Cody Johnson Shocks Fans by Revealing His Most Electric Moments on Stage Aren’t Planned at All. ML
In a recent interview, Cody Johnson revealed what loyal fans have suspected all along: his shows aren’t rehearsed, and the spontaneity is basically fueled by adrenaline, instinct, and pure Texas showmanship.
Cody Johnson: ‘98% of What You See on Stage is Stuff That Just Happens’
Johnson revealed via Whiskey Riffthat they don’t rehearse a lot of their shows: “We rehearse the beginning of the year, especially when there’s a new stage and a new album — probably two days max. 98% of what you see on stage is stuff that just happens. I’ll just do something, and it worked. And we all kind of look at each other because we don’t run tracks, and we’re like, ‘That was great!’ And then I’ll just do it the next night. And sometimes I’ll do it a completely different way.”
He added, “The other night, for some reason, I thought my drummer during the solos said, ‘Let’s go.’ And I introduced him and ran off stage. They had eight bars of ‘What do we do?’ And they made this cool, on the cuff, just vamp into this drum solo. And I said, ‘Sorry.’ He goes, ‘It actually turned out pretty well.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, let’s just keep doing that then.’”
‘It is Real’
Unrehearsed moments in CoJo’s shows make it different from other artists, and what makes the experience all the more memorable for fans who saw him live. “It is real,” he explained. “Sometimes you’ll see me kinda choke up about things, and that’s me on stage looking out at sometimes anywhere from 13 to 30 to 75,000 people. All the hard times are playing in my head, and that’s what kind of keeps me going.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Johson is going to his shows unprepared and that he often watches recordings of his shows to check if there were any mistakes or what part of the shows can still be improved. “Everybody’s like, ‘Man, that’s a great show.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I left that on the table. I screwed that up. I got lost here. You know, I felt like I could have done this better.’”
He added, “So the very next night, I come out with a different type of aggression. I’m not going to make those same mistakes, even though nobody saw the mistakes. It doesn’t matter. You don’t get the gold buckles or Entertainer of the Year without worrying about those things.”
CoJo is set to be back on the road next year after recuperating from an ear injury.
