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Nashville wanted Cody Johnson to ditch his cowboy hat before giving him a shot at country music stardom.
The Texas-born country star said he walked away from a record deal after executives suggested he swap his signature cowboy look for a baseball cap — a move he viewed as a demand to change who he was before he could make it in the music business.
“They wanted a baseball cap, which I have nothing against, but it was the approach. It was the ‘you’re great, but once we change you, you’ll make it.’ And it pissed me off,” he said in an interview with “CBS Mornings.” “I tipped my hat and said, ‘Thank you for your time.'”
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Cody Johnson performs onstage during the 61st Academy of Country Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, on May 17, 2026. (John Shearer/Getty Images for ACM)
It was a gamble that could have cost him his shot at stardom.
Instead, Johnson spent the next 10 years building a career on his own terms, playing bars and honky-tonks before becoming one of country music’s biggest stars.
During his interview, Johnson spoke candidly about his rise to fame and the years of work behind his success.
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Long before arena crowds and industry recognition, the singer was a small-town Texas kid who dreamed of becoming a rodeo star.
Country music star Cody Johnson revealed he walked away from a Nashville record-label opportunity after executives pushed him to trade his signature cowboy hat for a baseball cap. (Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
He eventually traded bull riding for music after years of injuries and setbacks and selling CDs in rodeo parking lots as he tried to build a following.
The country star also struggled to believe his ambitions were within reach.
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“Truthfully, in my core, I didn’t feel I was capable of attaining a goal that big, you know, to be a huge country music star, to own a cattle ranch,” Johnson said.
Cody Johnson refused to compromise his cowboy image to satisfy Nashville executives, choosing to build his country music career on his own terms. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
After turning down the label opportunity, he spent years playing small venues, struggling financially and spending long stretches away from his family to keep his career alive.
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“The pressure of knowing that you don’t know how to pay your water bill, and you’ve just been on the road for a month and haven’t seen your wife or your child, and you have nothing to show for it. That’s that’s tough to look in the mirror.”
Country singer Cody Johnson spent a decade performing in bars and honky-tonks before achieving mainstream success without abandoning his traditional cowboy style. (Christopher Polk/Dick Clark Productions via Getty Images)
He continued, “I think that I just had decided at that point that no matter what, no matter how hard, no matter how high the mountain, I will not back down. I will not quit.”
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After a decade of grinding it out as an independent artist, Johnson saw record labels return with another opportunity — this time, he said, without the same demand to change his image.
“I just get to be myself and be authentic,” he said.
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Johnson has built a national following, sold out arenas and earned a place among country music’s leading performers, while keeping the cowboy image he refused to abandon.
He and his wife, Brandi, have been married for more than a decade. They have three children: two daughters and a son.
