Cody Johnson on the Setback That Altered His ‘Banks of the Trinity’ Album and the Texas Roots That Inspired It

After being forced to take nearly three months off to recover from surgery to repair a burst eardrum at the end of 2025, Cody Johnson discovered that the unexpected break ended up shaping his brand-new album, Banks of the Trinity, in ways he never could have planned.

Looking back, the Texas native admits the project wouldn’t be the same if he hadn’t been forced off the road. In fact, at least a quarter of the album came from songs that landed in his Dropbox during those three months, tracks he likely wouldn’t have had the time to fully consider if it weren’t for the unexpected pause.

“I mean, it would’ve been a completely different album,” he admitted to Country Now and other outlets.

Johnson compared that chapter to 2020 when the world shut down. Just like back then, he initially was faced with a wave of depression, fearing that his career would take a hit, but after some time he leaned into his faith and realized that it was actually the best thing that could have happened to him.

“Banks of the Trinity wouldn’t be Banks of the Trinity without those three months. And I thank God for his crazy weird way of giving me three months off,” Johnson continued. “I thought it was going to be detrimental to my career. This has been one of the greatest years out here on the road of my career. I mean, everything happens for a reason. So I would just say that whenever the bad things happen to you, lean on him and see what he’s up to.”

The final result is a 16-song collection that isn’t a concept album but has one theme running through its core: Cody Johnson. He may not have written every track, but elements of his life, upbringing and musical inspirations are woven throughout, starting with the cover art. Normally, Johnson says he doesn’t usually put as much attention on the artwork for a project, but this one hits extra close to him.

The cover features Lawrence’s Grocery Store, a small country store in his hometown that played a meaningful role in his childhood, giving fans a visual representation of the place that he describes in the title track. He says that store was owned by a man named Harold Lawrence, but everybody called him Hootie, and his wife, Lela.

This was one of just a few local places in town, along with a church and an old bar. Johnson remembers riding his bike two miles down a dirt road to go pick up groceries from Lawrence’s and later in life he ended up carrying on his dad’s job of bailing hay and working cows for “Mr. Hootie.”

“It was just that little place in nowhere, Texas that while Ms. Lela was bagging up the groceries, I’d sit and listen to old men bi**h about the weather and talk about whether the fish were biting or the cattle market. And she always gave me a free Bluebell ice cream bar and a cream soda. And it was just one of those things that when they tore it down, that was a sad day. So it was one of those if you know, you know. And I love talking about how I was raised because everybody thinks that I grew up on some big cattle ranch. We grew up fishing and hunting for food,” he admits.

A few other songs also draw inspiration from the way he grew up, including “Cricket On A Hook,” which reflects on carefree summers spent at the lake, and the closing track, “Yippy Ty Oh Hey Hey,” a cowboy story set along the Trinity River.

“I wanted the album, whether you’re holding a vinyl or you’re holding a CD or you’re looking at the clips of it online, you kind of see a little bit more of where I’m from visually. And then when you listen to that song, ‘Banks of the Trinity,’ it kind of paints that image of what it was like growing up in a little rural town right there on the Trinity River.”

He added, “I think it kind of opens up this conversation that we’re having where I can have the opportunity to tell you more about how I was raised.”

From top to bottom, fans will find a large variation of tracks, from the humorous edge of “Horseback,” the project’s debut radio single, to honky tonk ready collaborations like “Fool Proof” with Brothers Osborne and “Shoot The Bull” with Luke Combs, tongue-in-cheek love-filled tunes such as “Kissing A Married Woman,” powerful reflections on “Bible For A Boy (For Jaycee)” and “Every Man” and more.

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When putting Banks of the Trinity together, Johnson made a conscious effort to include a wide range of sounds. He said listening to a few recent albums by artists, whom he chose not to name, left him feeling like the songs all began to blend together. That became his motivation to create a project where each track offered listeners something fresh.

“When I was a kid growing up, I would listen to all kinds of music. If you went through my music on my phone, I think you would be extremely surprised at some of the stuff that gets played the most. I mean, there’s Tejano bands on there that I can’t understand. I just love the way it makes me feel. Go from there to old classical stuff to…I mean, I’m all over the place. And so the difference between myself and a lot of other artists in this genre is I’ve been doing this for 20 plus years. I know who I am. I don’t have a producer or a label head saying, ‘This is who you are.’ I’m me. And that’s a really fun place to be in a creative space…”

He continued, “…My goal is for you to not get bored listening to this album. I’m not going to name the artists. I’m not going to name the albums, but there’s about two or three albums that I’ve listened to in the last year or two that although I love that artist, I love their voice, I love their writing, just got bored and it was kind of an eye-opening thing of, man, I need to make this like a, you don’t want to look at a menu and every section of the menu be some form of a cheeseburger. It needs to have some variety to it. You need a little spice to it.”

There’s no denying the ACM Entertainer of the Year is in one of the best seasons of his career. As he nears 39 years old, Johnson says he’s in the best physical and mental shape of his life, his marriage and family are thriving, and he’s reached a level of financial and career success he once only dreamed about. Looking back, he credits it all to the way he was raised and the challenges he had to overcome along the way before making it to the top.

Because of all that, if Johnson could go back and tell the young boy growing up along the banks of the Trinity River where he’d end up, he says he wouldn’t. In his eyes, the struggles, the uncertainty, the unexpected milestones, are all were what made him the man he is today.

“If I had the opportunity to tell that kid where I am now, I wouldn’t because it might change everything. Hard times make tough men…I wouldn’t have want that kid to know where I am now because he might think he has a silver spoon and he turned out soft.”

Produced by longtime collaborator Trent Willmon, Banks of the Trinity marks Cody Johnson’s sixth studio album. It arrives in the midst of his 2026 tour which continues tonight in Milwaukee, WI before he heads to Nashville to perform at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium on June 27 as part of Alan Jackson’s final concert of his career.