Cody Jinks

[00:00:00] Quinn Eaton here from the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk to you about the Browning X-Bolt 2, which sets a new standard for bolt-action rifles.

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[00:00:43] Browning, the best there is.

[00:00:59] So that's a Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees t-shirt.

[00:01:03] Let us take a stab at it.

[00:01:05] That's beautiful.

[00:01:07] And you're a classic horror movie person is what you said?

[00:01:11] Yes.

[00:01:11] So what would you consider your go-to classic horror movies?

[00:01:16] You know, my son and I have done the Halloweens.

[00:01:21] And that's kind of – we did – I'm always going to go Romero.

[00:01:24] I love the zombies first.

[00:01:27] But we watched the first three of the Romero deads and then we're like, okay, I think he's ready for some Halloween.

[00:01:36] So we've seen most of the Halloweens together.

[00:01:39] And so we're indoctrinating him slowly.

[00:01:41] And I'm trying to get him to – hey, dude, you need to go back and pay homage to the classics.

[00:01:49] And we need to get some Nosferatu and some White Zombie and some – it's campy, but it's really cool stuff.

[00:01:59] Well, every Halloween I watch The Shining.

[00:02:02] That's my all-time favorite horror movie, which that's more psychological, I guess.

[00:02:05] That's a great one.

[00:02:06] But I love that one.

[00:02:07] I'm not a scary movie person.

[00:02:09] I actually just went with my boyfriend to a pumpkin patch and it was like 13-year-old and under.

[00:02:14] And it was like there's a haunted house at the end of the night.

[00:02:16] It was the scariest thing.

[00:02:18] I was like, I'm not going in.

[00:02:20] I know we've paid for this.

[00:02:21] We've been around all day waiting for it.

[00:02:22] I'm not going in.

[00:02:23] I just assumed because like the pumpkin patch was so kiddy that like it would be two and it was not at all.

[00:02:27] No.

[00:02:28] And so I don't do the scary movies.

[00:02:30] I don't do anything.

[00:02:30] I think it's cool.

[00:02:31] I wish I could, but I'm a scaredy cat.

[00:02:33] I'll have nightmares for days.

[00:02:34] Life's scary enough.

[00:02:36] That's what I want to say.

[00:02:36] Yeah, literally.

[00:02:38] Whenever I open up my utility bill, that's like as scary as I want things to get.

[00:02:43] All right.

[00:02:43] Well, it's okay that we've been recording so far talking about the scary movies.

[00:02:47] I get it, yeah.

[00:02:48] But welcome back to another episode of Whiskey Riff Raff.

[00:02:51] We're here sitting down with Cody Jinx and I looked at our site this morning and we have 467 articles with your name in it.

[00:02:58] No kidding.

[00:02:59] That's quite a lot.

[00:03:00] I think it's safe to say that you are definitely one of the fan favorites.

[00:03:04] I'd say top five artists that Whiskey Riff fans love to hear from, love to see your name on our articles.

[00:03:11] So happy to have you on the podcast.

[00:03:13] Thank you.

[00:03:13] I love that fun fact.

[00:03:16] That's great.

[00:03:17] No, thank you guys for having me.

[00:03:20] I appreciate it.

[00:03:21] I appreciate all the 400 and how many?

[00:03:24] 67.

[00:03:25] That's incredible.

[00:03:26] And counting.

[00:03:26] Yeah.

[00:03:26] There'll be more from this.

[00:03:28] Sure.

[00:03:28] And the new album.

[00:03:30] Well, much appreciated.

[00:03:31] Yeah.

[00:03:31] We've had a big year, but yeah, thank you guys for covering us up.

[00:03:36] You know, not a lot of people, not a lot of people over the years have done that.

[00:03:41] You know, that's just doing the things the way that we have.

[00:03:45] Oh, and we'll definitely be touching on that.

[00:03:46] Cool.

[00:03:47] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:03:48] Well, we want to start something that, another fun fact possibly people might not know is that you got your start in music as a front man for a metal band.

[00:03:56] That band was called Unchecked Aggression?

[00:04:00] Correct.

[00:04:00] Okay.

[00:04:01] What made you trade that in for, you know, a country music career, I guess?

[00:04:05] We were talking a little bit about this yesterday or the day before.

[00:04:09] I don't know if I have a country heart and a heavy metal soul or vice versa.

[00:04:16] I do know that country is my first love.

[00:04:18] But when I was 14, 15 years old, the part of Texas I'm from, Pantera, was a huge deal.

[00:04:26] I had already, you know, obviously gotten into, you know, Metallica and had heard a lot of the more radio friendly hard rock bands at that time and really loved that and was really raised on.

[00:04:39] If dad was home, it was all country.

[00:04:41] When dad would go to work, that's when mom would throw on the Elton John and the, you know, just whatever rock and roll stuff.

[00:04:52] So I had a good upbringing musically and really latched on to the emotion of heavy metal.

[00:05:03] The angst, the release of anger in a healthy way.

[00:05:14] You know, metal's gotten a bad rap oftentimes through the years, but it's people that get it, get it.

[00:05:22] And I went off and did that.

[00:05:24] I did that for seven years.

[00:05:26] I learned how to play guitar on, you know, country songs.

[00:05:29] My dad taught me and Lefty Frizzell was the first.

[00:05:33] Long Black Veil was the first song.

[00:05:35] I learned how to play on the guitar.

[00:05:36] I don't know.

[00:05:37] The country's the first love, but heavy metal is, it's a one in one A.

[00:05:41] And the metal band broke up at one point in time.

[00:05:45] It's a long-winded answer for your question.

[00:05:47] The metal band broke up and I guess I went back, just had full circle moment and just went back to what I really started with, which was country.

[00:05:58] Which your music is definitely country, but it has, it's definitely country rock, you know?

[00:06:02] Oh, absolutely.

[00:06:03] So like you kind of get the best of both worlds, which is awesome.

[00:06:05] We are a product of, the term honky tonk was big where I was from.

[00:06:11] Honky tonk was big, you know, really in the, you know, from Texas through the Gulf Coast states, you know, over to Florida.

