Young Cody Johnson Belts Out ‘Pray for Rain’ to an Empty Bar in 2011, WOW
Cody Johnson will join country music super star Luke Combs on his world tour in '23. They'll play stadiums and arenas on a couple different continents next year -- but it's videos like this that remind you CoJo has always brought "it," to every show big or small, like this one in Katy, TX.
Johnson has been busy. He spent last summer playing inside stadiums with Luke Combs and Zac Brown Band, and he scored another radio hit with the title track off his latest album, Human.
A little earlier this year, he landed that first No. 1 Billboard Country Single. His inspirational "Til You Can't" topped the Billboard Country chart in January, becoming the East Texan's first, in what we assume will be a long line of chart toppers.
Not too long after becoming just the third act in RODEOHOUSTON history to sell out Opening Night, etching his name alongside a very exclusive list that includes just Garth Brooks and George Strait when he kicked of RODEOHOUSTON with a sold out show.
Back in January, Cody Johnson landed the No. 1 Country album when Ain't Nothin' To It debuted. The Texas native moved 34,500 total units, including 23,000 copies in pure album sales his first week. That along with 12 million songs streams took Johnson to No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, and landed him No. 1 on the all-genre Digital Album Sales chart -- this means he sold more complete-album downloads than any other act. Additionally, Johnson landed at No. 2 on the all-genre Album Sales Chart.
I share all that to say, everyone has got to start somewhere. Check out this video of 2011 Johnson singing inside a sparsely filled bar in Katy, Texas. He is absolutely belting his future No. 1 hit "Pray for Rain" to, for all intents and purposes, a bunch of bar stools -- with a little help from James Lann.
Shout out to YouTuber Doug Johnson for this one.