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Cody Johnson Had To Learn Romance

Cody Johnson has many love songs in his catalog, like his latest Carrie Underwood duet, “I’m Gonna Love You,” but he says that he hasn’t always been a romantic guy….

Cody Johnson poses in a cowboy hat and blue blazer.
Jason Davis/Getty Images

Cody Johnson has many love songs in his catalog, like his latest Carrie Underwood duet, “I’m Gonna Love You,” but he says that he hasn't always been a romantic guy. As Cody recently told us, being romantic is something he had to learn.

Johnson admits that he tries his best. He said, "I’ve been married 15 years, you gotta be. (laugh) I mean, you have to be. I think for…you know, kind of a hardheaded rough around the edges, cowboy. You have to intentionally learn how to be romantic because a lot of the times you, you know, guys like me, you think you’re being romantic, and she’s just going, ‘Jesus.’”

Cody says the true secret to romance is knowing what “love language” to speak to his wife, "I’ve had to really with my wife in particular, really learn her…like what I think might be romantic isn’t, but do the things that she thinks is romantic, you know, like something as simple as, ‘Hey, I ran your bathwater.’ ‘What?’ ‘Yeah, I ran your bath water.’ Ohhh, I just got points. You know something simple. My wife’s very simple, but yeah, and I grew up watching Western movies, and there’s a kind of romanticism about all that, too."

Cody Johnson: His Rise To Fame

Johnson's star has risen quite a bit in the last few years with hit records, sold-out tours, and award wins, including the 2024 CMA Album of the Year Award for his Leather album.

Cody told us recently that he knows the reason for his success. He said, "If it wasn't for Brandi (his wife), I wouldn't be here. I am being dead serious, to say that if it weren't for Brandi, I would probably be dead or in jail."

He added, "She's the woman who encouraged me to be the man I am as a husband, as a father, as a CEO of a company, as a leader. I owe everything I have to that woman. If anyone wants to give any applause, that's the reason."

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.