[00:06:19] And then, you know, up as far as here, but it was definitely a Southern, Southern thing.

[00:06:25] I came from the school of, I started playing in the roadhouses and I started playing in the dive bars and the places you imagine, you know, places that had chicken wire.

[00:06:41] You know, whenever I was a younger guy, I'm kind of one of the last of those guys that, you know, we did it the way they did it back a long, long time ago.

[00:06:52] Yeah.

[00:06:53] And we're utilizing what the, the, the young people are doing now, but we did it.

[00:06:58] We did it the old school way.

[00:07:00] I don't even know if that answered your question.

[00:07:02] I would say, yeah, I'd say it did.

[00:07:03] Yeah.

[00:07:03] And we just had William Clark Greenan and he is very similar, very similar story from Texas.

[00:07:09] His dad taught him very, yeah.

[00:07:11] Talking about being a road dog and kind of feels he's an independent artist and feels like he's been doing it forever too.

[00:07:17] So you guys are very, very similar to that.

[00:07:19] Will's, I was at Will's first number one party for the Texas charts back of however many years ago that was.

[00:07:28] Yeah.

[00:07:28] Well, your latest project is also an older project, Backside of 30, which is a release of the fan favorite album 30.

[00:07:37] What inspired the re-release?

[00:07:39] 30 was such a far departure from less wise.

[00:07:42] I felt like I really started coming into more of the storytelling aspect of my songwriting at that point.

[00:07:52] And I really wanted to revisit it, revamp it a little bit, have it remixed, remastered and really happy we did it.

[00:08:03] But we added another song to it, a new song that is an old song, but it's the first time that the incarnation of it has made a record.

[00:08:14] So we were pleased to put an old new song on.

[00:08:17] Is the album your favorite?

[00:08:19] That's a really tough question.

[00:08:23] It's too many.

[00:08:24] It's one of them.

[00:08:25] Yeah.

[00:08:26] I mean, it really is.

[00:08:28] I look back at that record very fondly for a bunch of different reasons.

[00:08:34] I was so broke, so broke and working so hard and so gone all the time and had so little baby at home and, you know, just grinding, you know, my wife and I both.

[00:08:48] And that was back when she was still supporting me.

[00:08:51] So I look back on it with a lot of fondness and a lot of gratefulness because of where we're at now, you know.

[00:08:59] So getting to revisit that record and the song that we put on it is called When the New Wears Off.

[00:09:05] And I mean, it's if you've been with your person or, you know, you're married or just have been in whatever relationship with your partner for however long.

[00:09:13] You know, I wrote that song when we had not been together for maybe seven or eight years and we've been together for 28 now.

[00:09:25] So I don't know if it's life imitating art or vice versa, but really pleased with how that one came out.

[00:09:34] Do you think there's beauty in the struggle of all of it?

[00:09:37] Definitely.

[00:09:39] Yes.

[00:09:40] Yes, 100%.

[00:09:41] There's a I don't know if I'll get it verbatim or not, but there's an Edgar Allen Poe quote that says something along the lines of there is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the equation.

[00:09:53] And strange people lead strange lives.

[00:09:58] And, you know, there's a one of my favorite Ernest Hemingway quotes from A Farewell to Arms was be good to me, won't you, sweetheart?

[00:10:07] Or, you know, it's going to be an interesting life or, you know, something of that nature.

[00:10:15] And yeah, there's beauty in the struggle.

[00:10:17] That's that's what makes songs great.

[00:10:19] That's what makes what we do a gift worth sharing because we all feel those things.

[00:10:26] And we're all sitting in this room because music does whatever that thing is as the listener, as the as the artist.

[00:10:36] If it didn't do that thing, I wouldn't be making it.

[00:10:39] You know, I wouldn't.

[00:10:40] So, you know, just I guess I'm at a point in my career where I'm a lot more reflective than I used to be because I've played more shows than I will play.

[00:10:53] You know what I'm saying?

[00:10:54] That makes sense.

[00:10:55] Yeah.

[00:10:56] As an older person now that's been doing it for so long, you know what?

[00:11:01] We made it.

[00:11:01] We're fine.

[00:11:02] I don't have to tour anymore, but damn, I still get nervous as hell.

[00:11:08] And, you know, I still love going out there and watching those faces in the crowd and watching the tears and the smiles and, you know, and just the emotion.

[00:11:19] I'm putting on the show, but I'm watching the crowd.

[00:11:23] You know, the crowd's putting on the show.

[00:11:24] Me and the guys are feeding off of what they do.

[00:11:28] That's a really cool perspective to bring because I never would have thought of it like that where, like, you're at a show as well.

[00:11:34] You're seeing all the people in the crowd experience what you're doing.

[00:11:37] And you're talking about being old, but you look great.

[00:11:39] And the beard looks amazing.

[00:11:40] Thank you.

[00:11:41] Like, I mean, I just wanted to put that out there.

[00:11:43] I'm very jealous of the beard especially.

[00:11:45] Thank you.

[00:11:46] You know, when I quit drinking, I lost about 15 pounds of, I guess, what it looked probably like baby fat coming off.

[00:11:54] Like, I lost a beer belly and something out of my cheeks.

[00:11:57] And I'm like, what are you doing?

[00:11:58] You know, I'm like, we're drinking.

[00:12:01] And, you know, we're, yeah, it's so, yeah, I don't know.

[00:12:04] It wasn't, not the cleanest of living, but I quit smoking cigarettes and quit drinking.

[00:12:12] So, at least I'm not giving myself as much of a head start as I had.

[00:12:16] Yeah, definitely.

[00:12:17] I know.

[00:12:17] I'm like, share what you are drinking.

[00:12:19] Yeah, well, I bring them wherever I go now.

[00:12:22] Corona, I have some Corona non-alcoholic.

[00:12:24] They did, Corona's done a great job with, I'm not, I'm not a spokesperson, by the way.

[00:12:29] You're open to it though, right?

[00:12:30] Because I swear I sold more Miller Lite than Miller Lite's best salesman ever thought about selling because, I mean, that's what I drank.

