The Texas-born singer-songwriter shares elements of his life story in his latest album.
Singer-songwriter Cody Jinks has shuffled the cards, and dealt himself a fresh hand, to come up aces with Change the Game. Set for release Friday, March 22, the album “is the most open and honest record I’ve ever recorded,” he promises. “I laid everything out.”
Produced by Ryan Hewitt (Red Hot Chili Peppers, ZZ Top) and Jinks’ longtime bassist, Joshua Thompson, Change the Game truly is a game-changer for Jinks both personally and professionally, as he is now self-managed with a completely independent team. Across these twelve tracks, including previously released singles “Sober Thing” and “Outlaws and Mustangs,” he enhances his signature outlaw country spirit with a new level of artistic maturity, as he delves into sensitive topics such as his journey with sobriety and the need for redemption and accountability.
Long recognized as one of country music’s most prolific and popular independent musicians, Jinks has amassed some very impressive stats: He’s sold over 2 million tickets, released ten studio albums, sold more than 2 million equivalent units and garnered more than 3.5 billion streams across platforms throughout his ground-breaking career. Billboard has praised the native Texan artist thusly: “Jinks built his brand through relentless touring, solid songwriting with old-school roots and a dogged independence.” Whisky Riff echoed those sentiments, describing Jinks as “one of the most consistent artists in the game... He’s raw, authentic, it’s ‘what you see is what you get’ songwriting that gets deep down into the hearts and souls of his passionate fans.”
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Cody Jinks. Here are some highlights from our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.
Cowboys and Indians: I was really struck by a line in your song “Outlaws and Mustangs” — “We pay a price for going our own way.” What kind of price do you think you’ve had to pay to be where you are right now?
Cody Jinks: [Laughs] Oh, you're coming out swinging. That’s great, man, that’s a great question. I have paid a price, my friend. Tennessee Jet and I wrote that song, and TJ wrote a lot more of it, just to be fair. But yeah, he’s a guy and I’m a guy, and each of us went our own way. We both could just relate to the idea of the song. It’s been worth it. You do have to fight a little harder, you have to scrap a little more, but that’s okay. Because at the end of the day, I'm really, really proud of what we’ve done.
C&I: You mentioned in another interview that when we had the Covid lockdown, it actually gave you a chance to be reintroduced to your family. And you spent a lot more time at home than you had been. What did you think you discovered or rediscovered about yourself during the Covid lockdown?
Cody: Well, when we went into lockdown, my son was seven and my daughter was 10, and I had been on the road their whole lives. I would be on the road for weeks or a month at a time and come home for usually no longer than a week or two, and then go back out. That was just our life and they didn't know any different.
So when Covid hit, I was 40, I guess, or almost 40. So I’d been going pretty hard — and really, it was a time to come up for air anyway. I would never wish for Covid to have happened or to happen again. But timing wise, it was good for me to have a forced break. And whenever we came out of Covid, I came out with a different aspect.
And most of us who are in the band, or at least some of us, have children. And a lot of the guys in the crew do as well. So when we came out of Covid, I said, “Guys, let’s scale it back. Let's do 50, 60 shows a year, that’ll get us across the US and back.” That’s what we’ve been doing, and it’s served us well. We get to spend a lot more time with our kids now.
C&I: Did achieving sobriety also change your life around that time?
Cody: Yeah, I was working on it. I quit drinking whiskey about three, four years ago. And I was just drinking beer. But I just drank a lot of beer. So I was on my way to cutting that out just as well. I’ve been in this business long enough to know that if you don’t stop doing habitually the things that are bad for you, you’re not going to make it through your fifties. And by the time you’re in your late thirties, early forties, you really need to grow up. And I partied. We all partied when we were young doing this. I’ve been doing this 25 years. I went really hard for a really long time — but I had enough. And I’m really glad. See, I think everything happens for a reason. Happens at the right time, and I believe that.
I think that me taking over my business, getting to re-know my family, getting to re-know myself — all this has happened at a really great time for me, and I’m super excited. Everything’s on the uptick right now and I just have much to be thankful for.
C&I: So you really feel like you’re changing the game for yourself?
Cody: I hope so, man. If we’re not moving forward, we're moving backwards. I don’t believe in sitting still. Being stagnant — that’s being dead, man. And just as a person, I’m still trying to grow. I’m not a great thinker — I’m a seeker, and I have a thirst for knowledge. And a love for words and constructing those into songs. I am trying to be better at that, at what I truly love to do. Which is write songs.
C&I: This album really is kind of reflective of what’s going on in your life right now, isn’t it?
Cody: Yeah, you get all the emotions on this record. It comes out swinging and it shows a lot of the vulnerabilities of life and my life and things I’ve been going through. Like I said, all the emotions and then you end it with a song like “What You Love.” Hopefully, when people hear this record, they feel like they've gone on a journey through a life and ended the record with, man, it’s about the journey.
I mean, that's what it is. There are destinations, but destinations are good places to get some gas and keep going. That’s what this is all about. And feel it all, just working your way through this life and being good to people along your way. That’s really what it’s all about.
