Behind every Cody Johnson album is a careful selection process, and it turns out, one of his biggest rules is not knowing who wrote the songs he's considering.
While co-hosting Backstage Country with Elaina Smith, Johnson offered listeners a behind-the-scenes look at how his latest album, Banks of the Trinity, came together. From choosing songs to deciding on the album's title track, the country star explained that his approach is all about letting the music speak for itself.
Letting the Songs Find Him
Johnson admitted that when he's listening to potential songs for a record, he tries not to find out who wrote them. “When I'm choosing songs, I really try not to ever let myself know who the writers are, because then I can be a little biased sometimes.”
He added, “So, when I'm picking, I really don't want to know who the writers are. And then after the fact, when you figure out, like, this happened on Leather (his 2023 album), when you figure out that Matt Rogers has three or four cuts on your record, you're like, ‘Well, who's this Matt Rogers guy? I want to meet him, and maybe we can write and develop a relationship.”
Cody Johnson on Why Banks of the Trinity Became the Album Title
Choosing an album title is never easy, but Johnson found the answer in one of the record's standout songs: “Banks of the Trinity”, written by Rodney Clawson, Josh Kear, and Chris Tompkins. CoJo quipped, “The Trinity River's pretty long, so I don't know where they wrote it about, but it sure seemed like they wrote it about where I grew up, so it was an easy fit.”
Cody Johnson - Banks Of The Trinity (Visualizer)
He added, “It was pretty immediate. After hearing that, I thought, ‘Man, you know, just like I've had records like Cowboy like Me (his 2014 album), you know, that speaks about me personally, and I feel like it's very authentic. It's who I am. It's not something I'm trying to fake, thanks to the Trinity, you know. I know where I grew up, and it's an easy fit to say, this is a part of me that I wanted to share. A part of my story that I wanted to share with people.”
Keeping the Playing Field Level
Johnson also revealed that, beyond staying impartial toward outside songwriters, he applies the same standard to his own material, carefully evaluating even the songs he’s written when deciding what makes the cut for an album.
I've got a really great team that I'll trust. Chris Lacey at Warner Music, she goes through a pile, Scott Gunner goes through a pile, and Trent Willman goes through a pile. And I receive songs myself that I bring some of them, my own songs that I've written, and we put them on the pile and just start listening to sometimes 20, 30 of them at a time, and you dwindle them down, and then you make the pile bigger and you dwindle it down again, and you see which songs are really fighting for the surface, you know, and unfortunately, the best song wins. And I had, like, five of my own songs in this pile that didn't make the record because, you know, apples to apples, they just weren't as good as this other song.”
He pointed out, “So when it comes to my record choices, I'm very strict, and nobody's safe, including myself.”
Get Banks of the Trinity now and hear Cody Johnson's latest songs.