[00:12:37] We, I still have, I still own records in most of the honky tonk bars and small venues in America for beer sales.

[00:12:46] We were just that band, man, you know?

[00:12:49] I believe it.

[00:12:49] Yeah.

[00:12:50] Yeah.

[00:12:50] I've seen you a couple times, but the rowdiest was, I think, at Born and Raised a couple years ago.

[00:12:55] Oh, that was a wild one.

[00:12:57] Just Oklahoma in general was just crazy too.

[00:13:00] Yeah.

[00:13:01] Man, that's our border state to the north being from Texas and my mom's side of the family is from Oklahoma.

[00:13:09] So I think that, I don't know yet, but I think we may be trying to get back on board with that.

[00:13:17] And they throw a great, great festival out there.

[00:13:20] Yeah, it's fun.

[00:13:20] And the Okies are my homies.

[00:13:23] Love it.

[00:13:24] Well, earlier this year, you also released more music, Change the Game, which I love that song.

[00:13:28] I listen to that when I work out usually now.

[00:13:31] But you had a gap in releasing music from 2021 to this year.

[00:13:35] What was the reason for that?

[00:13:37] Man, we went through so much.

[00:13:41] Me personally, our organization, the record should have been out about five or six months before it actually came out.

[00:13:48] I really wanted to have it out by November of 21.

[00:13:52] Or I'm sorry, 21, 23.

[00:13:55] And we just, I went through a change, a regime change, parted ways with my longtime management.

[00:14:04] And really over the last year and a half, I've had to learn how to do, I can't say I've had to learn how to do everything.

[00:14:12] I rely heavily on my crew.

[00:14:13] But I made the decision to, I guess what you could say, manage myself.

[00:14:19] And that's a gross understatement or overstatement because I have a bunch of great people that have been very, very helpful over this last year and a half.

[00:14:30] Most of which have been with me for a long time.

[00:14:33] And after the regime change, I went and got some people back that I needed to have working with me again.

[00:14:42] I let some people go that I don't believe were the right fit for our organization anymore.

[00:14:48] And, you know, we just, we've learned together so much.

[00:14:52] And, you know, we just recently partnered with Red Light and Corn Capshaw and got on with them.

[00:14:58] And we've been doing the little engine that could thing for a good little run here.

[00:15:04] I feel confident I can sit down in about any room with most people.

[00:15:10] And whatever the part of the music business being, I can sit down and at least, you know, in layman's terms, communicate.

[00:15:18] Yeah.

[00:15:18] So knowing that, my staff and I, we thought it was time to reach out and kind of turn the page.

[00:15:25] Really, you know, kind of an onward and upward situation.

[00:15:28] And that's kind of where we're sitting right now.

[00:15:30] The management side of it is always very interesting.

[00:15:33] You know, we were technically in media, but, you know, I lived in Colorado, the first part of my job.

[00:15:38] And so it's like, I was completely blind to like what was actually going on.

[00:15:42] And Stephen West, who are the owners of Whiskey Rift, they kind of like that aspect of like, they're not in Nashville.

[00:15:48] They kind of, they don't really, we're not required to do anything in Nashville, but we just both happen to live here.

[00:15:52] And so we get the opportunity to do things like this, but we're not really, we weren't in the business before.

[00:15:57] So it's crazy seeing the shift from doing what I, the same thing I do, but in another state versus being in Nashville.

[00:16:02] It's just completely different.

[00:16:04] Yeah.

[00:16:05] And we were talking about Nashville earlier today.

[00:16:08] You know, I live in Texas, but when I do most of my work like this in Nashville and we try to block some days every few months or whatever to come out here and get work done.

[00:16:21] You know, we work, I'm out here.

[00:16:23] I'm out here.

[00:16:24] I'm not out here all the time, but I'm out here a lot more than people might realize I'm out here.

[00:16:29] And kind of this all is a great transition into our next point that we wanted to get to.

[00:16:34] I've been told to read a quote from you.

[00:16:37] You were, you were quoting literary minds.

[00:16:39] I'm going to quote a literary mind that's sitting out here next to me.

[00:16:41] There's no telling what I said because I could have been drunk.

[00:16:44] But it kind of falls in line with what we're just discussing.

[00:16:47] Obviously you're known as like a modern day outlaw type of artist.

[00:16:51] And back in 2018, you played Red Rocks and you gave a speech.

[00:16:56] I'm quoting you.

[00:16:57] So I'm going to use use a curse word.

[00:16:59] You can curse on this podcast.

[00:17:00] That's fine.

[00:17:00] Guys like us who said, fuck you to the music industry.

[00:17:03] Don't play venues like this.

[00:17:06] Since then, you've really paved the way for being completely independent.

[00:17:09] So can you explain, you know, maybe that quote and then what kind of made you?

[00:17:15] I don't want to speak for you, but maybe anti-music industry.

[00:17:19] Yeah.

[00:17:21] I still feel like that.

[00:17:22] I've sold Red Rocks out four times and I still feel like that every time I'm going back.

[00:17:28] Surprise.

[00:17:30] You know, next year, I probably wasn't supposed to say that, but whatever.

[00:17:35] They treat us like family there now, really?

[00:17:37] So yeah, I felt like that.

[00:17:39] I still feel like that.

[00:17:40] I probably will always feel like that.

[00:17:43] I guess I never fit in as much because I didn't want to fit in with anybody else.

[00:17:52] A lot of what you see is a hard head and do it yourself punk, you know, DIY.

[00:18:01] And I mean, I'd be lying if I'd say a lot of it is just to say, that's how y'all did it.

[00:18:09] Not that I don't think is right.

[00:18:12] I'm just not going to do it because you said I needed to do it that way.

[00:18:15] And we've been as hard headed as I've been.

[00:18:20] I've stayed true.

[00:18:21] I've stayed.

[00:18:21] I've always stayed true to myself and to my family and my band and my road crew.

[00:18:29] And most of which have, there's people out there on the road with me that haven't been in there, out there long.

