Cody Daniel Johnson, also known as "CoJo," was born in Sebastopol northeast of Huntsville, Texas[4] to Sheila and Carl Johnson. Cody grew up there. He began playing music at the age of 12.[7] He learned from his father[8] who performed in their local church.
Cody learned to sing and play several instruments;[8] he also learned how to read and understand music.[8] He performed at school and bars, where he discovered that people enjoyed his music.[8] At the same time, he rode bulls professionally at local rodeos and even worked alongside his father in the local prison system.[8] At the age of 19, the prison warden eventually convinced Cody to commit full time to his music career.[4]
Career
In 2006, Cody Johnson formed the Cody Johnson Band with his father, Carl, and drummer Nathan Reedy.[9] Together they recorded an album, Black and White Label.[9] In 2006, the band added Matt Rogers on lead guitar and recorded a live album, Live and Rocking, at Shenanigans and Confetti's Club in Huntsville.[10][11] After the release of the album, Johnson's father quit the band.[10]
By 2009, Danny Salinas joined the band on bass guitar.[11] Their first professionally produced album, Six Strings One Dream, was released in September 2009,[10][12] and three singles from the album reached the top 10 of the Texas music charts.[1] After the album's release, the band added Chris Whitten on fiddle and Jeff Smith on lead guitar.[10] Jody Bartula replaced Whitten on fiddle in 2010.[11][12] Cody Johnson's next album, A Different Day, produced by Trent Willmon, was released in 2011.[13] Johnson won the 2011 Texas Regional Music Award for New Male Vocalist of the Year.[9][13] Then he left his day job with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to focus on music full-time.[1] He teamed with Kyle Park in 2012 for the Dancin' and Drinkin' at Johnson Park Tour.[14] Also in 2012, Johnson's band, now composed of Reedy, Smith, Bartula, and bassist Joey Pruski changed their name to the Rockin' CJB.[9]
Johnson's fifth album, Cowboy Like Me, was released on January 14, 2014.[15] It was his second album to be produced by Trent Willmon.[15] Selling 8,000 copies in its first week of release, it debuted at number 25 on the BillboardTop Country Albums chart and number 33 on the Billboard 200.[16] As of 2014, Johnson's band comprised Smith, Bartula, Pruski, and drummer Miles Stone.[17] His sixth album, Gotta Be Me, was released on August 5, 2016.[18] The album debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200,[19] and at No. 2 on the Top Country Albums chart, selling 23,000 copies in the US in its first week.[20] It was Johnson's most successful release to date, achieved without major label support or widespread radio play.[2]
Johnson made Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo history in March 2018 by becoming the first unsigned/independent artist to play to a sold-out crowd.[21] Johnson's seventh album, Ain't Nothin' to It, was released on January 18, 2019. It includes the single "On My Way to You", which was his first Top 40 hit on Country Airplay. The album and single were both released via Warner Bros. Records Nashville. In 2019, he collaborated with Brooks & Dunn on a new version of their hit song "Red Dirt Road", which appears on their album Reboot.
Cody Johnson's music is not classified as contemporary country, neo-traditionalist country, or Cowboy.[4] Marcus Dowling of CMT said that many view Johnson as a leader within the "back to country" movement in the industry.[4] In an interview with Brett Callwood, Johnson has described his music as drawing on multiple genres: "I'm not sure if you'd call me Texas or red dirt or mainstream or outlaw.[5] I just always say that I'm me. I sound like what I sound like, and I'm not trying to be anything that I'm not."[5]
Influences
Johnson is inspired by many artists who are considered to be from the traditional days of country music: George Strait, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, and Loretta Lynn.[22] In an interview with Andy Langer and Texas Monthly in 2019, he has stated that he is inspired by two artists in particular: "The George Strait type of traditional country music is what I like, and that's what I stand for. But at the same time, Willie Nelson's unwillingness to waver on who he is means just as much."[23] Johnson takes inspiration from his country background of bull riding and working within the prison system, which he has said has influenced his songs such as "Guilty as Can Be".[5] In an interview with Brett Callwood at Westword, Johnson spoke on the influence of previous job experiences: "It (Guilty as Can Be) was a made-up story about a guy who catches his wife cheating, goes to prison and the whole nine yards. I paid homage to my prison years there."[5] Additionally, his life experiences of nearly being in a plane crash influenced "Til You Can't" and barroom brawls he was in influenced the song "Billy's Brother".[24]
