Cody Johnson Shares His Secret For Picking Songs To Record: “Process Has Gotten Easier & Easier Over The Years”
Cody Johnson is spilling his secrets on how he picks the perfect songs for his records.
During a recent conversation with RFD-TV for an episode of On The Record, Johnson shared that he has a formula when it comes to picking songs he did not write. Of course, Johnson has penned many hits throughout his career, including “‘Til You Can’t,” “Dear Rodeo,” “On My Way to You,” “The Painter,” and “Wild as You,” but he’s also got a stellar team of songwriters that he frequently works with, creating even more successes together. But that does not mean every song that comes across Johnson’s desk is a good fit for him and his sound.
Johnson shared that writing a song and then sitting down to see where it fits on a project or how it should be featured in his catalog uses two totally different sides of your brain. So, Johnson has developed a way to test songs over the years to see whether they make a good fit for his projects.
“When I first started really picking songs and listening to demos and outside songs. I would learn the song on my acoustic, and I’d go like in front of my friends or my wife or my parents or anybody else and say, ‘Hey, check out this song I wrote the other day.’
And I’d play it, and they’d go, ‘God almighty. That’s incredible.’ And I’m like, ‘You think I wrote that?’ And they go, ‘Yeah, sounds like you.’ And I’m going, ‘Perfect.’ Because if you believe I wrote it, then I’ve picked the right one. And that process has gotten easier and easier over the years, when you hear one, and you go, that one is straight up and down me.”
Suzanne Alexander then asked Johnson about some of the incredible songwriters he’s worked with and whether he ever gets songs written specifically for him. Cody Johnson shares that whenever songwriters pen a song with him in mind, those are often the first songs he throws out.
“It doesn’t contain the authenticity it needs to have in order for it to be me. Most of the stuff I pick is stuff that’s just been sitting around, and nobody else wanted, or it was a random, like there were a few songs I’ve been working on this new record, there were a few songs that the people in the room were like, ‘I would’ve never thought you’d pick that.’
And then you cut it, and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, it was you!'”
Johnson uses “The Fall” as an example of a song that fits his brand so well, but might not have seemed like an obvious choice. “The Fall” was written by Bobby Pinson, Ray Fulcher, and Jeremy Stover and has become a cowboy anthem for Johnson, relating to his time bull riding as a young man.
However, Johnson points out that the lyrics of “The Fall” could really mean anything. It could mean any failure, but it was a perfect fit for Johnson’s cowboy aesthetic and his love for rodeoing, making it an ideal song for him to cut. Johnson admits that for a song to work for him, it needs to feel like a story he’d experience, but also be relatable enough to strike a chord with folks with different experiences.
Picking songs for a record is a science, but Johnson has mastered it, creating moving tracklists that tell a story from start to finish.
Before you go, it only feels right to fire up “The Fall” after hearing Johnson speak on the power of this tune. Turn it up:
The post Cody Johnson Shares His Secret For Picking Songs To Record: “Process Has Gotten Easier & Easier Over The Years” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.