Cody Johnson And Jelly Roll ‘Gravitated To Each Other’
Cody Johnson and Jelly Roll are good buddies and have a song together on Cody’s latest album, Leather, called “Whiskey Bent.”
Photo – Chris Douglas
Cody Johnson and Jelly Roll – Good Friends
Johnson told us in a recent interview that he and Jelly are close and have some real similarities. He said, “I’ve said this in a few interviews over the last six months: Jelly’s Roll face tattoos are as authentic as this cowboy hat. That’s him unapologetic.”
He continued, “One of the first times I came to Nashville, they said I could have a record deal if I ditched the cowboy hat; that’s something I live in every day. Last night, we were on the ranch breaking new cattle and training. I mean, it’s something that I do.”
What Jelly Told Him
Something Jelly Roll told Cody when they met sticks with the real Texas cowboy. He told us, “Jelly Roll wears his walk on his face for everyone to see, and I wear this hat unapologetically. When we met, we just hit it off, and we both recognized what was real. He told me one of the very first times that I met him, ‘I modeled my career after you.’ He said, ‘I wanted to stay indecent because I wanted to be myself. I didn’t want anybody to change me.’ He said, ‘I wanted to go through the ups and downs and the hardships of trying to do it on your own the way you did it.’ He said, ‘Because I feel like it instills more of an appreciation.'”
Johnson added, “I’m not knocking anybody, but I didn’t come off of TikTok and get a record deal and go straight to stadiums and play. I know what it’s like to starve, and so does he.”
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Prison
Cody worked as a prison guard in the past, and Jelly was incarcerated for several years. He said the two are similar: “As far as prison, when you do a lot of time working in the prison, it can be the same as being locked in. The only thing is you get to go home at night. So, we understand a lot of those facets, and he’s just a good person. I want to be surrounded by positive, good people, not negativity, so we gravitated to each other.”
Their Song Together
Johnson told us of the song the two did together for his Leather album, “He heard the song ‘Whiskey Bent,’ and it put him to tears. He and I both have the [same] kind of past. Whether it’s whiskey or a different substance, whatever it is, I think he and I really related to the fact that that’s something in our lives at a time that made us hurt other people, and we regret it, and that’s real. When you hear that on the track, that’s real passion, that’s real emotion.”
Cody is currently on his “2024 The Leather Tour.” He will be hitting dates in the US and Canada now through the middle of August.
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