two's
(08:24):
two different volumes. But if it'sI found out that if you release it
within three sixty five days, thenit's still part of one record, and
then once you have it on youriTunes and your whatever you need, it's
all one record. And all thesingles that I release from Leather and Leather.
Deluxe editions all still count towards onealbum, which to me matters for
(08:46):
things like Album of the Year nominationsand things like that. So when it
comes to obviously we get the painter, you're talking, Dirt Cheap is next.
If Dirt Cheap wasn't performing the wayit was like organically, would you
have just been like cool on apart? Now? No, I think
that there's other choices that I couldhave made all of this record that might
have had a little bit different flairto him. I thought Leather was a
(09:07):
great song just because it kind ofpersonifies me as a cowboy as a person.
But then I was like, man, you know, it's a little
close to dear Rodeo. There wasa lot of other things that I could
have done besides that. But I'vegot some surprises on Uh honestly, I
might have gone whiskey bit with jellyRoll. Uh, you know, but
there's some smart there's some surprises lefton the deluxe edition, and I think
are gonna blow people's minds. It'sfunny because I'll ask questions about what's next
(09:31):
for you to like your team andeverything, and everyone will hint. No
one will say nothing. I'm like, y'all got this locked up. Okay,
that's fine. I know now allget mad at me because I'll I'll
tell a little subtle hints and they'relike, don't do that, don't do
that. The music is coming,well, we're excited for it. Man.
Uh speaking of the Bridgetone show,and you brought up the special moment
you had with Brooks and Done,Nashville is a city that almost expects that,
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right, like we're spoiled. Younever know who's gonna pop up at
any point. Was it always Brooksand Done? Or did you put a
couple of irons in the fire tosee who else you could possibly get?
No, it was so we alwaysplanned are you out? Sorry, hold
on just a second. You're theonly guy I could do this with.
Thank you very much. I appreciateit. Enjoyed talking to you. Thanks
(10:15):
for taking care of my friend.Uh No, it was always so.
I approached Rannie and Kicks and theythey were just like, man, we
got to check our dates. Wegot suphe we're at I called Jelly.
Jelly had to be at the Grammys, had to be at the Grammys,
and then uh, he was gonnatry to get a jet. He was
gonna go play in l A andthen get a jet and flying in time
(10:37):
for the show. But there wasno way possible he could make it.
And I even was gonna put itas the encore, the last song of
the night, and you know,he's like, man, Cody, I'm
gonna I'm gonna catch you the nexttime you play. I promise you I'll
be there, and this and thatand and then I just happened to be
texting Randy Hawser, who's a goodfriend of mine, and I was like,
He's like, I'm coming back fromAustralia. Actually it was the day
(10:58):
before. He's like, I'll beI'm not gonna I'm gonna make your bridgetone
show. I'm gonna try to makeit back in time. And I was
like, so you text me thenext day. He's like, hey,
I'm definitely gonna make it back intime. And I went, well,
you want to do mamas, don'tlet your babies grow up the cowboys.
He's like what key I said,key a. He's like perfect. I
mean it was like zero rehearsal.Said do you need your mix? He
goes, no, I need amicrophone in two witches I was like,
you, dude, he's a rockstar. That's so awesome. Man,
(11:20):
knowing that you are a country musicfan yourself, which is why you are
where you are right we last timewe talked, and this is probably before
Bridgestone was even on the books foryou, knowing you're a rodeo guy,
I said, would you rather playBridgestone or ride at Bridgestone? And you
said play Bridstone. Well, nowyou've done that, and you did it
(11:41):
at one of the highest levels.So is Cody Johnson ready to ride at
Bridstone? No, man, I'mway past those days. If I ever
get on a bull again, it'llbe for charity, and I'll train for
a year before I do it.People underestimate, people underestimate how hardcore that
sport is. Man. And youknow, I've done really well team rope
in this year. I actually lastweekend in Brian, Texas, I won
(12:03):
a us A US Team Roping Championship, So it was pretty fun, man.
