A special edition, indeed.
2026 has been nothing short of a career year for Cody Johnson. Riding the highs of his first-ever Male Vocalist of the Year award at the CMAs back in November, he would follow that up with even more hardware — an ACM Male Artist of the Year AND his first-ever Entertainer of the Year win earlier this month at the 61st annual ACM Awards. Couple that with a few successful, somewhat controversial hunting trips and setting Rodeo Houston’s concert-only attendance record, performing to a crowd of 80,203 and subsequently breaking George Strait’s record of 80,020 at the event.
In case that wasn’t enough, CoJo would then turn around and release his tenth studio album, Banks Of The Trinity, back on June 26th, a project he noted was one of his most personal to date.
“When I heard the song “Banks Of The Trinity” for the first time, it was like a portrait flashed in my head of memories I thought I’d forgotten. It took me straight back home to Sebastopol, Texas, where I grew up on the river.
That’s why I chose a photo of Lawrence’s Grocery Store for the album cover. As a kid, I used to ride my bike two miles down an old dirt road just to get a cream soda and a Blue Bell ice cream bar. I’d sit there and listen to the old men talk for a while before heading back home with a basket of groceries.
This record is my way of going back to those dirt roads. I can’t wait for you to come with me on that journey back.”
What resulted was a rock-solid effort from the Texan. Beyond the high-profile collaborations with Luke Combs on the highly-anticipated “Shoot The Bull” and Brothers Osborne on “Fool Proof,” Johnson delivered some stellar tracks up and down Banks Of The Trinity such as “Time Bomb,” which sees him revealing never-before-heard tidbits of his life like going to jail, or “I Have,” which he noted has had a very strong reaction from women in particular.
Though “Horseback” was selected as the album’s first and only single so far, currently sitting inside the Top 20 on country radio, the runaway hit from the album has been none other than “Take Me Back (And Leave Me There).”
The sexy, Motown-inspired track is nothing short of a standout from Johnson, effortlessly showcasing his sultry vocals, and it’s been catching fire online. As of writing, it has a hefty 63 million streams on Spotify alone, which allowed it to peak at #10 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
On TikTok, however, it’s been an even bigger hit. Even ignoring the fact that the original, acapella version that was teased before its release has racked up over 2.5 million views, nearly 400,000 likes and over 28,000 shares, the song itself has been used on a staggering 655,700 posts over the five months — with many videos using the sound garnering millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes.
Simply put, Johnson has had a serious viral moment with “Take Me Back (And Leave Me There),” and he’s rewarding fans for their outpouring support of the track online with a “special edition” acoustic version of the track.
Taking to Instagram this morning, he thanked fans for embracing the track to the extent they have recently.
“COJO Nation, I can’t thank you enough for the way y’all have embraced ‘Take Me Back (Leave Me There).’ I had a great time putting this acoustic version together for y’all. It’s out now wherever you listen to music. Hope you enjoy it!”
If you were a fan of the stripped-back nature of the original acapella teaser earlier in the year, you’re absolutely going to love this one. Beyond the silky-smooth vocal runs from Johnson on the chorus, complemented beautifully by Shelley Fairchild’s harmonies in the background, the twangy bends on the dobro replacing the original’s electric guitar give this version a much more rootsy, bluesy feel that works wonders.
You truly can’t go wrong with either version of “Take Me Back (And Leave Me There).” It’s simply that good of a song. With that being said, however, if you like CoJo when he’s stripped down and acoustic, this is nothing short of a must-listen.
“Take Me Back (And Leave Me There) [Special Edition]”
