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Country artist Cody Johnson performs at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in May. He'll be at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday.
Cody Johnson has become his genre's hottest brand. G5
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Luke Bryan plans for his Farm Show. G4
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Cody Johnson performs in Austin, Texas, in May. He'll be at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday.
There’s no hotter artist in country music than Cody Johnson.
And that’s why the Texas traditionalist is playing Pinnacle Bank Arena Friday instead of returning to Pinewood Bowl or the Bourbon Theatre, where he played in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
He’ll be coming back to Lincoln fresh off receiving nominations for four Country Music Association Awards: male vocalist of the year, new artist of the year and single of the year and video of the year for “Til You Can’t,” which, last year, became his first No. 1 hit.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve watched my heroes accept CMA awards, to be nominated for four is an absolute honor,” Johnson said in a news release. “I stand for a unique brand of authentic country music, and to see it recognized on such a huge platform makes all the years of hard work worth it.”
Johnson was, understandably, too busy to do an interview this week, has previously been outspoken about carrying the traditional country flag — but not putting down the pop country that dominates the charts and fills arenas.
“I appreciate those compliments from those comparisons (to Randy Travis, George Strait and Alan Jackson) among others,” he said three years ago. “I don’t know that country music needs it. I’ve said this in a few interviews. The reason why I respect Florida Georgia Line is because I can’t do that. There’s no way. If I tried to do that, it would look really fake. You know what I mean? Those guys pull it off authentically, the whole rapping kind of hip-hop country. I can’t do that. That’s not me. What I am good at doing is being myself and that leans more towards the traditional side.”
Growing up in the small east Texas town of Sebastopol, Johnson learned guitar at 12 from his father and played in bands in high school. But he was drawn to bull riding, competing professionally for several years before giving up rodeos to work as a prison guard.
In 2006, he formed the Cody Johnson Band, along with his dad, and released his first album on his own label, CoJo. In 2016, his sixth album “Gotta Be Me,” hit No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart, getting the attention of Nashville’s major labels.
During that decade, the Texan, a star on the Red Dirt, built up his career, first in Texas, where he became the first unsigned artist to sell out the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 2019, then heading north to play rowdy shows “at about every bar, honky-tonk, nightclub and festival there is.”
Johnson had little choice but to work his way up the hard way. As an independent artist, he operated outside the Music City machine that makes newcomers support acts on major tours and pushes their songs to country radio, which, even in the streaming era, still has major impact on success.
“As an independent artist for 10 years, I had really come to terms that radio was not going to play my music,” Johnson said at a Warner Music event in 2019 after he’d signed with the label. “We spent the last 10 years on the road playing music that I believed in."
Johnson’s Warner Brothers debut album “Ain’t Nothing To It” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart in February 2019 and topped digital album sales in all genres. Its first single, “On My Way to You,” spent 34 weeks on the singles chart, garnering more than 50 million streams.
That was enough to move Johnson out of clubs, like the Bourbon, into venues like Pinewood Bowl, where he drew 4,000 people in September 2019.
Then came his second major label album, “Human: The Double Album,” and his first No. 1 single,”Til You Can’t.”
“I’ve worked for over 15 years in the country music industry,” Johnson said in a written statement about his hit. “I’ve played just about every bar, honkytonk, nightclub and festival there is along the way, with the goal always in mind of having my brand of country music played at the level to achieve a No. 1 hit.”
Johnson performed “Til You Can’t” at the CMT Music Awards a couple weeks ago, where he picked up the male video of the year award for that song and the CMT digital-first performance of the year for “Dear Rodeo,” the title song for the 2021 documentary about his life as a cowboy-turned-country singer.
That hit, in part, kicked Johnson up another rung on the country ladder, a move demonstrated by his performance late on the bill at this summer’s Stagecoach, the giant California country music festival.
Johnson was originally slated to return to Pinewood on Friday. But the show was moved to the arena before it was announced.
“He’d played Pinewood in 2019 and did really well,” said arena manager Tom Lorenz. “We’d been working on getting him back since he was here and he’s just been getting bigger and bigger. As we continued the conversation, it made more and more sense to bring it inside and allow it to expand and get as big as its going to get.”
As big as it’s going to get is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 or more tickets sold — more than double Pinewood’s capacity, perhaps the best evidence that Johnson is, indeed, today’s hottest brand going.
A crowd begins to gather before Friday's Lincoln on the Streets concert on Centennial Mall. Country music star Jamey Johnson was the headliner.
Country musician Jamey Johnson's guitar is played during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke lead singer Charlie Starr performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke lead singer Charlie Starr performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Country singer Ella Langley performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke lead singer Charlie Starr performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Country singer Ella Langley performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke lead singer Charlie Starr performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Country singer Ella Langley performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Country singer Ella Langley performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke bass player Richard Turner performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke lead singer Charlie Starr performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Country musician Jamey Johnson performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12.
Blackberry Smoke lead singer Charlie Starr performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Country musician Jamey Johnson's keyboard player performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke lead singer Charlie Starr performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Country singer Ella Langley performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke lead singer Charlie Starr performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke lead singer Charlie Starr performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Country musician Jamey Johnson performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley. =
Country musician Jamey Johnson performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
Blackberry Smoke performs during Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12. Lincoln on the Streets was headlined by Grammy nominated country musician Jamey Johnson and featured special guests Blackberry Smoke and Ella Langley.
A crowd gathers before Lincoln on the Streets Aug. 12.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com. On Twitter @KentWolgamott
What: Cody Johnson with Randy Houser
Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena, 400 Pinnacle Arena Dr.
Tickets: $40. Avialable at ticketmaster.com and on the Ticketmaster app.
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L. Kent Wolgamott, the recipient of the 2018 Mayor’s Arts Award, has written about arts and entertainment for Lincoln newspapers since 1985, reviewing thousands of movies and concerts and hundreds of art exhibitions.
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Country artist Cody Johnson performs at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in May. He'll be at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday.
Cody Johnson has become his genre's hottest brand. G5
The scary season will soon be upon us. G2
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'Something Rotten' opens at the Playhouse. G7
Cody Johnson performs in Austin, Texas, in May. He'll be at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday.
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