And like you know, like Igo to Bridgetown. I'm not even
gonna tell you the money we made. And then I go out and I
go to a Team rope and Isplit six thousand dollars and I lost my
mind. It was like in thatJackson you know, Jackson goes Jackson,
my tour manager goes, you know. That's what I love about you is
(12:24):
He's like, you can go performat the highest level and and sell out
this this freaking huge arena, justshy of Nissan Stadium pretty much. And
he's like, and then you goget excited about three thousand bucks in a
belt buckle and I'm like, that'swho I am. Man. Then that's
three g's you didn't have the daybefore, dude, And I made it
with a rope. Man. Uh, when it comes, I will wrap
(12:46):
shortly here. When it comes tocareer milestones, right, and like obviously
the Bridgetone play was there more maybemore personal than anything else, right to
be like I thought I couldn't doit right? Right, What what's left
for you to be? I don'twant to say to be happy, because
I know that you're fulfilled by beingyou every day. Right, But you
(13:07):
look back on your career some date, your kids study your career a little
more. What are moments that thatyou will pull out now and you hope
to be able to pull out like, yeah, I did that, man,
Like performing on the opera with mylittle girls the night before Bridgstone was
really cool. I've gotten to becomepretty good friends with Colin Reid, who's
who owns the Opry, and man, he's a great guy. And I've
(13:30):
always had a passion for the Opryand I've always wanted to become a member.
Now, look when you're starving andyou're in a white van, like
you can't go play the Opry onTuesday night because I had to go play,
you know so. But now I'mat the point in my career where
like, I don't, I don'tcare, it doesn't I'll play it for
free. I just I'll fly.I'll get a jet, fly up on
Tuesday night with my little girls andplay three songs and go back home.
Because I love country music and Ilove the heritage that we have with the
(13:52):
Opry. So getting to share thestage with them and stand in that circle,
I hope that they look back andgo, wow, that was so
cool and I didn't even know it, Like Dad put us in the circle
at the Opry, you know,and selling out the Rhyman was always very
special to me. I can stillremember though, like whenever playing the Grizzly
rolls in Denver and playing back toback nights was something that was so incredible
(14:13):
to me, and I miss thirtyfive hundred capacity bar and it was some
of the most fun I ever had. I played there with one hundred and
two degree fever, man, Andthat's back when you could go on stage
with one hundred two degree fever andnobody freaked out over COVID like, yeah,
I played, They're sick. Iplayed, They're tired, And those
milestones like that are something. Thereare things I'll never forget, man,
like I'll never forget some of thesmaller I say smaller, but on a
(14:33):
on the scale, like the beginningsof what got me there. But now
I'm at a point where I'm looking. I saw bridgetone and the first thing
I thought of the other night whenI walked off stage was Nissan. I
want to move to the stadiums.I want to step into that big arena
and go look, man, Ican I can adapt to this too and
hold seventy five thousand people in thepalm of my hand, because I feel
like, dude, I feel likethat's what I was born to do.
(14:54):
It's not an arrogance thing. It'snot a clout thing. It's not a
money thing. It's a I alwayswant a new mountain like it. And
I'm maybe it's a self deprecating typescenario, like every time I accomplished something,
I always look up and go,well, next, what's next?
You know? How how can?And something else I wanted to compliment you
(15:16):
on. And this is something I'mglad you brought up playing Nissan because it's
something I wanted to say before westarted like officially talking is And I said,
who did I say this to?I might have said it to Tom
Martin's from the label we went.We did a dinner thing with him and
somebody else recently and they were like, oh, how what'd you think of
(15:37):
the Cody Show? And I'm like, you were like in the round but
like kind of but kind of notright yeah, because but dude, you
did such a great job at likenot making any side feel forgotten, right,
Like even though maybe only fifteen percentof the audience was behind you,
they didn't get fifteen percent of yourattention where you'll see that at other shows.
(15:58):
So I wanted i'd want to commendyou for like do you made sure
like everybody felt that show no matterwhere their seat was. I appreciate it.
We're doing a lot of shows likethat this year in the round and
so like even with people in theback. I was at sound check that
day and I was like, Hey, my white guy's name is Wookie,
And I was like, Wookie,these people are literally in the back.
So you're gonna have to turn someof these fixtures and make sure that we
(16:19):
light up not only the people inthe back, but the people in the
back, you know, And thenyou know, you have to take care
of these people on every side.Make sure you're going over and you're making
eye contact, and left and right, make sure you're looking at the front
row you're out there, and thethrust in the pit, like that stuff
really matters to me, and it'svery very intentional. So I appreciate you
saying that that. That means alot to me because we're doing a lot
(16:40):
of these and like I say it, you know, I want to move
to stadiums and if I get thatopportunity, that's where I'm gonna get to
try to prove to people. Hey, look, I can make eye contact
with you too. You may beseven hundred yards away, but I'm talking
to you. We talked at theCMA radio remotes about a leather extended to
diition or whatever. Right, Yeah, have you thought any more about adding
(17:02):
Cody Johnson Leather cologne to the LeatherDeluxe Edition? No, so I said,
we should do like like sip tabsfor your car, like you know,
like the little little the little uhpine tree that hangs from your rear
view. But yeah, there's definitelystuff in the works. Or do one
of those remember like the old schoolmagazine inserts where you could just pull it
(17:25):
open and smell. But do thaton like the booklet, you know what
I mean? Yeah, it's notbad. Is this gray sniff? Where
are you? Because you're on theroad right now? Where you playing this
weekend? I'm in Miami tonight tomorrowsomewhere else in Florida, Miami. I've
heard that's Eastern time zone. Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna have to tell
(17:48):
Tom to get his paperwork. Bro. He blamed it on somebody else.
Two I passed that info. I'mlike, no, no, no,
no, I saw the email goout, uh let and let me let
me ask you last. And I'msorry that I'm keeping you this long,
good man. The painter is you'rea great storyteller, dude, and you
have been since the beginning. Butthere's something about this song. And I
(18:12):
don't know if it's the inclusion ofyour wife versus like playing a character with
some other chick in a music video. Like it's raw, it's real.
Anybody on any level can connect,right, whether you've lost the painter,
right, the one that got awayor whatever. Everybody has had or has
a Painter. What's it going tomean for you to be able to add
(18:32):
this to the number one tab inyour career? Man, It's huge because
it's such a it's such a simplesong, it's such a simple concept,
it's such a simple production. Wedidn't try to church any of it up.
Like when you watch the Painter musicvideo. Dustin Hanney, who's one
of the most incredible music video producersin the business, he's like, we
were actually when we were recording Humanthe video, we were on the bus
(18:56):
and we just got through with likethe last shots and uh, we're sitting
on the us having a drink androlling down the road and he was like,
cause he's he's he was newly marriedand and talking about having kids,
and he's like, you know,how did you and Brandy meet. You
know how long you guys been together, and you know what was it like
when you had kids and we're justkind of getting to know each other.
And he's like, this is anincredible story, like that really happened that
(19:17):
way. And I'm like it really, it really did happen that simple.
So when it came to the painter, he's like, we should just tell
that story. It's simple. It'sso simple that nobody would believe it.
I really did say that to herthe night I met her. I was
like, you we should get married. And we've been I've we've not ever
been separated since now. We've hadups and downs and hard times, and
man, I've I've made her lifepretty miserable at times, just you know,
(19:40):
but we've we've worked through it andshe's stuck with me and she has
been the backbone that has kept metogether and kept my feet on the ground.
And and it was like, let'sjust tell that story. You know,
like whenever it says for every wallI built, she saw a canvas,
that's Brandy. That's that's really becauseI mean, like I am the
tough cowboy that I can build somewalls. I can be hard headed and
(20:00):
she can too, but like forme personally, I was like, you
know, we've both lived this songwith each other, you know, whether
it's been her or whether it's beenme. But I'm the one singing it,
so I get the opportunity singing abouther. And it's like, let's
just keep it simple. So itmeans a lot to add And you say
add to number one. I hopethat's a hint that this is really going
to go down because it's in topfive right now, but if it gets
(20:21):
number one, it would be itwould mean a lot to me for sure.
Knowing you, it's little, butknowing you as much as I do,
that Bridgestone show hit a reset buttonfor you, or you know what I
mean, Like it felt I couldsee in your eyes and in your face
and in your smile. You letpeople in that night and you normally don't
do that. Well, here's thedifference, you know, when you spend
(00:20):
over a decade in that town beingtold you're not gonna make it your Texas,
your cowboy, you know your twotraditional you know, neo traditional leaning,
You're not going to sell records.There's a lot of work that goes
into going and doing an independent careerand then making the type of deal that
I did with Warner Music Nashville toget to the point where we have radio
(00:41):
hits and we are selling out placeslike Bridgestone. I mean, and between
me and you and whoever's watching this, really we probably could have done back
to back nights, but you know, we just be in that position.
That town was more so an accomplishmentthan any other show that I think I've
ever played. I mean, yougo sell out Houston Rodeo seventy five thousand
tickets. Well, I'm from Texas, I'm supposed to write. That's what
(01:03):
people always said. But when yousaw it Bridgestone in Nashville, it was
a statement. And when I gotto walk in there, it was almost
like a McGregor walks into the octagon. It's like, Hey, I'm not
here to play. I'm here toshow you guys exactly who I am and
exactly what the damage I've come todo. Man. And that's that's what
it felt like on stage, andthat at that point when you get a
crowd like that and you can slowdown and be quiet and you can hear
(01:25):
a pin drop, you know,oh my god, this is the most
this is the largest most intimate showI think I've ever played. So you
I'm glad you caught that because itwas real. Yeah, I could.
I could see it in your faceand you're and when I say you're not,
I feel like you don't necessarily letpeople in. I mean, you're
still working your ass off and puttingon a great show. I don't mean
that by any means, But therewas something about the look in your eyes
(01:45):
and in your face that night thatlike that was that was it's gonna be
tough to beat that night. Well, it didn't help that, right,
before the show, I got presentedwith a plaque that had like seventeen triple
platinum and platinum and gold records andall this crap on it, and the
radio room felt more like a meetand greet, and I was like,
everybody's telling me, oh, you'reit. You know, you're saving country
(02:05):
music and all this stuff. AndI was going like, boy, if
there's ever been a night to letit all hang out, tonight the night.
But you put on a hell ofa show man, and congratulations a
night. It's a night that's beentoo long in the making, but very
well deserved. Man. When yougot off stage that night, I feel
like you're a guy that feels accomplishedevery show, right, Like, and
maybe there's things that you noticed thata fan wouldn't that you like, got
(02:28):
to fix that for next time,got to fix when you got off stage
that night, what was there afeeling that you've never had before? Was
it? Was it different? Like? What was it about wrapping up that
show that might have been different fromyou know, the night before, the
weekend before, the year before.Man, there's you know, whether you're
whether you're riding bulls, playing football, whatever you're doing, you always feel
like you could have been better.You know, you could have been better
(02:51):
in some way, whether you're whetheryou're on stage, you feel like you
could have been better. Uh,that night, I felt like we threw
the perfect game. It was like, man, nothing went wrong. It
was almost like auto. It wastoo easy. It was too much fun.
And it reminded me of like whyI play music in the first place.
It should be that fun, Itshould be that fluid, it should
be that easy. And then afterwardsI came to the bus, got my
little girls and my wife. Wewent to the after party and hung out
(03:15):
for a little bit and my kidscomplained because they didn't have chicken nuggets at
the after party. It was prettysimple night. Man, that brings you
down to earth real quick. Soldout one of the biggest buildings in country
music doing you Dad, there's nochicken nuggets. They had lobster and like
filet bys and stuff. And thenthey're like that they don't have like giral
cheeses and chicken nuggets. You.You know what's funny about that is the
(03:38):
kids are off today for some reason. I know Monday is a holiday,
but they're off today too, AndI'm in Williamson County, so just south
of Nashville and so as I justwalked in from coming back from the studio.
I'm working from home the rest ofthe day. My son had left
over chicken nuggets, so I goooh, and I dipped one and the
yeah, right, take me throughnow. I want to talk obviously the
(04:01):
number one song, but the albumLeather is seeing a ton of success and
every time I turn around. Thecool thing is if we interact with your
fans at the show, we interactwith fans of Cody Johnson on the radio,
on social media. You're to thepoint now where when you're like,
what's your favorite song, you're gettingalbum cuts just as much as you're getting
singles, which has got it,which has got to be a great feeling.
(04:23):
But for you, do you lookpast this album now? I know
that last time we talked there wasyou were poking around on the idea of
like a deluxe or like a parttwo, or where are you at with
that deluxe album? The deluxe editionof Leather. There's thirteen more songs coming
and we'll have it out in thefall. We're gonna be coming a right
(04:43):
back with right after the Painter.We're coming with Dirt Cheap, everybody was
like, you need to go tempo, You need to go tempo. Look,
you want tempo, come to myshow. It's very energetic. I
don't think I'm ever gonna be labeledas a ballad guy. But when you
have a song like dirt Cheap that'salready charting and we haven't gone for ads
yet, like, why would younot go to radio with that song?
So many people at the shows we'replaying Dirt Cheap and they're singing it just
as loud as the painter, andI'm going, man, this is this
(05:05):
is the song? You know,But there's so many songs on this album,
like People in the Back. Irecorded that just to go play it
live shows. We have an entirelight show around the song People in the
Back, and it's like, youknow, you know me, man,
I'm never gonna chase the number oneI'm gonna chase songs I believe in.
Whether their spot is that one timeI play a long live country music with
Brooks and Done, that may bethe only time we ever play it live.
(05:27):
But we recorded it for that purposeand it still has a statement piece
on the record. Now, thedeluxe edition will come out sometime in the
fall, sometimes September through November ish. I'm not really sure where that'll be,
but there will be DSPs coming outbefore that to kind of to kind
of guide people into the next partof the record. I still I feel
like we've got a lot of singlesto go, you know, either from
Leather. We want to call itPart one or Part two, just because
(05:50):
it was such an integral record inthe in the in the point that we
went into make a record to makea record, not to go get anything.
We were just making country music.And I think that that alone,
in and of itself, is astatement, and it stands alone when you
say it's it's a deluxe edition orLeather to two point zero whatever, it's
(06:11):
thirteen songs, that's a whole newalbum. Why why do they fit under
the Leather category versus a whole newalbum. Well, because whenever I was
picking songs for Leather, I justpicked good songs, and I was writing
and trying to stay with good songs, and I was like, shit,
now we've got twenty four of thesethings, Like and I just did Human
the double album, and I didn'twant to create another double album. So
(06:34):
what Chris Lacey with Warner suggested wassince these songs all hold value together in
and of themselves as one piece ofwork, why don't we just split it
up and then that we can havesimilar artwork. We can have similar here.
Sorry, this i'v thing. Areyou are you? Are you?
Are you bleeding this a little bit? No, I feel like they will
(06:59):
compliment them. So here's what Idid when I took twelve and twelve and
separated them, and I made surethat subject matter wise, tempo wise,
key, all that stuff was separate, so that if I had two set
lists, two twelve song set lists, I could play you two different set
lists, but it's all still thesame show, you know, so it's
like each one. It's basically ifI were to play you in the same
(07:19):
if I play two Knots at Bridgetome, I could play leather and then I
could play leather with the deluxe editionhas two different set lists, and so
that's kind of where my thought processwas. So let me ask you this.
I spent five years on the radioin Las Vegas. That's where I
first Well, I met you atStage Coach, but I was working for
the Vegas radio station at the time. George Strait had his residency in Vegas
(07:40):
and he would play back to backnights. That was his thing during this
residency. He'd go Friday Saturday,come back in a couple weeks Friday Saturday,
and he would do sixty songs hisall of his number ones, and
he would do that Night one,you get thirty, Night two, you
get thirty, and he'd mix itup any part of that inspired by King
George. For you, it's ironicnot to no, but not really.
