Ever since Willie Nelson left Nashville in the early 1970s to return to Texas, there's been a large chasm between the "red dirt" country artists working primarily in Texas and Oklahoma and the polished, radio friendly music being produced in Nashville.
Even today, there's a separate country radio chart for Texas stations and the independent country acts that are popular there often get labeled in Nashville as just "regional artists."
East Texas-raised Cody Johnson spent more than a decade in that musical scene and heard the distrust that many Texas country artists had for Nashville record labels.
FILe - This April 7, 2019 file photo shows Cody Johnson at the 54th annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. The Texas-born singer knew there was a lot of distrust of Nashville major record labels among his peers in Texas and Oklahoma. But after a decade as a successful indie artist, Johnson finally signed to Warner Music Nashville and he’s hoping to bridge that cultural divide by straddling the traditional and the modern. (Photo by Jordan StraussInvisionAP, File)
"There were a lot of artists from that era who were probably a bit arrogant in the fact that 'I'm from Texas and I've got this and you're not going to tell me what to do,'" Johnson said. "I think there has been something lost on some guys from Texas that maybe thought they were Willie or Waylon."
Johnson, a former rodeo cowboy turned country singer, wants to bridge that gap by straddling the traditional and the modern, Texas and Nashville, and he's finding an audience his own way.
Warner Music Nashville's executive vice president for A&R Cris Lacy tried to sign Johnson for years, but he kept rejecting their offers. Lacy knew that major labels often got stereotyped as being heavy handed with new artists by changing their sound or forcing they work with certain producers. But she was also trying to overcome a cultural challenge.
"There's so much pride in the Texas music scene because it is so special," Lacy said. "They are very protective of it. And each Texas artist has to think about when they move on to the next step, are they going to alienate the people that believed in them?"
As an independent artist, Johnson released two albums that reached the top 10 without major label support or distribution and sold out the Houston Rodeo with 74,000 tickets. But Johnson knew that he couldn't make the next leap without the support of a label and commercial country radio.
Last year, Johnson a signed a deal with Warner Music Nashville in a 50-50 partnership with his own imprint called CoJo Music. He made it clear that he wanted creative control, including choosing his own producer and songs, owning his own publishing and even deciding how he dressed.
"There were a lot of people that wanted to change a lot about me. This being a huge factor for a lot of people," he said, pointing to his cowboy hat.
His debut as a Warner artist, "Ain't Nothin' To It," hit the top of Billboard's country album chart in January, and his first single from that album, "On My Way To You," peaked at No. 11 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart, his best charting single yet. He's opening up for George Strait and Blake Shelton at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in August. He also opened for Luke Combs, one of country radio's fastest rising stars, on select dates this summer.
Johnson's album reflects the traditional country he idolizes but adds elements of gospel, rock and blues to sound fresh for younger ears. He chose a honky-tonk blues song written by Chris Stapleton, a rocking Charlie Daniels cover, a couple songs about the rodeo, a gospel song and a cover of Roger Miller's "Husbands and Wives."
But Johnson doesn't hold back his opinion of what he considers a bandwagon approach to contemporary country music — replicating over and over what's popular but lacks real creativity.
"It robs your listeners of authenticity," Johnson said. "I don't want to be bubblegum, and I don't care if there's a $50 million signing bonus to be bubblegum. It's not worth it to me."
He knows that he's not going to change the trend of country music back to the traditional sound he grew up listening to, but he's proving there's still a market for that music.
"I think that Warner is breaking new ground and they are giving power to artists who do know who they are," Johnson said.
Online:
www.codyjohnsonmusic.com
Follow Kristin M. Hall at http://twitter.com/kmhall
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Suspected U.S. airstrikes over the weekend targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels killed at least six people, the group said Sunday, while a bombing video posted by U.S. President Donald Trump suggested casualties in the overall campaign may be higher than the rebels acknowledge.
A strike Sunday night in Sanaa, the rebel-held capital of Yemen, hit a house, killing at least four people and wounding 16 others, the Houthis said. Their al-Masirah satellite news channel showed images of the damaged home and people receiving care in a hospital.
The strike on the house in Sanaa's Shu’ub district allegedly targeted a Houthi leader, part of a wider decapitation campaign launched by the Trump administration to kill rebel leaders. The intense campaign of U.S. airstrikes targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters — related to the Israel-Hamas war — has killed at least 73 people, according to casualty figures released by the Houthis.
Earlier Sunday, the Iranian-backed Houthis said other suspected U.S. airstrikes killed at least two people in the rebel stronghold of Saada and wounded nine others. Footage aired by al-Masirah showed a strike collapsing what appeared to be a two-story building. The rebels aired no footage from inside the building, which they described as a solar power shop.
The Houthis have not acknowledged any casualties among their security and military leadership — something challenged after an online video posted by Trump.
Early on Saturday, Trump posted what appeared to be black-and-white video from a drone showing over 70 people gathered in a circle. An explosion detonates during the 25-second video. A massive crater is left in its wake.
“These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack,” Trump claimed, without offering a location or any other details about the strike. “Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis! They will never sink our ships again!”
The U.S. military's Central Command, which oversees Mideast military operations, has not published the video nor offered specific details about the strikes it has conducted since March 15. The White House has said over 200 strikes have targeted the Houthis.
The rebel-controlled SABA news agency in Yemen, citing an anonymous source, described the bombing as targeting “a social Eid visit in Hodeida governorate.” Muslims around the world just celebrated Eid al-Fitr at the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. SABA had published images of other commanders meeting fighters during the holiday, though not any high-level Houthi officials.
“Those present at that gathering had no connection to the operations carried out by the (Houthis), which are implementing the decision to ban navigation on ships linked to the American and Israeli enemy,” the SABA report said, adding that the attack killed and wounded “dozens.”
The Houthis previously have not acknowledged any strike on Hodeida during that time with such a high casualty count. The SABA report also did not describe those killed as civilians, suggesting they did have ties to the rebels' security or military forces. Hodeida has been a site of Houthi attacks into the Red Sea.
Moammar al-Eryani, the information minister for Yemen's exiled government opposing the Houthis, claimed the strike killed some 70 Houthi fighters and leaders, as well as “experts” from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. He offered no evidence for the claim, though Iran has backed the Houthis. Neither the Iranian government nor the Guard has acknowledged the attack.
Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen expert of the Basha Report risk advisory firm, cited social media condolence notices suggesting a colonel overseeing police stations for the Houthis in Hodeida had been killed in the strike Trump highlighted, alongside his two brothers.
“The strikes have expanded significantly, hitting multiple governorates simultaneously, alongside telecommunications infrastructure, command nodes, properties tied to senior Houthi leadership and previously untouched tunnel networks in mountainous areas,” al-Basha told The Associated Press.
“We’ve also seen direct targeting of Houthi force gatherings, indicating a more aggressive and evolving shift in the targeting strategy,” al-Basha said.
An AP review has found the new U.S. operation against the Houthis under Trump appears more extensive than those under former President Joe Biden, as Washington moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel and dropping bombs on cities.
The new campaign of airstrikes started after the rebels threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip. The rebels have loosely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning many vessels could be targeted.
The Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships without success.
The attacks greatly raised the profile of the Houthis, who faced economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting dissent and aid workers in Yemen amid a decadelong stalemated war that has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.
The U.S. campaign shows no signs of stopping, as the Trump administration has linked its airstrikes on the Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
A Yemeni girl visits the graves of Houthis during Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
