Cody Johnson joins Katie Neal to talk music, acting, and more!
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00:00Well, listen, thank you so much for taking the time to hop on today. We were glad to
00:03get some time with you to talk about this song, which is doing so good. But first I
00:06have to tell you, I was having so much FOMO about missing the Nashville shows because
00:10we were in Vegas for Blake's residency. And then I come home and like still to this day,
00:14my entire Tik Tok feed is like you and Luke Combs just like melting the house down at
00:18Bridgestone. Oh my God.
00:19Yeah, it was pretty fun. We had both nights were good. So it was sold out in the round,
00:26meaning we sold all the seats behind the stage, too. So that was that was kind of
00:32a monumental thing for me in the first place. But yeah, we had Marcus King came on for our
00:38encore the first night. Randy Houser came on second night in Munsic, jumped up on stage
00:44with us.
00:45Kerry jumped up on stage was then obviously me and Luke wound up shotgunning beers at
00:50the end of the set. I didn't know that was a thing. So what happened? So and had you
00:54ever seen him shotgun a beer?
00:55Oh, yeah. I've been on tour with him and I've seen it happen. I just didn't think like it.
01:00We were really going to do it. We joked about it. And then I'm like, oh, crap. He smoked
01:04me.
01:05He is when he shotguns a beer. It like defies science and physics to me. Like I'm like,
01:10where does the liquid go?
01:12I know.
01:13And I'm sure that you have shotgunned plenty of beers and consider yourself very good.
01:17Not like that. Not like that. He took one gulp and it was gone. It really was the video.
01:22I have to stop him. Like, wait, wait, wait on me. Wait on me.
01:26Oh my gosh, that is too funny. And then I was watching something on socials. I feel
01:30like you know, you mentioned that you hope to at some point you and Luke have talked
01:34about doing a collaboration and then he comes out on stage. I'm like, is Kojo like bread
01:38crumb bread crumbing us right now? What's happening?
01:41Maybe maybe I'm going in this year to go record a new album. And there's a there's a certain
01:48song that I'm pretty certain we're just we're kind of playing with it. We're going back
01:53and forth. But I mean, it could be in the works. I can neither confirm nor deny.
01:56Okay. Plead the fifth. We will allow that. That would be awesome. I know that everybody
02:01would be very excited. I mean, just the energy between the two of you singing beer never
02:04broke my heart. I was like, Oh my God, how is this not happened?
02:06Oh, we knew it was going to be. I was like, because I said, man, you want to come out
02:10and do the encore with me? And he's this was weeks before the show. And he's yeah. Like,
02:15what are we going to play? And I was like, well, we should record that frickin do it.
02:19We could have done that, you know, and we were going back and forth. And then I just
02:23kind of hit me. I was like, I'll just do one of your songs. Like, let's just go burn it
02:27down with beer never broke my heart. Like, it's a massive song. And it's fun. I promise
02:31you all my fans know it. So it was a no brainer.
02:35That's amazing. And then I think bringing carry out was a huge flex. Like I go to a
02:39lot of shows, a lot of people bring people out carry does not very often do that. So
02:42that had to be like an awesome moment.
02:45Oh, it was. And so it was great. The first night we use the video wall content. So when
02:50we started the song, everybody was really like, she's gonna come out and then she didn't.
02:55So for the second night, when she did, it was like, it was deafening. Like I couldn't
03:00hear anything we were singing because the crowd was so loud. So she definitely she definitely
03:05felt loved. And I thought it was really gracious her to come out and do that. I think,
03:09you know, no matter how busy somebody is, like when you recognize that song, it's got
03:13huge. So I think that she knows that we're just maintain a good friend relationship of
03:18like, anytime you need me to come out, you call me, you know, Reba, Reba, I call Reba,
03:25and she was filming in LA called Ronnie Dunn. And those guys were him and kicks were
03:30rehearsing for a tour. I don't know where jelly rolls that somebody say through his
03:35phone in the river. So I haven't talked to him. There's all kinds of people that I called it. I
03:39was like, this is like, we can't get anybody to come out. And then for Carrie and Luke and Ian
03:43and Randy and Marcus King, all those guys come out. That was really, that was really special.
03:48That's incredible. Talk about what it's been like working with Carrie on this song,
03:51because we talked right before it come out. But at that point, you guys hadn't even like been
03:54able to be together to shoot the music video and stuff. So now that you guys have gotten to spend
03:58some time together, how's that been? She's great. She's a she's a true professional.
04:03You know, it's one of those deals where I think she is further along in her career where she gets
04:09tugged in so many different directions that it makes it even more special that she's going to
04:14take time to do all this stuff. Like, for instance, when we did the music video, she stayed late that
04:20day and did the video content for me to have on my wall. You know, I know from a management
04:25perspective, there's not a whole lot of back and forth. Well, if she's going to do this, we need
04:29that. She's going to do that. It's just been kind of like, yeah, let us figure out a time frame.
04:34And when it works for Carrie, she's going to come in and knock it out. And, you know, she's she's
04:39like me, like just a normal person, you know, like, don't we don't drink the Kool-Aid. We're
04:46not caught up in the career and the fame and all that stuff. It's just like very, very down to
04:51earth, normal people raising families and and playing the music that we want to play. So I
04:56think it's great. And her voice sounds incredible on this song. It's kind of a different,
05:00kind of a different Carrie than what we're used to hearing. And I think it's I think it's amazing.
05:05Right. And I mean, like you said, she's like such a normal, unaffected by fame person,
05:09but also she's got this voice of an angel. Like I'm sure you've seen the video from the
05:12inauguration. You're just like, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. All the like, I guess what the sound system
05:17wasn't working or something. She said, I got this. I'll just take this by myself.
05:20I'm like, that was a baller move. She's a gangster.
05:23Yeah, she did an amazing job. What else have been some of the highlights for you so far on
05:28the Leather Deluxe Tour? Oh, the beginning of the year has been a little bit weird for me. I tried
05:35to get some new ear capsules shot. And where they, you know, they mold for your ears digitally this
05:41time. That absolutely did not fit to the point where my jaw hurt, like had a migraine. It was
05:47rough. And then so we went back to an old set of ears. We did mold impressions, like foam mold
05:54impressions of the day to try to get upgraded. As we grow older, our ear canals change, especially
06:00men, like your nose gets bigger, your ears get weird. And, you know, like it's just part of
06:04being a guy. Well, your ear canals change too. So my ears haven't been fitting right,
06:08which has caused like a little bit of a sound issue. Trying different mic capsules. We've had
06:13a new soundboard that we really like that once we got it into arenas, it kind of affected some
06:20things. So like, I'll say for the first six shows of the year, it's been a pretty intense
06:26troubleshooting. Let's keep track of the things that are going on each night. And it's been very
06:30much like a football game. We're going to go in, going to get beat up a little bit, but we still
06:34won. Nobody else knew the difference. But then the next day, we're right back at practice going, Hey,
06:39what happened? Let's fix these issues. And now we're in the tour where I'm like, okay,
06:44now it's easy. Like today I'm talking to you guys. I didn't even go to soundcheck. I'm not
06:47going to go to soundcheck tomorrow. We're all running. We're running on full cylinders. And
06:53the new set list is very interesting because we had songs that we were playing off of leather.
06:59And now we've got an opportunity to kind of implement some of those songs from leather
07:02deluxe. And it's really interesting to go out and start a song. Like, how do you sleep at night?
07:09And before I ever sing a word, they're going crazy. And I'm like, they know it.
07:13They know the song, you know, that's pretty incredible. That makes me so happy to hear.
07:19And then I also know you're going to be playing dates like around the globe.
07:23Is there anywhere that you're headed? That's like always been on your bucket list that you're so
07:26excited to see? Well, so a couple of years ago, we had gone with Luke down to Australia, New Zealand.
07:33So we'd already kind of laid the groundwork there. And I took like the old school Texas
07:38independent approach with that kind of stuff. Look, we're going to go over and play for a month.
07:41We're not going to make we're not really going to make anything. It's not going to cost us anything.
07:44We're not making anything except for fans. So you go put out the time and the effort to do so.
07:49That way, two years later, I get the opportunity to go back and play sold out shows as a headliner
07:52there. I will say that one of the coolest things I've always wanted to go to Ireland.