[00:18:35] But there's a lot of people on the road with me in double digit years.

[00:18:40] And it ain't because we're out there jacking around and not doing really well.

[00:18:46] I'm not making a good living, not feel like we're doing something impactful, something meaningful.

[00:18:52] You know, and so, you know, citing, you know, going back to change the game.

[00:18:56] That was a song that I'd been doing another interview earlier and, you know, talking that one and about that one specifically.

[00:19:04] Writing that with my longtime cohort, Josh Morningstar.

[00:19:08] When we had the idea, I had the idea for that song.

[00:19:11] I said, I know that I want you to help me write this song.

[00:19:14] How do we make it sound cocky without being too cocky?

[00:19:18] I think it's the perfect balance, honestly.

[00:19:20] Well, he said what he said.

[00:19:22] He said, screw it, man.

[00:19:23] He goes, go ahead and pat yourself on the back with this one.

[00:19:26] And so we had fun with it.

[00:19:28] And it is a fun song.

[00:19:30] And it's not meant to be tongue in cheek, but it's real honest.

[00:19:36] And it's fun.

[00:19:37] It's a fun song.

[00:19:38] And hopefully, well, I mean, I've talked, I talk to people all the time who, you know, they may not do it exactly.

[00:19:44] Everybody's path's different.

[00:19:45] They don't have to do it like me.

[00:19:46] They need to do it like them because that's their path.

[00:19:49] But, you know, in some sort of model or somebody's, hey, and I started my own record label so I could put my stuff out under that.

[00:19:55] And I started, I did this or started my own publishing company or I'm doing this because you did that.

[00:20:02] And it was like, yeah, man, I'm glad we didn't know if that was going to work or not, you know?

[00:20:05] So it's been fun.

[00:20:08] And now really, if you're lucky in this business to get to be one of the old guys in it, which I'm getting there, you know?

[00:20:15] And the older guys.

[00:20:17] And I can tell you this, you know, it was like not to name drop, but to name drop.

[00:20:20] Who cares, man?

[00:20:22] You know, I was at Clint Black's house earlier today getting a guitar from him that, you know, he was getting rid of and soaking it up because I went over to his house and I, you know, he's like, I said, will you sign this guitar?

[00:20:38] And, you know, he's like, just want me to sign it or put your name on it?

[00:20:41] I go, what do you think is going anywhere, dude?

[00:20:44] Like, put my name on it, please.

[00:20:45] You know, I mean, it's just embracing everything now and just kind of with a fresh set of eyes, kind of a part two of it.

[00:20:55] I've already had, man, I'm a 1% of the 1% of people that have made a living doing this.

[00:21:01] Gosh, how fortunate are we to be, you know, even sitting here talking about it.

[00:21:05] I'm the guy that should have never had a career.

[00:21:06] I'm the guy, I had a developmental deal from a really, really, really, really big label here when, you know, when I was 25, six years old.

[00:21:18] And back then I was like, yuck, you know?

[00:21:22] Yeah.

[00:21:22] I mean, like everything about that just looked like shit.

[00:21:26] Getting shelved and not singing my own songs.

[00:21:28] And so just fortunate to be sitting here going.

[00:21:33] I feel like we're, in a lot of ways, just really getting started.

[00:21:36] I got a lot of shit to do, man.

[00:21:38] We got our hands in a bunch of different cookie jars right now and diversifying that portfolio.

[00:21:45] That's exciting.

[00:21:46] And you said, I mean, you said so many things I want to touch on, but I think change the game and the reason why, you know, it's okay that you wrote a song that might be a bit cocky or why, you know, it's okay that you can name drop.

[00:21:58] Clint Black is because, you know, you've been in the industry that long and the success you've had doing your own thing, which is cool.

[00:22:04] And something, Quinn, I don't know if you feel this way, but like I would even want myself in like the creative headspace.

[00:22:09] But just being in Nashville, like we're always dealing with creatives.

[00:22:12] And, you know, it's like one screw has to be just a little loose to think that you can do this for a career, which is so true.

[00:22:18] And everyone has it just a little bit differently, but it's really interesting to like watch people come in and just see how they're all like their own little quirks.

[00:22:25] But it's like, you know, John Mayer, who's like this crazy at guitar, like there's something off with him that like he can do that.

[00:22:32] And like, same with you.

[00:22:33] Like, I don't know what necessarily your quirk is, but like to have such a creative mind, there has to be something different that you are the 1% of the 1%, which is really cool to see.

[00:22:43] Yeah.

[00:22:43] Thank you.

[00:22:43] No, it's, it's, um, we didn't know.

[00:22:47] And, you know, speaking to what you said while ago about, you know, we are a country band.

[00:22:52] We're, but we are a rock and roll band.

[00:22:54] We're an American band.

[00:22:55] We're a honky tonk band, which touching back on, we, you know, I got, I get off on tangents and then I come back around.

[00:23:01] But, you know, using that word specifically, that's a mixture of all of the elements.

[00:23:05] It's country and rock and roll and rhythm and blues and gospel and Southern music all, all in one.

[00:23:11] You needed, where I came from, you need to be able to play a biker bar.

[00:23:13] You need to be able to play a church.

[00:23:15] You need to be able to play a country bar.

[00:23:17] You need to be able to play a blues bar.

[00:23:18] You need to be able to, you know, you need to be able to play with, um, George Strait and you need to be able to play with Delver McClinton.

[00:23:26] And you need to be able to play with, um, whoever insert.

[00:23:30] Yeah.

[00:23:30] Insert name here.

[00:23:31] Insert name here.

[00:23:32] And it was survival.

[00:23:34] And, um, we're just an American band at this point.

[00:23:37] I tell people that a lot.

[00:23:38] It's like, I don't even know, you know, I know, I know we're classified as whatever and genre specific or whatever, but yeah, we're just, we're just American music.

[00:23:47] And, uh, it's fun.

[00:23:49] I have to ask about the song, the sober thing, um, from the new album, very powerful, powerful track that was really resonated with a lot of fans.

[00:23:57] Can you talk about that one specifically?

