Cody Johnson is opening up about his new Banks Of The Trinity album, out now. The 16-track project includes his current single, “Horseback,” collaborations with Brothers Osborne and Luke Combs, and more. But the entire record is centered around the title track, a song written by Rodney Clawson, Josh Kear, and Chris Tompkins.
“The album, I really didn’t have a title for my new album, until I heard the song ‘Banks Of The Trinity,'” Johnson tells the Country Music Association. “And I went, ‘Oh, that’s it.’ I can paint a visual picture on this piece of work, from the vinyls to the CDs to the t-shirts, the hats, that’s a little bit different than, ‘Hey look, it’s Cody Johnson on a horse!’ That’s what I live every day, but the song, ‘Banks Of The Trinity’ really took me back to a piece of my childhood.”
Although Johnson didn’t write “Banks Of The Trinity,” it feels as personal to him as if he had written it himself. The song begins with, “On the banks of the Trinity River / Skipping stones, lookin’ for arrowheads / Felt that bite, saw a flash of silver / Gold eagle claw hook, split shot of lead.”
“The way I grew up is very different than the way I live now,” Johnson explains. “We live on a cattle ranch, and we do all that stuff now, but when I was a kid, it was all about going and catching catfish, and making sure you were at the right place at the right time when the white bass were running. You didn’t miss deer season, ’cause you’re putting meat in the freezer for your family.
“But in the time it took me to figure out what this album was going to be called, there were so many other great songs that fell into my lap,” he continues. “And I’m so thankful for all the songwriters and the publishers that were pushing what they felt was their best songs to me. I feel like we did them justice. … I think I’m more excited for this album than I have been for any other album.”
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Cody Johnson’s Surprising Revelations on “Time Bomb”
One of the songs Johnson did write on Banks Of The Trinity is “Time Bomb,” a personal song he wrote wtih Codrick Murphy, Noe Quantanilla, and Trent Willmon. The autobiographical song says, “I’ve walked through fire / And I’ve been through hell / I’ve been a bird on a wire / And I’ve been locked up in jail / Now I’ve got three children / And I’ve got one loving wife / That still choose to love me / In spite of my life.”
Before Johnson was a country music singer, he worked as a corrections officer in a prison. But now, Johnson reveals that he has been on both sides of the law, including the one behind bars.
“I’ve been to jail, stuff like that,” Johnson shares on The Kelleigh Bannen Show (via People). “People don’t know that. I’ve been locked up a few times in jail. Just overnight. I didn’t get sentenced or anything. There are parts of my life that people don’t know about, and I’m like, ‘Y’all look at this Cody Johnson guy like I’m some kind of saint.’ I’m not. I am just like you.”
“I have daily struggles with things that you do too. I have to really work up here a lot to get my brain disciplined to where I don’t think like that guy,” he adds. “Let’s be a better version of that guy. That kid’s got to grow up eventually.”