07:58We're kicking off the tour over there in Belfast. They said that's the first time that Belfast,
08:02Ireland at that at that festival for country music artists ever sold out. And I'm I'm like
08:08blown away because it's a place I've always wanted to go. And here we are playing this huge
08:12sold out show. So it's Belfast, Glasgow, Scotland, London, England. Then we go to Australia. And then
08:18we wind up I think it's five shows in Australia, five shows in Australia. I'm getting to go in
08:24between some shows with some friends of mine over there that I met last time and do a little rodeo
08:27and a team roping. Then we go to New Zealand and wrap it up, come home and I ain't leaving my house
08:32the entire month of April. I'm sure that you're not it makes me happy to hear that you're gonna
08:36get to like get out and do some activities with people you've met. Like I've always thought before
08:39I'm like, I'm more shocked that like people doing those like the C2C tours like going to New Zealand
08:43and Australia are doing like really cool like hunting trips and stuff. I'm sure that's hard
08:47to coordinate at the same time, but glad to hear that you're gonna get out and do some stuff.
08:50Yeah, it is hard to coordinate. Like it's literally play this. We play the show. I fly in
08:55from London. We play the show. The next day I fly out to get picked up to rope the next day to fly
09:01in the next day to play the next show. So I mean, if you want to do it, you got to make time for it.
09:05The only other way that it would be feasible would be like to stay for two months. Well,
09:09it's stretching the tour out over two months. Like, you know, my wife, Brandy is going to come
09:13over with me for Ireland, Scotland and in London. We're going to stay one extra day with a few
09:21friends of ours. And she knows she was like, we should take the girls and go do this. We should
09:25take the girls and go do that. Well, then once we look at the schedule, she's like, holy cow,
09:30like there's zero time. It's literally play show, fly, sleep, play show, fly, sleep. I mean,
09:37it is what it is. Like I told her, I said, Look, if you guys want to go back and do all this,
09:41we'll just take off a month and the four of us will fly over any shows.
09:46Yeah, because otherwise, I mean, you're gonna be so tired. It's gonna be hard for you. Yeah,
09:50I say all the time. I don't know how you guys handle these schedules. I would have a meltdown
09:54like I wouldn't be able to handle it. But we have meltdowns too. Right? I'm sure I'm sure.
10:01Alright, so lots of great things obviously happening in the world of Cody Johnson,
10:05country music superstar. What is new in the world of Cody Johnson, dad and husband? How are the
10:11girls? I'm gonna get to coach softball this year. It's kind of working out on my schedule. Like
10:16this year, I think we're only playing 55 shows. Which is incredible for me, because that means
10:22that most of the time, I'm like, okay, like, for instance, tomorrow night, we're in Cincinnati,
10:26Ohio, or add the bus back to Nashville. I'll get on the jet at like 1130. I'll be home by like
10:32230 in the afternoon. Instead of in years past of really having to be out on the road and really
10:38pump it. I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford to fly back home.
10:42And especially like on a private jet, it gets there so much faster. And it's so much less
10:47stressful. And I can actually get rested before I go home. So like on a normal night, if I play
10:52on Saturday night, we're off stage at 11. We're usually in the air by like 1230. I'm home by like
10:57430 in the morning, it gives me time to rest to get my kids up and, and to cook breakfast and go
11:03to church on a Sunday like a normal person does. And being able to have that time Monday through
11:09Thursday. It's a bit of a sacrifice because generally when I land on a Friday, and most
11:15Saturdays too, from the time I land to the time I take off again, it's solid work. It's rehearsal,
11:24it's rehearsals, it's all this stuff. It's solid work whenever I get to work and but and that's
11:28something that most people spread across the week. But I get to turn it off and go home like
11:32literally last night before we went to tuck my kids in bed. We were down at the barn bottle feeding
11:38the calf that was his mom didn't take him. And so we're we're playing Mr. Mom out there in the
11:45barn. And, you know, yesterday we were out tagging, tagging new calves that needed ear tags to identify
11:50their moms and all that stuff. And just normal everyday stuff. And it's it's really fun. And
11:56it's also a blessing because like right now, for the past year, my wife and I have been out of our
12:02home. And our kids have been out of the home because we've had mold remediation going on.
