Thursday Thoughts with the Boots & Whiskey Podcast
Hey everyone! Welcome back to another Thursday Thoughts here with the Boots & Whiskey Podcast.
Today I want to talk about Cody Johnson. COJO if you will and I will probably refer to him as such through this article.
Living in Massachusetts, we don’t get a healthy dose of what I call “authentic” country music. We get pop country, which is great. It has its place and, in these markets, out here, that’s what sells. We have had COJO on the radio out here when he has had his radio hits with ‘Til You Can’t’ which was Number 1 a while ago as well as ‘On My Way To You’. But that’s two songs out of his whole catalogue. Two songs that although great, miss the absolute genius that this man is.
Cojo has been doing this thing for a while now. Those of you who know his story, know his origins of being a real rodeo cowboy out of Texas and being an absolute bad ass. If you haven’t yet, go check out ‘Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story’ I believe it’s still on Amazon Prime, definitely worth a watch. It gives you his whole story, which I don’t have the memory to serve it justice.
Now, back to the lack of COJO in New England. Some may say, “well he did open of Zac Brown Band” yes, he opened for ZBB. That’s not a headlining ass kicking show. To me this is where I am sure COJO shines. Now mind you, I have never seen him live and hope to someday soon, but I can’t imagine an opening set from him would be the experience I am looking and hoping for. If memory serves, he also opened for the King at Gillette Stadium as well when he was here a few years ago. If you don’t know who the King is, then you don’t know Country Music. Again, an opening slot, I am not interested in that, I want a full show.
Some may say I am being picky and you’re goddamn right. If I am going to see who I consider the ‘new King’ of country music I am seeing a headlining show. End of discussion.
I call Cojo the ‘New King of Country’ because I truly believe he is. This guy is the real deal. Just listen to his catalog of songs, every song is a country song even the radio songs. They talk about life, love, and family. It talks about day-to-day blue collar working man (or women) beer drinking, whiskey shootin’ America. I LOVE IT!!!!
From the videos I have seen of his shows he’s also not afraid to speak his mind and give his thoughts. I know I am being a bit of a hypocrite because I publicly say all the time, I don’t want to hear their thoughts and opinions, but the way he does it, and makes it come across is that we are all in this together regardless of views and beliefs and even though he has his, he’s accepting of others as well. It’s fucking incredible! More people should take this stance at their shows instead of living in their own bubbles and spewing their belief system onto their audience. Let them decide what’s best for them. Anyway, I am not going down this rabbit hole.
Cody carries himself with such grace and a reputation that exceeds that. This man is what all country artists should be. I mean that sincerely. There’s no controversy, really, there’s no trax, there’s no bullshit in the music. It’s clean, crisp, and country through and through. It’s rock n roll … to a point … with songs that have a bigger message than I think we really can comprehend.
This New King of Country needs to start being taken more and more seriously all over the place. Hell, I could be wrong and maybe he is, but I am going by what I see here in Massachusetts. Regardless, COJO is the face of this genre to me, and he should be to all of us.
Cheers ya’ll
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