Not something I thought I would be hearing today.
If you’re listening to good country music, or if you attended Luke Combs’ last tour, you probably know who Cody Jinks is by now. But of course, if you’ve been following Whiskey Riff since 2016, you definitely know who Cody Jinks is… we’ve covered him extensively for years.
He’s a modern-day outlaw country artist in every sense of the word, and one of the genre’s most prominent independent artists. With his unique country sound, powerful songwriting, and unwavering grit and determination, Cody has built a massively successful career in country music, completely outside of Nashville. No country radio play, no awards shows, no label, no nothing… just good music and hard work. He built his reputation the old fashioned way… brick by brick, fan by fan, hammering honky tonks across the country… and he’s perhaps the only one whose ever done it to this level of success. The ONLY one…
Recently, he sat down on the Jarrod Morris Vibe podcast for a long conversation about his career and the music industry as a whole. But one moment stood out-when he opened up about the massive respect he has for Luke Combs after getting an invite on the road with him.
He broke it down in the most Cody Jinks way possible:
“Last year, when Luke Combs asked us to go to that stadium tour with us, we were playing with a bunch of bands I really like. We met Haley Whitters, she’s she’s very sweet. Wilder Blue, which that’s Paul Eason and Zane Williams, I know both of those guys 20 years. I mean, friends with those guys. Charles Wesley Godwin, I have been friends with him on a personal level. But Luke’s one of those ones where people like ‘you’re on a stadium tour with Luke Combs? That’s big Nashville…'”
I was like, ‘Do you realize how big a set of balls Luke Combs has asking me to run direct support on a stadium tour? Do you understand in Nashville the ripples that created? People going, ‘Holy crap, he’s taking Jinks with him?’ For 2 reasons A). We’re normally gonna blow anybody off the stage we go before, and everybody knows that, and we lost a lot of opening gigs because of it. He said, ‘I don’t care, I want that guy out on the road with me cause he’s badass.’
And he freakin’ put his money where his mouth is. We got paid more than any other direct support opener I’ve ever even heard of in my life. He flat out told me “Dude, anything you need, anything you want, we are so glad you are here.’ His whole crew was that way. Just a gentleman and he’s super kind. That’s as big in Nashville, guys, as you can get, you know? No dude, I love that guy. That guy went out on a limb for me. You go out on a limb for me, bro, and I’m the dog that don’t go away.”
Man, what a ringing endorsement for Luke Combs from one of the best artists in this business. Everyone in the industry says Luke Combs is good people, and this is all the proof you need.
But Jinks said the tour exposed a whole new audience to his kind of music, which was a big win for independent artists like himself. Luke Combs has a history of taking out really artists that you might not expect, artists outside the Nashville music machine… and it’s paid off for him.
That part starts around 1 hour, 8-minute mark, but that’s just a small portion of the conversation. Watch the full podcast here:
Jinks was also on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast recently, so check out that full conversation when you get a chance too:
If you missed him on the tour with Combs, don’t worry, he’s still out on the road, doing what he does best.
Cody Jinks Tour Dates
MARCH 14 – Mahalia Jackson Theatre of Performing Arts – New Orleans, LA
MARCH 20 – Houston Rodeo – Houston, TX
APRIL 6 – Tortuga Music Festival – Fort Lauderdale, FL
MAY 2 – Lone Star Smokeout – Arlington, TX
MAY 29 – Central Bank Downtown Live – Columbia, MO (w/ Tanner Usrey)
MAY 30 – FirstBank Amphitheater – Franklin, TN (w/ Tanner Usrey)
MAY 31 – Railbird Festival – Lexington, KY
JUNE 5 – Meridian Centre – St. Catharines, ON (w/ Ward Davis)
JUNE 6 – Coca-Cola Coliseum – Toronto, ON (w/ Ward Davis)
JUNE 7 – Place Bell – Laval, QC (w/ Ward Davis)
JUNE 26 – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheatre – Nampa, ID (w/ Tanner Usrey)
JUNE 27 – Mountain America Center – Idaho Falls, ID (w/ Tanner Usrey)
JUNE 28 – Ford Wyoming Center – Casper, WY (w/ Tanner Usrey)
JULY 4 – Abbotsford Centre – Abbotsford, BC (w/ Ward Davis)
JULY 5 – Prospera Place – Kelowna, BC (w/ Ward Davis)
JULY 10 – Hard Rock Live – Wheatland, CA
JULY 11 – Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys – Stateline, NV (w/ Tanner Usrey)
JULY 12 – Greek Theatre UC Berkeley – Berkeley, CA (w/ Tanner Usrey)
JULY 17 – Accesso ShoWare Center – Kent, WA (w/ Tanner Usrey)
JULY 18 – Fairwell Festival – Redmond, OR
JULY 19 – Northern Quest Amphitheater – Airway Heights, WA (w/ Tanner Usrey)
JULY 26 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO
AUGUST 7 – Stone Pony Summer Stage – Asbury Park, NJ (w/ Shane Smith & The Saints)
AUGUST 8 – The Met Philadelphia – Philadelphia, PA (w/ Shane Smith & The Saints)
AUGUST 9 – Pier Six Pavilion – Baltimore, MD (w/ Tanner Usrey)
AUGUST 11 – The Dome – Virginia Beach, VA (w/ Shane Smith & The Saints)
AUGUST 13 – The Rooftop at Pier 17 – New York, NY (w/ Shane Smith & The Saints)
AUGUST 15 – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater – Bridgeport, CT (w/ Tanner Usrey)
AUGUST 16 – Leader Bank Pavilion – Boston, MA (w/ Tanner Usrey)
AUGUST 17 – Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview – Syracuse, NY (w/ Tanner Usrey)
SEPTEMBER 10-13 – Born and Raised Festival – Pryor, OK
SEPTEMBER 18 – Lauridsen Amphitheater at Water Works Park – Des Moines, IA (w/ Tanner Usrey)
SEPTEMBER 19 – Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park – Indianapolis, IN (w/ Tanner Usrey)
SEPTEMBER 20 – Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre – Youngstown, OH (w/ Tanner Usrey)
Jinks also recently released a brand new single titled “Put The Whiskey Down,” so if you need an intro to the Texas native, gas up this honky tonk heater ASAP:
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