Cody Johnson has released his highly anticipated brand new album, Banks of the Trinity. Out today (Friday, June 26), via COJO Music/Warner Music Nashville, this 16-track project finds the country music superstar, 39, looking back on faith, family, and small-town roots.
That reflection finds the reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year remembering his childhood. In fact, long before he was selling out arenas and winning major awards, the Texas native was just a kid riding his bike down a dirt road in Sebastopol, Texas, headed for Lawrence’s Grocery Store — a tiny country stop where locals gathered to swap stories about cattle markets, fishing conditions, and the weather.
That sense of nostalgia is woven into the album’s cover art, which centers on Lawrence’s Grocery Store. For Johnson, the imagery may challenge expectations, as many people assume he grew up on a sprawling cattle ranch. “I love talking about how I was raised because everybody thinks that I grew up on some big cattle ranch,” he said before sharing, “We grew up fishing and hunting for food.”
“I wanted the album… to visually show a little bit more of where I’m from,” he explained of the project before noting the title track. “When you listen to that song, ‘Banks of the Trinity,’ it paints that image of what it was like growing up in a little rural town right there on the Trinity River.”
Johnson vividly remembers Lawrence’s Grocery Store being at the center of the small community.
He said, “Lawrence’s grocery store and Harold Lawrence, everybody called him Hootie. He and his wife, Leela — Sebastopol, Texas, didn’t have a school. We had to drive 30 minutes in any direction to go to one of three schools. There was a church, there was Lawrence’s Grocery Store, and there was an old bar down there by the Trinity River. That’s it. So I would ride my bike two miles down a dirt road to go pick up groceries from that store.”
“My dad baled hay for Mr. Hootie, and later on in life, I wound up baling hay and working cows for Mr. Hootie. And it was just that little place in nowhere, Texas, that while Ms. Leela was bagging up the groceries, he’d sit and listen to old men bi—ch about the weather and talk about whether the fish were biting or the cattle market,” he added. “And Ms. Leela always gave me a free Bluebell ice cream bar and a cream soda. It was just one of those things that when they tore it down, it was a sad day.”
While Banks of the Trinity, produced by longtime collaborator Trent Willmon, draws much of its inspiration from Lawrence’s Grocery Store, the project, Johnson says, isn’t necessarily a “concept record,” but visually and emotionally, it’s rooted in the place that shaped him to become who he is today.
And though a sense of nostalgia flows throughout Banks of the Trinity, Johnson insists there’s something for everybody on the album. Sonically, the collection swings from bluegrass flourishes and honky-tonk swagger to arena-sized choruses and stripped-down storytelling.
Johnson’s musical variety stems from his personal playlists, which jumps from Tejano music to bluegrass, to Motown, and classic country influences.
“I can make this song touch a little bluegrass because I love bluegrass,” he says. “I can make this one touch just a little bit of Motown because I love Etta James.” He adds, “My goal is for you not to get bored listening to this album.”
Lyrically, the project ranges from deeply personal songs about fatherhood and faith to rowdy country tracks made for summer nights. On Banks of the Trinity, Johnson co-wrote “Time Bomb” with Willmon and self-penned the stripped-down “Yippy Ty Oh Hey Hey.” Meanwhile, “Kissing A Married Woman,” written by Beau Bailey, Josh Phillips, Brock Berryhill, and Cole Miracle, is a love song to his wife, Brandi Johnson, whom he married in 2008.
“Cricket On A Hook” leans into Johnson’s laid-back country roots with lyrics about fishing, cold beer, and escaping the stresses of everyday life. “Thank Somebody Country” celebrates rural values and blue-collar America.
One of the more personal tracks on the record is the heartfelt “Bible For A Boy (For Jaycee),” which finds Johnson reflecting on becoming a father to son, Jaycee Daniel Johnson, who was born in October 2025. Cody Johnson and Brandi are also parents to daughters Clara Mae and Cori.
Johnson says “Bible For A Boy” hit him hard before he even knew another child was on the way. “I loved that song before we even knew we were pregnant,” he confirms. “I still have my first Bible.”
