ProRodeo Sports News - March 19, 2021

ache, like I was homesick,” Lovell said. “When I heard that song before Round 10, it triggered something for me. It made me realize the situation that I had in front of me, and I didn’t want to let it slip away again. Winning the world was a huge relief for me. This is where I wanted to be and to get there, words don’t describe it.” DOCUMENTING A SONG Johnson will give fans a deeper look into his life and career with the upcoming documentary “Dear Rodeo,” which includes his duet partner, country superstar Reba McEntire. In the trailer, Johnson reminisces about dreaming of being a cowboy. “My younger years, I wanted to ride bulls,” Johnson told ProRodeo Sports News . “I was very set on having those gold buckle dreams. I poured my heart into it, but at the end of the day it was not what I was meant to do. I got a little bit done here and there, but I wasn’t like my friends who were meant to do it. When I had to give it up, it really made me jaded. It made me bitter because I hated failure. I didn’t realize that failure is really what made me draw and drive toward music. “I thought about Colby’s story and realized if I hadn’t gone through the failure of bull riding and turned to music and demanded to be a cowboy and kept roping and riding then it wouldn’t have made it into my music and I wouldn’t have written that song and it wouldn’t have impacted Colby that way. That’s a bigger picture of ‘Dear Rodeo’ than my failure of bull riding.” The documentary is about Johnson’s journey from hopeful PRCA cowboy to successful country music star. “The ‘Dear Rodeo’ documentary is about perspective,” Johnson said. “I wanted to put it out because I wanted people to see that before all the bright lights and the big Cody Johnson shows there was just a kid who wanted to be a ProRodeo cowboy. My dream was shattered. After a while I laid down and let that failure define me. The story behind the documentary is the perspective of

failure. Failure doesn’t have to define you. I want people to realize that failure is what opened the door for so many great opportunities for me. To put it very simply, God’s plan is a lot better than mine.” Johnson was 16 when he started getting on bulls. “After high school I competed in some minor league (associations), and I was so far in over my head it was ridiculous, but I just didn’t have any quit,” Johnson said. “I didn’t have a lot of guidance. I didn’t have anyone to tell me to take a few steps back and focus on training. I just got in the car and paid my money and held on as good as I could. I wanted to be a bull rider so bad it ate me up. I wanted to be Tuff Hedeman.” With time, Johnson realized his thought process was misguided. “I used to think when I was a kid (being a bull rider) was what was going to make me a cowboy,” he said. “I really felt like I had something to prove. Now I’m 34 years old and I’m roping next week at the Lazy E (in Guthrie, Okla.). I’ve been fortunate enough to win a buckle at the Fort Worth Cutting Futurity. I don’t have to prove to anybody I’m a cowboy, but back then I was so young, immature and insecure. I thought I had to (be a bull rider) to be considered a cowboy.” NFR TIES Bareback rider Richmond Champion, a six-time NFR qualifier, has known Johnson for years. He gave Johnson one of his go-round-win buckles in 2019 as a token of appreciation. Johnson has displayed that buckle on his bus. Champion’s brother, Doug, also has been Johnson’s personal trainer for five years. “I’m super happy for Cody and his success,” Champion said. “He’s still just a good ol’ boy who loves hunting and fishing. He’s down to Earth and nothing has changed at all with him since we first met, and he was just making albums at his house. He’s a really good guy and a great ambassador for rodeo, the Western life and country music.” Johnson played at the Gold

Buckle round-winner ceremony seven consecutive years at the South Point in Las Vegas. “You have all PRCA guys there, and it was like a once-a- year family reunion,” Johnson said. Johnson grew up in Lake Livingston, Texas, 30 minutes fromHuntsville, where Johnson has lived since he was 18. “I wanted to be a rodeo cowboy and it took me a while to realize that what I was born with is music,” Johnson said. “God gave me the talent to play music, to sing and entertain on stage and by not pursuing that dream that I was really disrespecting the talent he had given me. “After riding bulls, I didn’t have anything to define who I was, so I started playing in bars and started a band. It started as an every-Saturday-night thing. Then it turned into every Friday and Saturday night. Then, here we are 15 years later. The full- circle moment is when you have big rodeo stars on your bus, and they tell you it would be cool to do what you do.”

Jay Trevino photo Country singer Cody Johnson enjoys roping in his spare time and has become a staple performer at the Wrangler NFR the last several years.

ProRodeo Sports News 3/19/2021

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