12:06And we basically had to tear everything down. And now we're building it back. And so we're living in
12:12a trailer house out by my rodeo arena, my barn, and being able to be there with my wife making
12:17those decisions about, you know, the contractors and the building process and picking the wall and
12:22the tile and all that stuff. Like it's it's important for me to be home. So everything
12:26happens for a reason. And I really feel, you know, blessed to be able to do that.
12:30For sure. Are the girls excited that you're going to be coaching softball?
12:33Yeah, they're they're pretty excited. Well, so I'm going to be helping coach
12:37Corey. But Clara has moved up to kid pitch instead of coach pitch. And so like that's
12:43a whole different leagues. But but the way it works out, I'm going to get to be there for both.
12:47And her coaches don't know it yet. But usually when I go to softball games, I get kind of mob,
12:52and I wind up in the dugout anyway. So like uniform or not, I'm going to be helping coach.
12:56Yeah, that's amazing. And that'll be that'll be so much fun. It's funny,
12:59because I talked to Justin more about this. And I've asked him to like as a coach,
13:02then how do you deal with like the parents who are a little too involved sometimes?
13:07You gotta put your coaching hat on. I definitely argued with a umpire last year over a horrible
13:14call. And I didn't get out of line. I'm just like, Look, man, you know, and I know that was
13:19a horrible call. I'm gonna leave you alone and take my girls over and give them some Gatorade.
13:23And just I want you to know, I think that call was forced.
13:26Right.
13:28That's the way you're gonna handle that. You uh, you mentioned your wife, Brandi,
13:32I don't think I've ever asked you this. But as she is the muse of so many of your songs,
13:36how did you guys actually meet?
13:38We met in a bar.
13:39Did you? Classic love story.
13:42I was like, king of that bar. I was like, super local famous. And like, I had I had my local
13:49famous cocky going. Oh, yeah. She came in the bar with somebody else and I saw her.
13:55And I knew the guy she was with. So I went over to talk to him and basically
13:59talked to her. And I said, you know, do you mind if I dance with her? And he's like,
14:03Oh, no, man, it's cool to dance with Cody Johnson. And I was like, Hey,
14:09you're not. You're not going to be with that guy. Like, that's not going to work.
14:13Like, she's like, Who do you think you are? I was like, Well, here's what's here's the deal.
14:18I'm going to go to work. And I'm gonna get big in country music, no matter how long it takes.
14:24I was like, I want to be George Strait and you can be normal. I was like, she's like,
14:27so you're saying we're getting married? I was like, yes, we need to get married.
14:30So after that dance, I walked back over to my friends with her in front of him
14:34and say, Hey, everybody, I want to introduce you to my wife. This is Brandi Johnson. She said,
14:38Hi, how do you do? And we were joking. But that night, I got her phone number. And then
14:42a week later, she moved in. And a year later, we were engaged. And a year later, we got married.
14:46So how is that not a movie?
14:48I don't know. If you watch the video for the painter, that's kind of what it is.
14:53They tried to tell the story. But yeah, I basically said, Yeah, that's that's she's
14:59not with you, buddy. She's you didn't know what you brought. You brought you know, you know,
15:03moment. Yeah.
15:06Oh, my gosh, that's so funny. Something else I saw you talk about on Instagram,
15:09you mentioned you were going back on your carnivore diet.
15:12Yes.
15:12Is this something that you do talk about this?
15:15Well, I had been on the carnivore diet, carnivore, basically carnivore 2.0. It's basically
15:20meat, fruit, cheese, and eggs, and like honey. So the basis of a carnivore 2.0, they call it
15:26is like if you went out into the wild, what could you eat? Well, if you see an apple hanging on a
15:30tree, you can eat that. You can eat the honeycomb from the bee because it was produced, you can eat
15:35the honey from that. If you find the chicken, you can either eat the chicken or you can eat the
15:39eggs that come from the chicken. If you have the cow, you can either eat the cow or you can make
15:43milk and cheese from the cow. Just things that you wouldn't have to plant in the ground and cultivate
15:48things that are gluten-free. So I'm not eating any bread, anything like that. And it sucks because
15:56whenever your daughter wants to go to Texas Roadhouse for her birthday party, and you go in
16:01and they lay those dadgum cinnamon biscuit roll things in front of you and your mouth's drooling.
