Cody Johnson Reflects On His Longtime Friendship With Luke Combs: ‘Real Respects Real’

Cody Johnson and Luke Combs have been supporting each other for years, and the Texas native even credits his fellow country act with helping open major doors in his career. Johnson is now looking back on their friendship, noting how their history dates back to the early days, when Combs was still playing tennis courts and quickly gaining momentum in country music.

In the new episode of Bobby Bones Presents: The BobbyCast, now streaming on Netflix, Johnson sat down with the Award-winning radio host and media personality and discussed his friendship with Luke Combs, life before music, his next album and more.

Luke Combs was brought into the conversation when Bones asked Johnson how he felt about opening for the North Carolina native when he was already used to being a headliner himself. The answer was simple. While serving as a special guest on Combs’ 2023 World Tour overseas, Johnson says the experience only deepened his admiration for Combs’ work ethic.

“I have nothing but respect for Luke, and I’ve been opening for Luke Combs since he was playing tennis courts,” Johnson revealed. “He played a tennis court and it was like 6,000 people. It wasn’t a huge show, and of course he was blowing up at the time, but I think real respects real. And whenever I saw Luke for the first time, I went, that’s real. The way he handles his camp, the way he handles his finances, the way he records his records, the content that he’s putting out, I had a lot of respect.”

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When Luke Combs called, Johnson answered without any hesitation because he wanted to be there for his friend the way Combs had been there for him at the start of his career.

“He’s opened a lot of doors for me. Like I said, we went from opening for him from tennis courts and pavilions to stadiums, and I’m not a coattail rider, but whenever a good friend of that many years says, ‘Hey, do you want to go be direct support for me overseas?’ You say, ‘hell yes I do.’”

Plus, this time overseas gave Cody Johnson the chance to put his music and talent in front of a whole new audience. It proved to be worth it because two years later, he returned to headline his own tour and sold out nearly every show.

The “Work Boots” singer took his job as an opener very seriously, just as he has always done. Instead of getting on stage and simply trying to stay out of the way of the headliner, he believes that the best strategy is to try to level up the playing field.

“He knows I’m coming out to try to mop the floor, and all it did was elevate their game. And he’s like, ‘dude, I love having you open, because it just pushes us to a different level of knowing, Hey, if we’re going to follow that, we better gear it up.’ I’m like, ‘that’s a very high compliment from him,’” Johnson admitted.

In addition to their time on the road together, the country acts have recently been spending time in the studio. A few months ago, Johnson revealed that his next album will feature at least two collaborations: one with Brothers Osborne and another with Luke Combs.

“Probably going into the studio to do vocals in January to get a record out next year…Just need some guest performances by Luke Combs and Brothers Osborne. Then we’re done,” he teased.

His album hasn’t been formally announced yet, however he shared with Bobby Bones that it is “almost finished” so he is confident that it will arrive sometime in 2026.

“Don’t really have a date on it. I hate setting a date. I hate setting a date and working backwards. So we also have all this new material that we’re going to start trying to dig into so that whenever tracks hit and a new single hits after ‘The Fall’ hopefully goes number one, we can have all this new material sitting in the tank.”

Luke Combs, however, has announced details for his next full-length project, including the 22-song track list which features a song penned by Cody Johnson. His name appears on Track No. 14, “I Ain’t No Cowboy,” alongside co-writers Combs and Jake Mears.  

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So while here are no current plans for the artists to share the stage anytime soon, they have been collaborating in other ways.

Johnson has officially returned to the road for Cody Johnson Live 2026 Tour, following three months off to recover from a surgery after bursting his eardrum. The country star admitted he was grateful for the time off to spend with his new baby boy, but he was eager to get back to doing what he loves most.

“It’s time for me to go hit the stage and please some crowds and enjoy making music with my bros, man,” he told Bones. “Just making music with the dudes just like we did when we were 13 and 14 in the garage pi**ing our parents off.”

This conversation with Cody Johnson on “Bobby Bones Presents: The BobbyCast” is now streaming on Netflix. The episode, as well as past interview with acts like Kenny Chesney, Bailey Zimmerman and Blake Shelton are also available as an audio release on iHeartRadio and everywhere podcasts are heard.