(08:03):
I mean I didn't even know thatfact. Honestly, I think it was
more so I went in to makea record, picked the songs I wanted,
and I thought, man, thisis a lot. I don't want
to do the same thing twice.How do we make it different? And
I thought about doing a part oneand a part two, but that separates
it. You know, if you'redoing a volume one and a Volume two's
(08:24):
two different volumes. But if it'sI found out that if you release it
within three sixty five days, thenit's still part of one record, and
then once you have it on youriTunes and your whatever you need, it's
all one record. And all thesingles that I release from Leather and Leather.
Deluxe editions all still count towards onealbum, which to me matters for
(08:46):
things like Album of the Year nominationsand things like that. So when it
comes to obviously we get the painter, you're talking, Dirt Cheap is next.
If Dirt Cheap wasn't performing the wayit was like organically, would you
have just been like cool on apart? Now? No, I think
that there's other choices that I couldhave made all of this record that might
have had a little bit different flairto him. I thought Leather was a
(09:07):
great song just because it kind ofpersonifies me as a cowboy as a person.
But then I was like, man, you know, it's a little
close to dear Rodeo. There wasa lot of other things that I could
have done besides that. But I'vegot some surprises on Uh honestly, I
might have gone whiskey bit with jellyRoll. Uh, you know, but
there's some smart there's some surprises lefton the deluxe edition, and I think
are gonna blow people's minds. It'sfunny because I'll ask questions about what's next
(09:31):
for you to like your team andeverything, and everyone will hint. No
one will say nothing. I'm like, y'all got this locked up. Okay,
that's fine. I know now allget mad at me because I'll I'll
tell a little subtle hints and they'relike, don't do that, don't do
that. The music is coming,well, we're excited for it. Man.
Uh speaking of the Bridgetone show,and you brought up the special moment
you had with Brooks and Done,Nashville is a city that almost expects that,
(09:54):
right, like we're spoiled. Younever know who's gonna pop up at
any point. Was it always Brooksand Done? Or did you put a
couple of irons in the fire tosee who else you could possibly get?
No, it was so we alwaysplanned are you out? Sorry, hold
on just a second. You're theonly guy I could do this with.
Thank you very much. I appreciateit. Enjoyed talking to you. Thanks
(10:15):
for taking care of my friend.Uh No, it was always so.
I approached Rannie and Kicks and theythey were just like, man, we
got to check our dates. Wegot suphe we're at I called Jelly.
Jelly had to be at the Grammys, had to be at the Grammys,
and then uh, he was gonnatry to get a jet. He was
gonna go play in l A andthen get a jet and flying in time
(10:37):
for the show. But there wasno way possible he could make it.
And I even was gonna put itas the encore, the last song of
the night, and you know,he's like, man, Cody, I'm
gonna I'm gonna catch you the nexttime you play. I promise you I'll
be there, and this and thatand and then I just happened to be
texting Randy Hawser, who's a goodfriend of mine, and I was like,
He's like, I'm coming back fromAustralia. Actually it was the day
(10:58):
before. He's like, I'll beI'm not gonna I'm gonna make your bridgetone
show. I'm gonna try to makeit back in time. And I was
like, so you text me thenext day. He's like, hey,
I'm definitely gonna make it back intime. And I went, well,
you want to do mamas, don'tlet your babies grow up the cowboys.
He's like what key I said,key a. He's like perfect. I
mean it was like zero rehearsal.Said do you need your mix? He
goes, no, I need amicrophone in two witches I was like,
you, dude, he's a rockstar. That's so awesome. Man,
(11:20):
knowing that you are a country musicfan yourself, which is why you are
where you are right we last timewe talked, and this is probably before
Bridgestone was even on the books foryou, knowing you're a rodeo guy,
I said, would you rather playBridgestone or ride at Bridgestone? And you
said play Bridstone. Well, nowyou've done that, and you did it
(11:41):
at one of the highest levels.So is Cody Johnson ready to ride at
Bridstone? No, man, I'mway past those days. If I ever
get on a bull again, it'llbe for charity, and I'll train for
a year before I do it.People underestimate, people underestimate how hardcore that
sport is. Man. And youknow, I've done really well team rope
in this year. I actually lastweekend in Brian, Texas, I won
(12:03):
a us A US Team Roping Championship, So it was pretty fun, man.
