Cody Johnson is opening up about what inspires him.
The “Dirt Cheap” singer spoke to Good Morning America at CMA Fest 2024 in Nashville recently about how his deeply personal music impacts fans.
“To have fans tell you how the music has touched their lives is the reason why I record the music that I record,” he said. “We do have some fun songs, but all the real songs that I put out to radio and put out to the public to really push are all stories to try to impact people’s lives.”
“So when someone comes up to me and says, ‘Hey, this song saved our marriage,’ or ‘This song made me decide not to take my own life,’ or ‘This song made me go back to church’ … that’s what I do it for,” he continued.
“That kind of stuff really takes a hold of me and whenever I’m down, I’m burned out and I’m a little bit tensed up about being on the road, I remember those people and go, ‘Hey, look, I’m getting to do this for them,'” he said.
Cody kicked off the first leg of his 2024 The Leather Tour in January. In April he added 10 extra dates.
“My favorite part about being on the road has always been the stage,” said Cody. “The favorite part has always been, whether I’ve been in a 200-capacity bar or a 75,000-seat stadium, it’s always been that 90 minutes that I get on [the] stage.”
Despite the recent success, Cody told GMA he’s “just getting started.”
“I’ve worked almost 20 years to get to this point and it ain’t over, I can tell you that,” he said.
You can catch Cody on the CMA Fest television special, airing June 28 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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