George Strait

Those are the words of country superstar Cody Johnson, the former rodeo rider turned musician. In his two-disc album Human: The Double Album, Cody Johnson — also known as CoJo — opted for songs that Nashville had written off as “too country for country.”

Taking creative risks is nothing for Johnson. One might assume that earning accolades like CMA and ACM Awards nominations, a Platinum single (“On My Way To You”), more than 2 billion streams worldwide, and two RIAA-Gold-Certified tracks is best accomplished by playing by the rules. However, risk-taking is in Johnson’s DNA, and it’s something he’s not going to give up — particularly when it comes to his music.

Born in East Texas in 1987, Johnson started playing music at age 12. He loved it from the start, but his Texas upbringing also introduced him to another, more adrenaline-fueled love: riding bulls at the rodeo. Even as he formed the Cody Johnson Band in 2006 with his father and drummer Nathan Reedy, rodeo pulled at Johnson’s heart.

Later in his career, Johnson would immortalize this journey in song. “All that rodeo, that intense high of riding bulls and thinking that was what I was going to do, and that intense low of that instant realization at a young age that I wasn't good enough and I didn't finish that," says Johnson, "That almost depressed area of my life... all that was allowed to happen to me for one song."

Perhaps music had its own way of rectifying this struggle. On May 15, 2019, Johnson made history by becoming the first unsigned musician ever to sell out the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. If ever there were a case of fate assuring someone that they’re on the right course, this would be it.

Earlier that year, Johnson had released his seventh studio album Ain’t Nothin’ To It with Warner Bros. Records Nashville. This album gave him his first Top 40 hit on Country Airplay. There was plenty of touring to be done on such a monumental record, which is perhaps what led to the nearly three-year gap between this and his subsequent record.

When Human: The Double Album arrived in October 2021, it was the result of the years Johnson spent writing and retracing his songwriting roots. The result was a selection of authentic country songs that Johnson felt particularly attached to. When it came time to choose which ones were going on the record, Johnson says he tagged all of them as necessary to the album. That meant a true double album, each with an A and a B side.

“What I did was put the songs together in sequential order as if it was a set list, and I was going to play you this album live. If there’s a theme to this project, it’s that the album is a set list.”