[00:23:59] Sure.

[00:23:59] Yeah.

[00:24:00] I, I wrote that song several years ago.

[00:24:02] Um, I wrote it, uh, whenever I was coming off of whiskey, not beer.

[00:24:08] Uh, that was another couple of years where, you know, before I finally put that down too, but, um, coming off hard liquor set.

[00:24:15] I sat on my back porch and wrote that song one afternoon.

[00:24:19] I had found at a younger, younger age that I was, I was an insomniac.

[00:24:24] And then, you know, I learned before I was out of my teenage years that I could go to sleep.

[00:24:29] You know, if I had some drinks and I could slow my mind down enough, cause like you were saying with that screw loose thing, that that's a, that's a real thing, you know?

[00:24:38] So, uh, anyway, sometimes you can quiet your mind down and, you know, that's, that's why a lot of people get into the, uh, the situations they, they do get into.

[00:24:47] And, you know, learning to listen, you know, that little thing in your gut, um, your conscience or God or whatever.

[00:24:56] Um, you need to listen to that and change is hard and good habits are developed as bad habits are developed.

[00:25:08] Um, but yeah, that song was real.

[00:25:10] I mean, um, you know, not being able to sleep and, you know, nightmares and night sweats and fun things like that.

[00:25:18] But I've had, I've had a reaction to that song in specific, like no other, my song, David is probably the song I get asked the most about because I wrote it in third person and I typically don't do that.

[00:25:31] So I, people think oftentimes I was a Marine or a police officer and I was not sober thing.

[00:25:37] I have had more people come up and, and we do a VIP meet and greet.

[00:25:43] We've been doing it for this whole tour all year.

[00:25:45] So I get to, I get to really talk with a lot of the fans and the response to that song has been overwhelming.

[00:25:55] And Josh Thompson, our longtime bass player and, you know, my right hand man, our bass producer, he said the same thing, you know, and he's, he's worked on all of my records for the last forever.

[00:26:07] And, uh, he said, man, just for Purdue, people called him, you know, from a producer aspect and dude, like this one's.

[00:26:16] Cause I remember recording that song.

[00:26:18] It was the only song that I cut that we kept the scratch.

[00:26:20] It was a one take Jake, which is, is uncommon for me.

[00:26:24] You know, I don't, I don't have a clean enough and smooth enough voice to, to normally do that.

[00:26:29] But, but that one, that one turned out that way.

[00:26:32] And, uh, I'm so proud of it and I'm, I'm so happy that people share their experiences with, uh, with people that have come to my house that don't know, not, not come to my house.

[00:26:45] That sounds like, um, like coming to do work on my house, you know, ask me about, somebody asked me about, you know, came to do a job at my house.

[00:26:54] I was like, Hey, uh, tell me about that song, you know, this and that.

[00:26:59] I was like, yeah, yeah.

[00:27:00] That's my life.

[00:27:01] How'd that happen?

[00:27:02] Another song that obviously is going to follow you forever is hippies and cowboys released on your first album in 2010.

[00:27:09] Does that feel like a long time ago?

[00:27:10] 2010.

[00:27:12] Yeah, no.

[00:27:13] Uh, you know, I, I started recording music in 98 and my first fully record came out of my metal band in like O one or O two.

[00:27:22] I've been recording for a long time.

[00:27:25] Um, but that's one of your most recognizable songs.

[00:27:28] Like, did you expect that to happen whenever?

[00:27:30] No.

[00:27:31] And I was so mad when I wrote that song because, uh, we weren't gaining any ground.

[00:27:37] I had no traction anywhere and I was so frustrated and that baby on the way.

[00:27:43] And that song is now my 15 year old daughter.

[00:27:47] Um, I wrote that song hammered because I mean, I started pretty early on the whiskey this morning.

[00:27:53] I opened a bottle of Jim beam at about five and I had already been beer drunk up trying to write the whole night.

[00:28:00] Cause that was back in those days.

[00:28:02] Whenever it's, you know, I had to, I had to polish off a fifth to write a good song.

[00:28:05] Right.

[00:28:06] So it's like five o'clock in the morning.

[00:28:08] I'm already beer drunk trash.

[00:28:09] And I'm like, I'm out of beer.

[00:28:10] I'm like, well, shit, this sucks.

[00:28:12] Well, I got all the Jim beam in there.

[00:28:15] So I went and got that bottle of the Jim beam and I went and just crack that bastard and started drinking it straight and wrote that song pretty quick, which was really surprising considering how intoxicated I was.

[00:28:29] But did you like wake up or like at one point you came to like, oh, wow, this is a great song.

[00:28:35] Oh no, no.

[00:28:36] So I, I, I drank a whole lot of that whiskey, finished that song.

[00:28:41] And my pregnant at the time wife was getting up at whatever, uh, six.

[00:28:48] I wrote it really quick, man.

[00:28:49] I mean, probably I opened that bottle probably four or five in the morning.

[00:28:52] It took me an hour or two to write that song.

[00:28:53] She was getting up about six to take a shower to go.

[00:28:56] And I come staggered into the bathroom.

[00:28:58] I'm waiting.

[00:28:59] I like, it's a great idea.

[00:29:00] Cause like I'm, I'm hammered cross-eyed drunk and I'm waiting on her.

[00:29:05] Or wait, I'm waiting in my bed, the bedroom office I had, we had in that house.

[00:29:09] I could hear the, the water running in our master bathroom.

[00:29:13] So I was waiting on that.

[00:29:14] Cause I thought it was a great idea to go share that song with my wife at that time.

[00:29:20] And maybe for the sake of a story it is, I guess.

[00:29:23] But I remember walking in, she's pregnant too, man.

[00:29:26] And like, she's not in a good mood.

[00:29:28] Her broke drunken husband is, has been up writing a song and drinking and come staggering

[00:29:38] into the bathroom with my guitar.

[00:29:40] She's in the shower.

[00:29:42] I'm like, you've got to hear this song, you know?

[00:29:46] And whether she can hear it or not, cause the shower is running.

[00:29:49] Who knows?

