One of the best covers of this song I’ve ever heard.
Today, Cody Johnson released the live version of his perfomance of “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” on streaming services everywhere, which he sang on the ACM Awards last year.
It caught the attention for fans because of course CoJo nailed it, but also because he changed the lines in the chorus ever so slightly to send a very intentional message:
“Mamas don’t let your cowboys grow up to be babies”
And just to make sure everybody know he meant it, Cody added this in the middle of his performance:
“I meant what I said.”
It was awesome, and easily one of the best showing from an artist on the 2023 ACM Awards show.
And of course, “Mamas” was first recorded by Ed Bruce and co-written with his wife Patsy. Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson famously covered the song on their iconic 1978 duets album Waylon & Willie, which remains a fan-favorite to this day.
Their version spent four weeks at the top of the country charts in 1978, and they even won the Grammy award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1979.
I love that we can listen to Cody’s cover now anytime, and I was even more impressed when I listened this morning at how dang good his voice sounds live. Do yourself a favor and check it out, CoJo doesn’t miss:
His ACM performance with video:
And I’ll leave you the iconic Highwaymen performance:
