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‘I knew that I needed to make a change’ and now things are on track, singer Cody Jinks says
Story by Alan Sculley
• 1w • 5 min read
Cody Jinks flat out says he won’t make another album like his latest effort, “Change The Game.” It’s not that he doesn’t like the album. In fact, in a recent interview, he said he thinks it’s his most complete effort.
He just doesn’t see himself being in the same headspace and place in life again. And he wouldn’t want to relive the changes and struggles that are reflected in the new songs.
“This record, I was working on myself personally, exorcising some personal demons and trying to live better, live healthier, be a better husband, be a better father — and that translates into being a better boss and putting on a better show,” Jinks said. “When you’re happy and healthy in your head and in your heart, that goes a long way. Continue reading
“So a lot of that, a lot of reflective stuff, the album’s pretty heavy and I was getting a lot of things out that I knew I needed to get out in order to turn that page, to start a new chapter. You know, I’m not going to have another record like ‘Change the Game.’ It was too heavy.”
Jinks found himself, after the pandemic hit, stepping away from the touring grind for the first time in 15 years and being at home with his wife, Rebecca, and family. And he had time to take stock of his personal and professional life.
“This record, I was working on myself personally, exorcising some personal demons and trying to live better, live healthier, be a better husband, be a better father — and that translates into being a better boss and putting on a better show,” Jinks said. “When you’re happy and healthy in your head and in your heart, that goes a long way.
“So a lot of that, a lot of reflective stuff, the album’s pretty heavy and I was getting a lot of things out that I knew I needed to get out in order to turn that page, to start a new chapter. You know, I’m not going to have another record like ‘Change the Game.’ It was too heavy.”
Jinks found himself, after the pandemic hit, stepping away from the touring grind for the first time in 15 years and being at home with his wife, Rebecca, and family. And he had time to take stock of his personal and professional life.
Jinks didn’t go into detail about the personal issues he confronted, beyond quitting drinking and smoking. But he’s living now with a clear head and a better outlook.
“It really came down to my mental well-being. I wasn’t in a good place mentally. I knew that I needed to make a change,” Jinks said. “I didn’t know exactly what changes I needed to make or how to go about it. Setting some things down was probably a great place to start. But really, I looked at my daughter one day. She’s a teenager now. I just had one of those internal conversations you have with yourself. I was sitting there, I was like ‘oh my gosh, dude, in the next decade I have to be a grandfather. I need to slow down.’ ”
There were also issues with his music career, even though he was playing the biggest venues of his career and finally beginning to get songs played on country radio, which for years had resisted his outlaw country sound. But Jinks decided to go completely independent, manage his own career and set up his own record label with a new distribution partnership.
“Let me put it like this,” Jinks said, addressing the reasons he decided to self manage and change major aspects of his business operation. “A year ago if you had asked me ‘Do you think you’ve hit the ceiling professionally,’ more than likely I would have said ‘Probably,’ which is fine and great, and where I’ve been the last few years on a professional level has been nothing short of amazing and such a blessing to have had the career that I’ve had thus far. But I just kind of thought that we were at that cap. You know, I was like man, we’ve kind of hit our ceiling and stuff like that. I was just going through some things with my organization and feeling like I needed to make some changes.”
Jinks’ tour schedule for 2024, including a performance Saturday at Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena, backed up his belief that things are on track with his career. He’s played a healthy mix of headlining dates at outdoor amphitheaters and arenas, co-headlining shows and some stadium shows opening for Luke Combs.
He said he’ll probably play three songs or so off of “Change The Game” in his shows – including the first three singles from the album, “Outlaws and Mustangs,” “Sober Thing” and the title track. He’s also been bringing out his biggest visual production at venues that can accommodate his stage set.
“We have a really cool stage set up for this year,” Jinks said. “I say I grew up in honky-tonk bars. My mom and dad ran a honky-tonk bar so I love them. That’s where I came from. It’s where I cut my teeth. I’m comfortable in a smoky old bar room roadside bar or tavern. So me and my production manager and my day-to-day manager got together and I said ‘Man, y’all have fun with it.’ They went to a set designer in Nashville and they put me together a bar. So we made the stage look like a honky-tonk bar. And it’s cool as hell, man.”
Jinks isn’t exaggerating when he says he cut his musical teeth in bars. A native of Fort Worth, he began playing guitar at age 16 and soon started a heavy metal band, Unchecked Aggression, that went on to release an album, “The Massacre Begins,” in 2002 before breaking up about a year later.
After taking a year away from music, Jinks shifted gears and started playing country music, and in 2008, he self released his first country album, “Cast No Stones,” the first of his 10 solo albums. Along the way, Jinks built his career the hard way, with lots of touring and a substantial financial commitment.
Jinks credits his wife, Rebecca, with helping him keep the faith even as his debt mounted to more than six figures and there was no guarantee his music career would work out.
“As long as she believed in me, I believed in me,” he said. “That’s really why I do credit her with so much because we’ve been together since we were 16 years old and she’s seen everything in this business, she’s in this business. I mean, she’s lived it with me. She’s lived every single bit of it. She helps me run everything. She’s a tough, tough lady.”
Things began to gain momentum with Jinks’ 2015 gold-certified album, “The Adobe Sessions,” and his audience kept growing as he released such recent efforts as “After The Fire” and “The Wanting” (issued a week apart in October 2019) and “Mercy” (2021). And with “Change the Game,” Jinks has firmly established himself within the country mainstream and as an arena headliner – all while remaining an independent artist.
“In the credits on the record I thank (producer) Ryan Hewitt and his staff and my band and crew because that was such a vulnerable record,” Jinks said.
“There were several different times during the making of the record where there were tears shed, and I’m not just talking about me. It was a heavy experience for all of us, and everybody who was a part of that record, really in my mind, got to be a part of something really special because of how vulnerable it really was.”