Banks Of The Trinity

“I wanted 16 well-rounded songs that all give you a piece of me musically, give you a piece of me personally.” Cody Johnson blurs the lines between traditionalist country and American roots music. At 16 tracks, Cody Johnson’s 10th studio album isn’t exactly compact. Given the country superstar’s tendency toward maximalist double LPs, though, Banks of the Trinity serves as a more cohesive—if also more sonically adventurous—look at CoJo’s take on the country genre, which revels in blurring the lines between traditionalist fare and the broader umbrella of American roots music. “I wanted 16 well-rounded songs that all give you a piece of me musically, give you a piece of me personally, give you the laidback, easy voice of ‘I Want You’ versus some of these other ones like ‘Horseback’ where it’s energetic and up in your face,” Johnson tells Apple Music. “There needs to be a little blues. There needs to be a little Motown. There needs to be a little bit of rock ’n’ roll, a little bluegrass, a little old-school country, a little bit of progressive country.” Highlights on Banks of the Trinity include its title track, on which Johnson gets to wax nostalgic about his East Texas upbringing, and “Bible for a Boy (For Jaycee)”, a tender ballad dedicated to Johnson’s youngest child and only son. Johnson invites a couple of friends to chip in too, as Brothers Osborne join in on “Fool Proof”, with TJ Osborne’s velvety baritone playing nicely off Johnson’s own muscular voice. Luke Combs brings his own vocal prowess to “Shoot the Bull”, an ode to blowing off steam at a dive bar. Below, Johnson shares insight into several key tracks. “Horseback” “It’s a great time. It’s hilarious. It’s fun. It’s really hard to play on the guitar, ironically enough. I didn’t figure that out until we started rehearsing it.” “Banks of the Trinity” “That song just took me back to so many memories I had of fishing on the Trinity River and hunting in those river bottoms. I wanted to express a piece of