Cody Johnson has made a name for himself in country music, but there was a time when the musician’s career felt like it was doomed to fall. The country singer is reflecting back on how important it was for him to play the Grand Ole Opry
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On social media, he said, “That first song ‘With You I Am,’ first of all is a song I pushed as single as an independent artist. I’ll never forget what it cost because I didn’t have a label behind me. It costs so much money to try to push that.”
Johnson continued, “To play it at the Opry was like this huge deal. To hear them singing the words to it was a big thing because you got to remember that this was the town I was told I would never make it in. So to have that moment in Nashville was a big thing.”
According to Johnson, his mother was very nervous for the performance. However, he said, “We’ve come a long way since then.” Johnson is already looking forward to what he ultimately wants to accomplish with his career.
Cody Johnson Wants to Save Country Music
He told WKML 95.7, “One thing I would like for fans to know about me. I’m going to be as real as I can — I’m not in this for the money or the fame. I’m in this because I want to leave my mark on country music. So when I’m done, someday when I’m gray and old, and I leave this world, somebody can look back and say, ‘Cody Johnson helped save country music and put it back on the path it should be.'”
In a separate interview with Holler, Johnson said that his first job working asphalt helped shape his career as a musician. He says he got his work ethic from his father.
“I think that really contributed to me not taking the first five record deals that came along,” Johnson said of the experience. “You can’t dangle glitz and glamour and fame and fortune in front of a guy like me and expect to get anything. If I have something, I want it to be something I’ve earned with my own blood, sweat and tears. That absolutely shaped me as a person.
Johnson said he proudly wears a cowboy hat. “I don’t have to prove to anybody why I wear a hat —I don’t have to. I don’t have to have that discussion. But when I walk into a room in Nashville, most people go, ‘Yep, there he is,’” he said. “There are a lot of hats in the room, but that one’s a real one”.
He continued, “I take so much pride in that, and I value that. I value the moral fabric and the character that goes along with that cowboy lifestyle.”
Cody Johnson is True country. That is so cool. We need someone like Cody to stand up for country music to put it out there I’am so proud of him. I do what I can every night that I play but he on a much bigger scale. . Rick Greer rg/music