16:06I would kill somebody for some biscuits and gravy right now.
16:10I bet.
16:11I'm 38, man. I mean, I'm 38 years old. I've been doing this for 20 years.
16:16I've been on it for four months and been working out really good and saw some tremendous
16:22health improvements, some tremendous body improvements, mental clarity. And I've been
16:28working out every day with my trainer, Doug Champion. It's Champion Living and Fitness.
16:34And in October, man, life just got to be too much. I had a cowboy trip that I do every year
16:42called the Tales by Carols. And that was right before my big roping event. And that was right
16:46before we had this and this and this and this. And then there's the holidays and you got to travel
16:49here and you got to travel there. And I just got off track. And I started to notice I didn't like
16:54the way I looked in the mirror. And I felt really fatigued and really tired. And I just felt cloudy
17:01in my mind. And so when the new year came around, I said, all right, I've had enough. And for me,
17:08as a guy, it's the bad tired thing. And it's the under here. But I'm really starting to see
17:16I was asking my security guard, Jason, out here on the road. I said, it's weird. I ate
17:22an omelet this morning with some fruit at 11 o'clock. And I am force feeding myself food.
17:29I'm not hungry, but I know that I need to eat dinner before I go play the show to have the
17:33fuel and the energy. What's up with that? And he said, that's because you're finally
17:37you're turning the corner. You're in a state of ketosis where your body is using that fuel
17:42and it's burning the fat. So Monday morning, I'll be back in the gym Monday through Thursday. Another
17:48benefit of being home. I have a gym at my place, not trying to be the biggest, smallest guy out
17:53there. I just want to stay healthy and stay fit because I noticed towards the end of the year,
17:59I was getting out of breath during the set and I was running around. I'm like, no, no, no, no.
18:04I will go get on a bike for 20 minutes, 30 seconds as hard as you can go 30 seconds rest.
18:08And in that 30 seconds hard, I'll sing and feel my lungs and control my breathing. And I've seen a
18:16really big result of it on stage. That's amazing. I'm so glad to hear that. And I feel like everybody
18:21reaches a point, I think in their touring career where they're like, okay, I've got to get it
18:24together. You can't be like out partying on the road. You really got to take care of your body.
18:27It's like your voice suffers, like you said. So that's really hard. Last thing I want to ask you
18:30before we wrap up, you talked a little bit about last fall about how you had had to pass up a role
18:35on Yellowstone because the schedules couldn't line up and stuff. And I know that you said you've been
18:39talking to Taylor Sheridan, but is acting, is that something that's still pretty high on your
18:43bucket list of things you want to get accomplished? It is. And it's one of those things that when you
18:48get to the point in your career where you're playing 50 shows a year instead of 150 or 200
18:54shows a year, it's a little easier to schedule. I know that my manager mentioned that Tim McGraw
19:01had reached out for a Western that he's doing in the future. And he said, I think this could
19:05be feasible because we have years to plan this out. We can get months and years out in advance
19:10for what this would entail. The only reason I haven't been able to do anything is because
19:16it's been not short notice, but short enough notice for me, that's a year and a half out
19:20booking. We're already booking well into 2026 right now. And I don't want to take that away
19:26from my fans and be like, sorry, I had to go record this movie. It just kind of seems a little
19:29bit of a rockstar move. But acting is something that I would really like to do. I acted in high
19:36school, got some best actor awards and stuff like that. What did you act in high school?
19:41I was in theater in high school. You were? So was I. Wait, I'd love to hear that. I feel like
19:46I was in one act play. What was it? Confederate letters. It was a civil war play. And I was like,
19:57no, I'm completely against it. That sounds like a bunch of sissies in there. And they were like,
20:02oh, well, here's the girl. And there is a kissing part. I was like, I'm a hundred percent in.
20:08Always what it is. Yeah. Acting, guitar, all of it started with kissing a girl.
20:14Oh, my God. There's a song for you right there, sir.
20:19Listen, Cody, so great to see you. Congratulations. So happy to see this
20:22song doing so well and just the great year that you're already having.
20:25Well, thank you very much. I appreciate the time and I hope you have a good day.