[00:29:50] She's probably just like, whatever, Cody, you know?

[00:29:52] Cause I'm going to do it anyway.

[00:29:55] And, uh, I don't think she was real impressed at that time.

[00:30:00] And you know what?

[00:30:01] Uh, I wouldn't have been either if I would have been her because she probably didn't understand

[00:30:05] what I was saying.

[00:30:06] I was probably slurring.

[00:30:08] Took a couple of takes maybe.

[00:30:09] Yeah.

[00:30:10] You know?

[00:30:10] And, uh, yeah, look where we are now.

[00:30:13] Before we completely move off of the sober and the drinking, you know, we've referred to

[00:30:17] you in this room already, but also online law as a modern day outlaw, which I don't know

[00:30:22] how you feel about that term or joke.

[00:30:25] I have, I've never not liked it or liked it.

[00:30:29] It's never been, um, I've made jokes.

[00:30:34] Like I'm not an outlaw.

[00:30:35] You can ask the IRS man.

[00:30:37] I pay my taxes and, uh, not even give them a little extra to make sure I ask stays out

[00:30:42] of trouble.

[00:30:42] I don't know, but, um, uh, outlaw punk.

[00:30:48] I think punk's probably more accurate than, than, than outlaw because punk was truly DIY.

[00:30:54] That was, that's what the, I mean, the, the biggest outlaws had record labels.

[00:30:59] So, I mean, if you want to talk about records sold with no record label, like ain't nobody

[00:31:03] got shit on me.

[00:31:04] Yeah.

[00:31:04] Well, whether it's punk or outlaw, they probably don't think of being sober going

[00:31:09] along with that.

[00:31:09] But I mean, I think the term is just doing it in your own way, no matter what it is in

[00:31:15] a way, it's the most outlaw thing by not being the norm.

[00:31:18] Yeah.

[00:31:19] I get, I get called that and lumped in that.

[00:31:22] And like I said, I don't, it doesn't bother me.

[00:31:24] I'll, I'll wear, you know, I have been called much worse.

[00:31:28] Yeah.

[00:31:29] Yeah.

[00:31:30] Yeah.

[00:31:31] Um, so I'm, I'm thankful to be looked at in a unique, uh, situation to, as somebody

[00:31:39] maybe that's, um, you know, like, like to change the game thing, somebody that's, that's

[00:31:43] been able to, to do that.

[00:31:44] I'm proud of that.

[00:31:45] I truly am.

[00:31:46] And, you know, and if people want to call that outlaw, awesome.

[00:31:49] You know, if people want to, you know, if, if they do want to call it that good, I hope

[00:31:53] it's one of these days, like he's known as the greatest outlaw that's ever been like,

[00:31:59] that would be awesome.

[00:31:59] I would, that would, if somebody said that I would say, well, thank you very much.

[00:32:03] You know, I don't see that as being the fact, but you know, um, yeah, DIY outlaw pump, you

[00:32:12] know, the little engine that could, that's kind of our whole organization, our little,

[00:32:17] you know, 30 man operation that keeps going down the road.

[00:32:20] Well, um, something that we heard, or I guess everyone heard last year is that you were writing

[00:32:25] a book.

[00:32:26] Is that, is that still the case?

[00:32:28] Are you still in the process of writing a book?

[00:32:30] What's that about?

[00:32:31] Um, the inspiration behind it, like obviously you're, you're a songwriter, so you have writing

[00:32:36] experience, but what makes you take that jump and say, I'm going to write a book?

[00:32:39] Uh, I always wanted to, and it really is about done.

[00:32:43] And it has been done really since March or April.

[00:32:47] And I gotta, I gotta do a couple more things, but I, my tour schedule got so busy at that time.

[00:32:52] Um, that it really, it, it kind of has taken a back burner this year, to be honest with you.

[00:32:58] But after this tour cycle, we're winding down, you know, we only have probably 14 shows, I

[00:33:06] think somewhere around there ish for the rest of the year.

[00:33:09] And I hope to really buckle down, uh, during the end of the year, the first of 2025 and, um,

[00:33:16] and get it done.

[00:33:17] I decided to do it for several different reasons.

[00:33:20] I've always journaled and I started writing it and it was very much, this is not a memoir

[00:33:26] thing.

[00:33:27] The further I got into it, I was like, it's kind of a memoir.

[00:33:31] No shame.

[00:33:32] But it's, it's like a, it's a memoir of hard work is, is what it is.

[00:33:37] And it's just, it's highlighting my jobs.

[00:33:40] It was highlighting the work ethic that both of my parents instilled in me.

[00:33:44] So it's, it's very focused on one thing.

[00:33:46] It's, it's not so much, you know, well, when I was eight, my dad did this and it messed

[00:33:52] me up because of this.

[00:33:53] And, you know, it wasn't that it was, it was like, you know, I couldn't wait to go to

[00:33:58] work.

[00:33:58] I, you know, there's this, there's stories in there of, of me being 14 years old and I'm

[00:34:02] trying to get a job at Winn-Dixie for 425 an hour.

[00:34:05] That's what minimum wage was back then.

[00:34:07] And the day I turned 14, I was going to go get a job sacking groceries.

[00:34:13] Cause I was going to be running that son of a bitch by the time I was 16.

[00:34:17] Right.

[00:34:18] Cause that's what I do.

[00:34:19] And, uh, I go up there and I'm like, man, you know, no experience, but I've got the charisma.

[00:34:26] It's the riz now.

[00:34:28] That's right.

[00:34:28] Yeah.

[00:34:29] Hey, look at you.

[00:34:29] I have teenagers and, uh, I didn't get the job and I was crushed and I was as disappointed

[00:34:38] as I was crushed because I was thinking how I interviewed what the F man, you didn't want

[00:34:45] to hire me.

[00:34:47] Like, is it the no experience thing?

[00:34:49] You know, but, um, I went home and I, my mother, she helped me with the computer and the, with,

[00:34:58] you know, the, the printer back then with, you know, that old dinosaur equipment now,

[00:35:03] but this was early nineties.

