Cody Johnson released his newest album, Leather, on November 3rd. With this record, Johnson provides his fans another phenomenal collection of songs that showcase his incredible talent and unwavering dedication to authenticity.
In a recent interview Apple Music’s “Today’s Country”, Johnson revealed that the title track of the album was written by fellow Texas native, Ian Munsick, his gold certified Long Live Cowboys collaborator.
He explained that the two were hanging around on his tour bus when Munsick played him Leather for the very first time. After hearing the song, Johnson felt inspired to make an album surrounding it.
“He plays me this song and I was like dude I will cut that in a heart-beat. That would be such a cool album title- Cody Johnson, Leather.”
Johnson wasn’t quite sure what his plan for his next album was at that point, but clearly Munsick’s writing resonated with him and helped get the wheels turning. Munsick asked him if he was even working on his next record at that point:
“He’s like ‘I didn’t even know you were cutting an album’ and I was like ‘I’m not I don’t think… maybe I am’.”
“If you’ll give me this song, I’ll cut a record around it.”
It’s very interesting to see a single song have this much influence on a whole record. Johnson wasn’t planning much toward his next album at that point, but this song connected with him on such a deep level that it led him to dive into an entire project.
Further in the discussion, Johnson admits that he felt this was a great shift in direction for him as an artist. The timing was perfect with the point he’s at in his career and this song just felt right for him, especially following Human, which he felt could’ve garnered even further success if given the correct time.
“It just felt right… I was a little disappointed with Human– the fact that we only got two singles off of a double album because of timing.”
Much of the reason he was only able to release two singles off of the acclaimed double album was due to the longevity and success of Til’ You Can’t. The multi-platinum smash hit has become a career defining song for him thus far and while he sees this as a massive blessing, he also feels pressure of becoming recognized for a single hit. Johnson admits that he, in some ways, needed to start growing out of the Til’ You Can’t realm.
“It’s more blessing than curse… And now I’m trying to push The Painter to hopefully get another number one so I won’t wind up being the ‘Til’ You Can’t guy.”
“There’s always that fear or that insecurity there of being the one-hit thing.”
Fans of Cody Johnson may see this and think yes, he is absolutely just being insecure- this man is an astounding talent and is bound to have more number one hits under his belt buckle before his career is through. Hopefully songs off of Leather get even more recognition than many of his previous hits and previous albums- starting with the amazing first single off the record, The Painter.
Check out the interview here: