Friday night (2/2) Cody Johnson sold out Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

Johnson talked about how much is changed over the years and recalled a time he struggled to fill a 3rd of Lindsley, which is a very small club just down the road in Nashville.

Another story he told was of the first honky tonk he ever played in when he was just 15 years old after sneaking out of his house.

As Cojo told it, he said his parents were asleep on a Saturday night, so he grabbed his guitar and snuck off to the local bar to try and get on stage.

“I was 15 years old, and I got in my truck and I snuck out down to this local bar. It was called 356 Marina, it was just on Lake Livingston there in Texas.

And I snuck in with my guitar in this bar. And a friend of mine’s stepmom was a bartender there, and she let me sit in with the band.

I started playing songs like “Mustang Sally” and a bunch of Stevie Ray Vaughan songs and stuff like that.”

Shockingly, the band gave 15-year-old Cojo a chance to prove himself.

“They said, ‘We’re going to take a break kid, you wanna play some songs?’

‘Heck yeah I can play some songs. Can I play something I wrote?’

Well I got about two songs in and I looked at the back of the bar and there stood my dad.”

To no surprise, Cojo;s parents weren’t to fond of him hanging out in honky tonks, so his dad let him hear about it.

“I grew up in a very religious home. My momma said, ‘Don’t you ever, EVER go out there in them honky tonks and bars and play music for all the devil people.’

My dad looked at me, and he pointed to the parking lot.

I went out in that parking lot, and he whipped me like a grown man for sneaking out of the house and going and playing in that nasty little honky tonk.”

But with the talent Cody Johnson has, it didn’t take long for his parents to come around.

“Two years later my dad was the bass player in the band. He said, ‘You know what? You’re pretty good.’

I said, ‘Yeah I owe you one for that 356 Marina whipping I took. Son of a…”

Photo: Reuters

Source: Whiskey Riff