Cody Johnson sits down with Kelleigh Bannen, for an interview on Today’s Country Radio to talk about his documentary ‘Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story’ and ‘Human: The Double Album.’ Cody breaks down what it means to be a cowboy and how his forthcoming album is an invitation for listeners to accept the highs and lows of their own lives. Tune in and listen to the episode in-full on-demand here.
Cody Johnson on realizing the song “Dear Rodeo” is relatable to so many people
I said that whenever I wrote “Dear Rodeo” with Dan Couch, I said, “Nobody’s going to ever want to hear this story, because it’s just a story about a guy that doesn’t rodeo anymore.” If I had written that song with Dan specifically about that one Saturday night at that one rodeo, when that one thing happened and that one thing was said, then you’re just pigeonholing yourself. And that’s a definite one-track song. But the word rodeo is anything. It could be your world. It could be baseball. It could be someone who tried to become a doctor, could be someone who lost a family member. So it had that full scope view. And I didn’t see that, but thankfully I was just obedient to the song and wrote it anyway.
Cody Johnson on what it means to be a cowboy
I said that and what I meant behind that was you can go get on bulls all you want, you can go rodeo all you want, you can put the hat on. I know guys that own $150,000 horses, but they’re still not cowboys because to cowboy, you have to walk a certain moral code. Your yes means yes, your no means no, there’s no gray area in between that. And you do what you say you’re going to do. And you’re dependable, you’re reliable. And there’s a certain line between right and wrong that you just can’t cross. And that’s what it is. And the irony is not lost on me, that whenever I was riding bulls and trying to be a cowboy, now that I’m not and I’m out playing music, I am a cowboy.
Cody Johnson on interviewing Reba for his film project
We’re a lot alike. Where I went in to interview her, they gave me a script of “here’s the things we want you to ask her.” And I just handed it back to him. And I was like, I’m not reading that. I don’t want any guidelines. I just want to sit down with her and just be personal, which I feel like prompted her to go, “Oh, okay. I can just be myself. And this is not a scripted interview. I can say what I want. I can be myself.” And I didn’t treat her like Reba. And that’s the way I was looking at it. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s fun, it’s great whenever you have fans come up and they’re wanting autographs, it’s very uplifting to know that your music is touching people, but I want it to be on a level playing field with her and just treat her like a person. And I think that what you’re saying, the intimacy that you saw on that interview portion was the person, not the icon.
Cody Johnson on “Human” the song and on naming his album
The hook line of the song is, “forgive me I really don’t know what I’m doing, I’m still learning to be human.” And that’s something we’re all doing. No matter where you’re at in life, no matter how far along you are, no matter how financially stable or spiritually stable, you may be. I don’t care if you’re the pastor of a church, or if you’re a singer country band like me, or if you’re a successful doctor, or if you’re the janitor at the public school. It doesn’t matter what walk you have.
Cody Johnson on how his wife inspired “Human”
[One part of the song] says, “Bless your heart for never trying to fix me or quit me or slow me down.” And I thought about my wife, Brandi, how she’s never tried to fix me. She’s never tried to quit me or slow me down. She’s let me be this crazy person that I am. And the process of learning to be human is a beautiful thing. And it doesn’t always have to be the happy moments. Sometimes our lows are just as important as our highs.
Cody Johnson on having the freedom to make the album he wanted to make
I got the opportunity to let emotions out on this album that I really haven’t in past albums, because in the last couple of albums, we’ve been chasing something and chasing radio, chasing a record deal, chasing this. And I don’t mean to sound arrogant because I’m not, but I’m to the point in my career where I’m through chasing stuff, I’m done radio, I’ve done chasing the label. I’m done chasing acceptance. I’m done chasing all these different things because I’m just going to be human and put out my artwork and hope that it is positive to people and lifts them up. And that’s good enough for me. I don’t have to have number ones and Grammys. I’m okay.