[00:35:04] And I decided I was starting my own business and I started a business and it was, uh, lawn

[00:35:11] mowing and odd jobs.

[00:35:13] And I got some weird ass calls.

[00:35:16] Like the odd jobs part.

[00:35:18] Yeah.

[00:35:18] Yeah.

[00:35:18] The odd jobs part.

[00:35:19] Over and ended a bit.

[00:35:20] Hey, can you put together a new cabinetry?

[00:35:22] You know, I just got my first armpit hair last year, you know, but, um, most of it

[00:35:28] was, it was lawn work and, and, and I learned and I learned to just, you go to work.

[00:35:32] My dad went to work.

[00:35:33] My mom went to work.

[00:35:34] We just, we worked, we worked.

[00:35:36] And, um, it's just, uh, there, there's obviously more stories in there than that, but that's

[00:35:41] just one thing I couldn't, you know, and I still carry that with me because still to this day

[00:35:47] in this business, I don't mind.

[00:35:49] No, I don't mind the answer.

[00:35:50] No, I'm in the music business.

[00:35:52] I've been told more times than I told no, more times than I can count.

[00:35:56] Disappointment is standard in this, in this business, but I still have the, why the hell

[00:36:02] wouldn't you want to hire me?

[00:36:03] Well, you know, I still have that.

[00:36:05] Um, and that's a great motivator for me.

[00:36:08] It always has been, it's, it's just a part of, of who I am, but going back to kind of

[00:36:13] the, the outlaw thing or the whatever thing it's, it's just because you love me.

[00:36:20] You just don't know you do yet.

[00:36:22] Right.

[00:36:22] Yeah.

[00:36:22] I hadn't convinced you yet.

[00:36:24] You know, you haven't even given me the chance.

[00:36:27] And I'm sure there's a Winn-Dixie out there that's like, gosh dang it.

[00:36:30] I cannot believe we didn't hire Cody James.

[00:36:32] I think it's like Winco Foods now.

[00:36:33] Something's like the CEO is probably some huge fan or something listening to this going, Jesus

[00:36:38] Christ, how did we not give him the grocery bagging job?

[00:36:41] We could have had it.

[00:36:42] You know, we have so much more we want to touch on, but we only have so much time with

[00:36:46] you left.

[00:36:47] I feel like we could talk to you sitting here for hours.

[00:36:49] I feel like you're like not to age you by any means.

[00:36:51] I feel like you're going to be the grandpa that all the kids are going to want to hear

[00:36:54] all your stories about, which is great that you're writing them down in a book.

[00:36:57] I hope so.

[00:36:58] Thank you.

[00:36:59] I told my daughter I was ready for grandkids.

[00:37:01] She's like, dad, I'm 15.

[00:37:02] I was like, one day, I'm going to be really good at this.

[00:37:06] There's a video of you playing loud and heavy while a man gets tackled and hazered.

[00:37:12] And it is just the wildest thing.

[00:37:14] I need to hear that story.

[00:37:16] My eyes were closed during that.

[00:37:19] And you can see in the video, our guitar player, Chris, starts to take his guitar off because

[00:37:23] at this point, I have no idea what's going on.

[00:37:25] Loud and heavy is our closer.

[00:37:27] It always has been, you know, and we were up there and I think it was in Georgia.

[00:37:32] I can't remember.

[00:37:33] I was.

[00:37:33] That sounds about right.

[00:37:34] Somewhere.

[00:37:34] I looked at the video today.

[00:37:35] Some deep south, rough and tumble place.

[00:37:38] Anyway, guy gets super excited as people do.

[00:37:41] And I have my own security detail now.

[00:37:44] This has been years ago.

[00:37:45] But yeah, this dude gets super excited, man.

[00:37:50] Big old boy.

[00:37:51] Big dude.

[00:37:52] Jumps up on stage, man.

[00:37:54] A little overzealous.

[00:37:55] And he's trucking his way over to me because he's going to sing with me.

[00:37:59] Damn it.

[00:38:01] And the police officers and then our agent, Mike, was there and they all try to stop this

[00:38:07] gargantuan man.

[00:38:08] You know, this guy's a big, big sucker.

[00:38:12] And he starts throwing people off and it starts becoming a thing now because now he's getting

[00:38:17] irritated and pissed and all he wanted to do was come sing with me.

[00:38:22] Yeah.

[00:38:22] But I still have no idea.

[00:38:24] Anyway, they tased this dude.

[00:38:26] You can see him yanking the tasers out on stage.

[00:38:29] Still don't know what's going on.

[00:38:30] You start seeing Chris take his guitar off.

[00:38:32] Chris is going to club this bastard with a Telecaster or whatever he's got, you know,

[00:38:40] at the moment.

[00:38:43] It ended up hurting our booking agent, messed his ankle up on a fall.

[00:38:48] They all went down, broke one of the officer's arms.

[00:38:52] So he got quite a bit thrown at him for that.

[00:38:56] Actually, he did apologize.

[00:38:59] Oh, that's good.

[00:39:00] To me.

[00:39:01] I don't know if he apologized to the cops or whatever, but yeah, that happened.

[00:39:06] Had no idea till the very end.

[00:39:08] And I looked over.

[00:39:09] Finally, I was like, what the hell is going on?

[00:39:11] Everybody's rolling around.

[00:39:12] Yeah.

[00:39:12] Well, last question before we move into rapid fire.

[00:39:15] Again, we had so many more things we want to talk about, which just means you're going

[00:39:18] to have to come back on and talk to us again.

[00:39:20] That's great.

[00:39:21] Absolutely.

[00:39:21] Last big question is we have to ask about new music, the plans for it, if there's anything

[00:39:26] you can share.

[00:39:28] Yeah.

[00:39:28] A lot.

[00:39:29] A lot.

[00:39:30] A lot.

[00:39:30] A lot of new music, which is super cool, man.

[00:39:32] We're excited.

[00:39:33] We just did the re-release of 30, added when the new wears off, we're dropping a Lefty

[00:39:40] Frizzell tribute record in December.

[00:39:43] And that was just a labor of love.

