Cody Johnson Is So Thankful To Play For Fans In Australia

Cody Johnson is currently opening shows for Luke Combs in New Zealand and Australia with dates through August 26, when they wrap up the tour with a show in Perth, Australia. This is Cody's first trip "Down Under," and while he'd love to make it a family trip, his focus is going to be on making sure he'd giving his Australian fans the best shows possible.

Johnson told us before he left for the adventure, "You know, my wife and my two daughters were going to come by at some point, and I was like, 'Look, this is going to be set up shop, play two days in a row, get on a train, go down the road, set up shop, play two or three days in a row, get on a train or plane or bus and go do it again.' It's pretty much work."

While working hard, he was still excited before going about the fans there waiting to hear him sing live. He told us, "We know that those people are there, and you'll be able to see the genuine thankfulness on my face whenever I get there, and I hear those people singing words to songs I wrote cause, I mean, as an artist, that's what you do it for."

On Friday (8/11), Cody will release a new song called "The Painter." He told us, "'The Painter' is one of those songs that I felt best described in and of itself, what I think country music should sound like. Kind of reminds me of 'Gentle On My Mind' (Glen Campbell song from 1967)."

Johnson added, "It really expresses how grateful we should be for those people in our lives that affect us to see all the colors and to have all the happiness."

The lyrics of the soon-to-be-released song include, "I don't remember / Life before she came to the picture / Brought the beauty I was missing with her / Showed me colors I ain't ever seen / She took chances / With every wall that I built, she saw the canvas / I thank God every day for how He made her / My life is black and white, but she's the painter."

Cody Johnson has been making waves in country music in the last few years and has been taking home some awards including winning the Single of the Year award at the 2022 CMA Awards for his 'Till You Can't." He also won a 2023 CMT Music Award for Performance of the Year.

Cody recently announced during a CMT nominations special earlier this month, that he will be releasing a 24-track double album, titled Cody Johnson: Leather. And the new project will feature a duet with Carrie Underwood. He revealed this when he was asked what it was like to compete with Underwood for a CMT Award. "I actually just recorded a duet with her yesterday for my new album coming out. And getting to know her — man, she's such a pro and everybody that she surrounds herself with are all very professional, as well. I don't mean this to sound bad, but it's kind of hard to compete with that."

The new album will be Johnson's second consecutive double album, as his October 2021 project, Human, was also a two-disc project with 18 tracks.

As Cody continues his climb in country music, heading for superstar status, we take a look at the last couple of years of this Texas country star's life in Nashville and beyond.