The beauty of live music. When it comes to Cody Johnson, we all know at this point that he’s willing to go the extra mile to give fans the best experience he possibly can from show to show and album to album. Of course, his track record already proves this with multiple CMA, ACM and Nashville Songwriters Awards over the past few years, notably his recent Male Vocalist of the Year win last month at the CMAs, and continued placement among the genre’s most elite stars at festivals, award shows and the like. However, when you talk about Cody Johnson, you have to discuss his live shows. Like many country artists, the “‘Til You Can’t” singer’s bread and butter is his live shows. And while some of his contemporaries, such as Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan, focus heavily on spectacle, complete with pyrotechnics, fireworks and more, Johnson’s pack a punch more so with his passion and attention to detail. I’m sure you’ve seen clips at some point while scrolling through Instagram or TikTok of Johnson’s passionate, patriotic speeches before diving into a plethora of his smash hits over the years. While it should go without saying that they always leave you wanting more in the best way possible, the question of “How does he always nail these performances and speeches?” hangs in the minds of many, myself included. Shockingly, Johnson recently revealed that a majority of what you see at one of his concerts aren’t actually rehearsed during soundchecks and practices… at least not as frequently as one would think. In an interview with popular music festival, Country Thunder’s, podcast, the “Dirt Cheap” singer sat down with host, Troy Vollhoffer, to discuss everything from his upcoming album, his passion for rodeo and, of course, his live shows. Discussing his preparation for shows, Johnson would note that he actually only runs through his normal set of songs for any given tour two times at the max early in the year. After that, it’s just all off the cuff. And since Johnson thankfully doesn’t use any backing tracks, sometimes it’s simply up to the other musicians in the band to do their own thing during some breaks in the show. “A lot of our show, we don’t rehearse. We rehearse the beginning of the year, especially when there’s a new stage and a new album — probably two days max. 98% of what you see on stage is stuff that just happens. I’ll just do something, and it worked. And we all kind of look at each other because we don’t run tracks, and we’re like, ‘That was great!’ And then I’ll just do it the next night. And sometimes I’ll do it a completely different way. The other night, for some reason, I thought my drummer during the solos said, ‘Let’s go.’ And I introduced him and ran off stage. They had eight bars of ‘What do we do?’ And they made this cool, on the cuff, just vamp into this drum solo. And I said, ‘Sorry.’ He goes, ‘It actually turned out pretty well.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, let’s just keep doing that then.'” Obviously, this has a lot to do with the his overall dedication to authenticity throughout each and every one of his live shows. And for the Texas native, it’s small, unrehearsed moments throughout the show that allows him time to reflect on where he came from while looking out into his massive crowds. “It is real. Sometimes you’ll see me kinda choke up about things, and that’s me on stage looking out at sometimes anywhere from 13 to 30 to 75,000 people. All the hard times are playing in my head, and that’s what kind of keeps me going.” With that being said, however, it’s not like Johnson doesn’t do his due diligence when it comes to pointing out what works and what doesn’t, even if a majority of the show isn’t outright rehearsed. In another recent interview with Luke Branquinho, a five-time World Champion Steer Wrestler and a 14-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier, on his podcast, The Luke Branquinho Show, Johnson revealed that the source of his live-show success is his incredible attention to detail and ultimately his self-critical nature, likening his live shows to rodeo runs and noting how he likes to watch the film back afterwards to pick up on mistakes. “I treat it just like a rodeo run, too. I want to watch the film. How could I have been better? How could I have been faster? You know, did I jump the steer too early? Did I wait too long? You know, how was my score? I treat it like that, where on Friday night, everybody’s like, ‘Man, that’s a great show.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I left that on the table. I screwed that up. I got lost here. You know, I felt like I could have done this better.’ So the very next night, Saturday night, I come out with a different type of aggression. I’m not going to make those same mistakes, even though nobody saw the mistakes. It doesn’t matter. You don’t get the gold buckles or Entertainer of the Year without worrying about those things.” Though it still hasn’t resulted in an Entertainer of the Year win yet, it seems as if it’s bound to happen at some point, especially when you consider his recent Male Vocalist of the Year at this year’s CMA Awards and the large tour he’s set to embark on throughout 2026. Listen to the full podcast here: Cody Johnson Tour Dates February 6-7 – Birmingham, Alabama – Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex February 13 – Champaign, Illinois – State Farm Center February 14 – Louisville, Kentucky – KFC Yum! Center February 27 – Winston-Salem, North Carolina – LJVM Coliseum February 28 – Columbia, South Carolina – Colonial Life Arena March 6 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – PPG Paints Arena March 7 – Baltimore, Maryland – CGF Bank Arena March 22 – Houston, Texas – Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo March 28 – Little Rock, Arkansas – Simmons Bank Arena April 10 – Bossier City, Louisiana – Brookshire Grocery Arena April 24 – Indio, California – Stagecoach May 2 – Clemson, South Carolina – Death Valley (Clemson Stadium) May 9 – Des Moines, Iowa – Casey’s Corner May 30 – Rosemont, Illinois – Allstate Center July 11 – Cavendish, Prince Edward Island – Cavendish Beach Music Festival July 17-18 – Columbus, Ohio – Nationwide ArenaThe post Cody Johnson Says Most Of His Live Shows Aren’t Rehearsed – “98% Of What You See On Stage Is Stuff That Just Happens” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.