The singer-songwriter talks about his ag roots, starting his rodeo career in bull riding, and then getting into team roping as an adult (thanks to friend and world champion Colby Lovell) after building a successful career in country music.
Cody says when he quit riding bulls, it felt like a divorce, and when his publisher told him to put it in a song, he thought, No one’s going to want to hear a song about me not rodeoing. But he finally wrote about leaving rodeo behind, and he soon found out just how many people could relate to that feeling.
His love letter to the sport “Dear Rodeo” gave him his big break, and Cody says when getting to play it at the final round of the NFR, he thought, “This is as closest as I’ll ever get to performing at the tenth round of the NFR on the dirt.”
“I looked over at those yellow bucking chutes and I thought, that little boy who just wanted to come flying out on a big bull and win the whole deal, here I am with a much greater calling. It was a pretty surreal moment.”
Cody Johnson is also performing this year in Cheyenne, and he will be a guest on our Tailgate Party pre-show TODAY! 2:00 PM ET on The Cowboy Channel and Cowboy Channel+ app.
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