Cody Johnson is someone who sounds incredible no matter what, but these just hit. Different.
There are singers, and there are storytellers. Cody Johnson’s both-and there’s something special about stripping away the instruments and production. These aren’t just “unplugged” versions either. They are goosebump-giving performances that somehow cut deeper than the originals. The name of my playlist with all these live versions is “Sing Me To Sleep Cody Johnson” because how else am I supposed to put it?
Here are 5 acoustic performances from CoJo that (dare I say) hit harder than their studio versions.
“Monday Morning Merle”
This is the one. Number one on the list for a reason. The song itself is already one that is slept on in his catalog, and one of the “less listened to” songs on the stellar Ain’t Nothin’ To It album (according to Spotify), but the people who have listened to it and know it love it.
And the way he sings it with the string band in his tour bus is like a drug. I don’t know how he does it.
“On My Way To You”
We all know this one. We all love this one. And somehow, it just never gets old. But in this version, it’s just Cody and his guitar, in a room with a perfect echo that compliments his voice with no dubbing, no auto-tune, just pure country music talent. That voice? Insane. What is also insane is that it took this man more than a decade to turn into a country music star.
“Dear Rodeo”
Another one in the tour bus… that’s how you know it’s good. The live version of this song just makes it feel more vulnerable. And not to mention how the fiddle in this song is arranged… it’s just something else.
“Ain’t Nothin To it”
We’ve GOT to bring this song back. The song is perfection… good story, good melody, some important cowboy wisdom from a man who has lived it. But the best part about this version is the high harmony in the chorus. That, with the two guitars and the fiddle… chef’s kiss.
Dance her when she needs dancin’, fellas…
“Fenceposts”
Something about the banjo in this one… I could listen to it over and over.
Honorable mention:
Now this one’s a George Strait cover, and would make 6 songs, but I just couldn’t wrap this thing up without throwing this song in.
You always hear lots of hype around his “Travelin’ Soldier” rendition, but CoJo’s version of “You Look So Good In Love” is hands down my favorite of his covers. Just a guitar, a good singer, and a George Strait song that he puts his own twist on. Not many people can cover a George song well, but this is exceptional. If you take anything away from this it should be this, give it a listen, and you won’t regret it.
Fun fact… this performance actually went mega-viral on Whiskey Riff quite a few years ago… well before Cody Johnson was the mainstream country A-lister that he is today. It was right on the heels of the release of his 2016 album, Gotta Be Me.
Cody, as always, thank you for your service. Now time to get these acoustic versions up on Spotify.,,