And like you know, like Igo to Bridgetown. I'm not even
gonna tell you the money we made. And then I go out and I
go to a Team rope and Isplit six thousand dollars and I lost my
mind. It was like in thatJackson you know, Jackson goes Jackson,
my tour manager goes, you know. That's what I love about you is
(12:24):
He's like, you can go performat the highest level and and sell out
this this freaking huge arena, justshy of Nissan Stadium pretty much. And
he's like, and then you goget excited about three thousand bucks in a
belt buckle and I'm like, that'swho I am. Man. Then that's
three g's you didn't have the daybefore, dude, And I made it
with a rope. Man. Uh, when it comes, I will wrap
(12:46):
shortly here. When it comes tocareer milestones, right, and like obviously
the Bridgetone play was there more maybemore personal than anything else, right to
be like I thought I couldn't doit right? Right, What what's left
for you to be? I don'twant to say to be happy, because
I know that you're fulfilled by beingyou every day. Right, But you
(13:07):
look back on your career some date, your kids study your career a little
more. What are moments that thatyou will pull out now and you hope
to be able to pull out like, yeah, I did that, man,
Like performing on the opera with mylittle girls the night before Bridgstone was
really cool. I've gotten to becomepretty good friends with Colin Reid, who's
who owns the Opry, and man, he's a great guy. And I've
(13:30):
always had a passion for the Opryand I've always wanted to become a member.
Now, look when you're starving andyou're in a white van, like
you can't go play the Opry onTuesday night because I had to go play,
you know so. But now I'mat the point in my career where
like, I don't, I don'tcare, it doesn't I'll play it for
free. I just I'll fly.I'll get a jet, fly up on
Tuesday night with my little girls andplay three songs and go back home.
Because I love country music and Ilove the heritage that we have with the
(13:52):
Opry. So getting to share thestage with them and stand in that circle,
I hope that they look back andgo, wow, that was so
cool and I didn't even know it, Like Dad put us in the circle
at the Opry, you know,and selling out the Rhyman was always very
special to me. I can stillremember though, like whenever playing the Grizzly
rolls in Denver and playing back toback nights was something that was so incredible
(14:13):
to me, and I miss thirtyfive hundred capacity bar and it was some
of the most fun I ever had. I played there with one hundred and
two degree fever, man, Andthat's back when you could go on stage
with one hundred two degree fever andnobody freaked out over COVID like, yeah,
I played, They're sick. Iplayed, They're tired, And those
milestones like that are something. Thereare things I'll never forget, man,
like I'll never forget some of thesmaller I say smaller, but on a
(14:33):
on the scale, like the beginningsof what got me there. But now
I'm at a point where I'm looking. I saw bridgetone and the first thing
I thought of the other night whenI walked off stage was Nissan. I
want to move to the stadiums.I want to step into that big arena
and go look, man, Ican I can adapt to this too and
hold seventy five thousand people in thepalm of my hand, because I feel
like, dude, I feel likethat's what I was born to do.
(14:54):
It's not an arrogance thing. It'snot a clout thing. It's not a
money thing. It's a I alwayswant a new mountain like it. And
I'm maybe it's a self deprecating typescenario, like every time I accomplished something,
I always look up and go,well, next, what's next?
You know? How how can?And something else I wanted to compliment you
(15:16):
on. And this is something I'mglad you brought up playing Nissan because it's
something I wanted to say before westarted like officially talking is And I said,
who did I say this to?I might have said it to Tom
Martin's from the label we went.We did a dinner thing with him and
somebody else recently and they were like, oh, how what'd you think of
(15:37):
the Cody Show? And I'm like, you were like in the round but
like kind of but kind of notright yeah, because but dude, you
did such a great job at likenot making any side feel forgotten, right,
Like even though maybe only fifteen percentof the audience was behind you,
they didn't get fifteen percent of yourattention where you'll see that at other shows.
(15:58):
So I wanted i'd want to commendyou for like do you made sure
like everybody felt that show no matterwhere their seat was. I appreciate it.
We're doing a lot of shows likethat this year in the round and
so like even with people in theback. I was at sound check that
day and I was like, Hey, my white guy's name is Wookie,
And I was like, Wookie,these people are literally in the back.
So you're gonna have to turn someof these fixtures and make sure that we
(16:19):
light up not only the people inthe back, but the people in the
back, you know, And thenyou know, you have to take care
of these people on every side.Make sure you're going over and you're making
eye contact, and left and right, make sure you're looking at the front
row you're out there, and thethrust in the pit, like that stuff
really matters to me, and it'svery very intentional. So I appreciate you
saying that that. That means alot to me because we're doing a lot
(16:40):
of these and like I say it, you know, I want to move
to stadiums and if I get thatopportunity, that's where I'm gonna get to
try to prove to people. Hey, look, I can make eye contact
with you too. You may beseven hundred yards away, but I'm talking
to you. We talked at theCMA radio remotes about a leather extended to
diition or whatever. Right, Yeah, have you thought any more about adding
(17:02):
Cody Johnson Leather cologne to the LeatherDeluxe Edition? No, so I said,
we should do like like sip tabsfor your car, like you know,
like the little little the little uhpine tree that hangs from your rear
view. But yeah, there's definitelystuff in the works. Or do one
of those remember like the old schoolmagazine inserts where you could just pull it
(17:25):
open and smell. But do thaton like the booklet, you know what
I mean? Yeah, it's notbad. Is this gray sniff? Where
are you? Because you're on theroad right now? Where you playing this
weekend? I'm in Miami tonight tomorrowsomewhere else in Florida, Miami. I've
heard that's Eastern time zone. Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna have to tell
(17:48):
Tom to get his paperwork. Bro. He blamed it on somebody else.
Two I passed that info. I'mlike, no, no, no,
no, I saw the email goout, uh let and let me let
me ask you last. And I'msorry that I'm keeping you this long,
good man. The painter is you'rea great storyteller, dude, and you
have been since the beginning. Butthere's something about this song. And I
(18:12):
don't know if it's the inclusion ofyour wife versus like playing a character with
some other chick in a music video. Like it's raw, it's real.
Anybody on any level can connect,right, whether you've lost the painter,
right, the one that got awayor whatever. Everybody has had or has
a Painter. What's it going tomean for you to be able to add
(18:32):
this to the number one tab inyour career? Man, It's huge because
it's such a it's such a simplesong, it's such a simple concept,
it's such a simple production. Wedidn't try to church any of it up.
Like when you watch the Painter musicvideo. Dustin Hanney, who's one
of the most incredible music video producersin the business, he's like, we
were actually when we were recording Humanthe video, we were on the bus
(18:56):
and we just got through with likethe last shots and uh, we're sitting
on the us having a drink androlling down the road and he was like,
cause he's he's he was newly marriedand and talking about having kids,
and he's like, you know,how did you and Brandy meet. You
know how long you guys been together, and you know what was it like
when you had kids and we're justkind of getting to know each other.
And he's like, this is anincredible story, like that really happened that
(19:17):
way. And I'm like it really, it really did happen that simple.
So when it came to the painter, he's like, we should just tell
that story. It's simple. It'sso simple that nobody would believe it.
I really did say that to herthe night I met her. I was
like, you we should get married. And we've been I've we've not ever
been separated since now. We've hadups and downs and hard times, and
man, I've I've made her lifepretty miserable at times, just you know,
(19:40):
but we've we've worked through it andshe's stuck with me and she has
been the backbone that has kept metogether and kept my feet on the ground.
And and it was like, let'sjust tell that story. You know,
like whenever it says for every wallI built, she saw a canvas,
that's Brandy. That's that's really becauseI mean, like I am the
tough cowboy that I can build somewalls. I can be hard headed and
(20:00):
she can too, but like forme personally, I was like, you
know, we've both lived this songwith each other, you know, whether
it's been her or whether it's beenme. But I'm the one singing it,
so I get the opportunity singing abouther. And it's like, let's
just keep it simple. So itmeans a lot to add And you say
add to number one. I hopethat's a hint that this is really going
to go down because it's in topfive right now, but if it gets
(20:21):
number one, it would be itwould mean a lot to me for sure.
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