[00:39:44] Wow.

[00:39:44] Yeah.

[00:39:45] Because Lefty was big in my household.

[00:39:49] Long Black Veil for a song I played when I was a kid, you know, and getting that out

[00:39:53] finally.

[00:39:55] And then we have about 10-ish songs from other records that we didn't put on other records

[00:40:03] because for whatever reason, they didn't go stylistically.

[00:40:06] So we have this really cool hodgepodge of just all kind of different, really rad songs that

[00:40:10] either need to be their own thing, their own EPs, or one hodgepodge kind of record.

[00:40:14] Long story short, a lot of that is we're going to put that out in 25 too, whether it's in

[00:40:19] three packs or six packs or however we decide to do it, just singles.

[00:40:22] I don't know.

[00:40:23] We've got that coming out.

[00:40:24] In May, we started recording for what's going to be our next big, huge release at the beginning

[00:40:31] of what I believe will be at the beginning of 26.

[00:40:35] You know, we're going to work, change the game, continue working that for the remainder

[00:40:38] of this year.

[00:40:39] And we'll tour on a bunch of the songs off Change the Game.

[00:40:42] We didn't play this year.

[00:40:43] We just couldn't.

[00:40:44] So we'll tour on Change the Game next year and play the songs we didn't get.

[00:40:48] We're playing four or five off Change the Game live now.

[00:40:51] That's awesome.

[00:40:52] And you don't normally do that with a new record, but we've been very fortunate.

[00:40:55] And so we got some more off that to play.

[00:40:58] And then, yeah, we record constantly.

[00:41:03] Yeah, that's exciting.

[00:41:04] We never get out of either headspace, the road headspace or the recording headspace because

[00:41:09] it's not, you know, it's the same band.

[00:41:11] You hear wherever, you know, recording or on the road.

[00:41:14] So we try to stay kind of like that.

[00:41:17] Sounds like a great time to be a Cody Jinks fan.

[00:41:19] Yes.

[00:41:20] It really is.

[00:41:22] This whole last year, we've done so much press, so much promo.

[00:41:25] I went through a period of years where I didn't even do interviews and things.

[00:41:29] I was just on the road so much.

[00:41:30] I was grumpy and I was always drunk.

[00:41:31] And, you know, now taking the time to, you know, do more of these things, stay off the

[00:41:37] road quite as much, focus on family more.

[00:41:39] We all have kids, man.

[00:41:40] And, you know, so it's a different place.

[00:41:43] It's a it's it's it's gotten fun again.

[00:41:46] You know, there's careers go up and down and, you know, we've been fortunate to maintain

[00:41:50] what we've done.

[00:41:51] But I'm having a lot of fun right now.

[00:41:54] Very thankful.

[00:41:55] All right.

[00:41:55] And let's wrap wrap up with some rapid fire questions brought to you by Browning, which

[00:41:59] I hear you're a big outdoorsman.

[00:42:01] So this will be a mix of country music and outdoors.

[00:42:04] My first shotgun, the Browning.

[00:42:08] Oh, awesome.

[00:42:10] Yes.

[00:42:10] Still have it.

[00:42:11] What's your favorite sad country song?

[00:42:13] Sunday morning coming down.

[00:42:15] Great.

[00:42:16] Hunting or fishing?

[00:42:17] Fishing.

[00:42:18] And this might be the same answer, but what are you doing when you're not playing music?

[00:42:21] Hunting or fishing.

[00:42:22] Yep.

[00:42:23] What is your favorite food?

[00:42:27] I'd likely say steak and taters.

[00:42:29] I'm a steak and tater guy.

[00:42:30] That's hard to be.

[00:42:32] Studio recordings or live performances?

[00:42:35] Am I doing them or listening to them?

[00:42:37] Say listening.

[00:42:38] Listening to them.

[00:42:40] Man, if it's a good live recording, it's hard to beat.

[00:42:44] What is your daily driver?

[00:42:46] Oh, that's funny.

[00:42:50] Well, I live on a ranch.

[00:42:55] So I've got a couple of cars.

[00:42:58] My daily driver is a 2022 F-350 Dually Super Crew.

[00:43:05] Heavy duty.

[00:43:06] Super duty.

[00:43:07] Hell yeah.

[00:43:08] That's what I would imagine.

[00:43:10] I can pull your house off your foundation, whatever you need me to do.

[00:43:14] But I've also, I've got a 76 Ford Super Crew.

[00:43:19] There was only about 12,000 of them made with a 390 that is really a lot of fun to cruise around in.

[00:43:26] And then when I'm really, really good, my wife lets me take the Corvette out.

[00:43:32] Nice.

[00:43:33] Nice.

[00:43:33] Very cool.

[00:43:33] And then finally, sad country songs and blank make me happy.

[00:43:38] I used to say sad country songs and drinking.

[00:43:42] I won't say that because it's kind of like I quit drinking.

[00:43:46] I was like sad all the time.

[00:43:47] Drinking non-alcoholic?

[00:43:48] Yeah.

[00:43:49] Sad country songs and angry heavy metal.

[00:43:53] Okay.

[00:43:53] Nice.

[00:43:53] I love it.

[00:43:53] Make me happy.

[00:43:54] Yeah.

[00:43:55] Very cool.

[00:43:56] Well, thank you so much for your music and the million projects you have going on.

[00:44:00] Yeah, a lot going on.

[00:44:01] I think Quinn said it best.

[00:44:02] It's a good time to be a Cody Jinks fan.

[00:44:04] So hopefully we get to talk to you again soon.

[00:44:05] I'll come back when we get a lot of this stuff released and then we're about to do some more stuff and then we'll do part two.

[00:44:11] Perfect.

[00:44:12] We'll get to all the rest of the questions.

[00:44:14] Sounds great.

[00:44:14] I'll schedule a lot more time for that one.

[00:44:16] Yeah.

[00:44:16] Give me more time.

[00:44:17] Yes.

[00:44:18] Well, thanks so much.

[00:44:18] Thank you.

[00:44:19] Thank you all so much.