Through a father’s lens, the emotional track explores faith and the lessons Johnson hopes to pass down to his son. “When she said it’s a boy, I was like, ‘This is Jaycee’s song. This is for him,” Johnson adds.
Elsewhere on the project, Johnson teams up with Brothers Osborne on “Foolproof” and joins forces with Luke Combs on the lively duet “Shoot The Bull.” With “Yippy Ty Oh Hey Hey,” a raw acoustic track, Johnson recorded the tune on his phone using his grandfather’s 1943 Gibson J-45 guitar.
“I’ve still to this day never written this song down,” he admits. “I recorded it … and that’s what’s on the album. We wanted it to be as raw as possible.”
Then there’s “Horseback,” the album’s current radio single, which showcases Johnson’s signature spoken-word style throughout the verses. “There was a piece of me as a vocalist that I figured out that I could do,” he says of blending talking into his singing style while opening up about “Horseback.”
“I mean all these artists that I admire so much, they talked when they sang…,” he added.
Though Banks of the Trinity follows Johnson’s CMA-winning 2023 album Leather, the new project could’ve been much different. While preparing for the album, he suffered a burst eardrum caused by a sinus and upper respiratory infection. Around the same time, he and Brandi welcomed their son, forcing the singer off the road for three months.
Johnson now says the unexpected pause ultimately changed everything in ways he never could have anticipated. “It would’ve been a completely different album… If you really do have that true faith and that peace of mind, this is not what I planned, so what are you up to up there?” he said, reflecting on how his spirituality led him to question God’s plan.
“And those three months off, I would say that at least a quarter of the songs on this album were in my Dropbox during that time, and getting to slow down a little bit. I’m a slave to the trade. I almost have Stockholm Syndrome with being on the road and going at a certain pace. It was nice to slow down,” he admitted.
“It was nice to breathe and really get back to…,” he said, briefly pausing before comparing his time off from his injury to the pandemic, saying, “I compared a lot to 2020 whenever I thought the world ended and I’m never going to get to play again. And so I went through six months of depression and then six months off. This is really awesome. This is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
He continues, “So [the album] Banks of the Trinity wouldn’t be Banks of the Trinity without those three months, and I thank God for his crazy, weird way of giving me three months off. I thought it was going to be detrimental to my career. This has been one of the greatest years out here on the road of my career. I mean, everything happens for a reason. So I would just say that whenever the bad things happen to you, lean on him and see what he’s up to.”
The album also reflects Johnson’s musical freedom after more than two decades in the business. He says he no longer feels pressure to fit neatly into one lane creatively. “The thing that holds it all together is me,” he explains. “I know who I am.”
Looking back, Johnson believes the hardships he faced growing up helped shape the man he became. He says, “Well, first of all, if I had the opportunity to tell that kid where I am now, I wouldn’t because it might change everything. Hard times make tough men…”
He continued, “And I’m at a point in my career where I’m fixing to turn 39. I’m in the best physical shape of my life [and] I’m in the best mental place of my life. I’m in the best place in my marriage with my kids [and] I’m in the best place financially I’ve ever been, the best place in my career that I’ve ever been. And so I don’t think that any of those good things would be without the way I was raised and not having everything and having to fight for everything…And I wouldn’t have wanted that kid to know where I am now because he might think he has a silver spoon and he’d turned out soft.”
And while he’s already achieved massive success, including multiple platinum No. 1 hits and billions of streams, Johnson says he’s still thinking about what comes next.
Recalling a recent conversation he had with George Strait, Johnson says he asked the country legend, “When does the cowboy ride away?”
“He said, ‘Well, he already did, but he had to come back because it was driving me crazy.’…And he’s like, ‘So I just picked Seven Stadiums. I’m just going to play Seven Stadiums.’ He said, ‘I’m doing it for the love of the game because I love being on the road.’” Johnson continued, “And I thought, when does that happen for me? Is it in five years? Is it in 20 years?…”
For now, Johnson has no plans to slow down. “Maybe I tour till I’m 90 like Willie Nelson,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I’ve always got goals.”
Banks of the Trinity is available now on all streaming platforms and digital retailers. Johnson’s “Cody Johnson Live 2026 Tour” continues through November.
