Cody Cozz Finds Wisdom in the Whiskey Glass With “Things We Learn In A Bar”

All Country News
Oct 3
3 min read

Sometimes the best songs don’t come from carefully planned writing rooms or calculated pitch meetings, they come from life’s unpolished, unguarded moments. For rising country artist Cody Cozz, inspiration struck not in Nashville’s bustling Music Row but in a near-empty bar, where an old man’s reflections on love, loss, and the fleeting glory days sparked what would become his new single, “Things We Learn In A Bar.”

A Barstool Epiphany

“It was one of those days where the write just wasn’t clicking,” Cozz recalls. Frustrated, he ducked into a local spot to grab a bite. The place was quiet, empty, really save for a weathered veteran perched at the bar, talking to a young bartender like he had all the time in the world.

Cozz leaned in, not out of rudeness but curiosity. “He talked about his wife, who he’d lost years ago, about his glory days with friends, about mistakes he’d made. The core of what he was saying was simple: live a good life while you can.”

That simple, serendipitous exchange planted the seed for “Things We Learn In A Bar,” a song that captures the quiet lessons tucked between clinking glasses and barroom chatter.

Lessons Poured Straight Up

For Cozz, the bar isn’t just a backdrop for honky-tonk anthems and heartbreak ballads, it’s a classroom of sorts. “You never know why someone’s there,” he explains. “They could be celebrating, or they could be carrying the weight of something heavy.”

He remembers his own teenage crash course in barroom wisdom, sitting with his dad and his buddies as they passed down rough-around-the-edges relationship advice about his high school sweetheart. “At the time, I thought they were crazy,” Cozz laughs.

“But looking back, maybe I should’ve listened.”

It’s that blend of humor and hindsight, finding growth in the stumbles that gives the song its heartbeat. “I hope people hear it and have that moment of reflection too,” he says.

Writing From the Outside In

Unlike some songwriters who crack open their own diaries for material, Cozz thrives on telling other people’s stories. “I love writing songs about things I’ve heard people say,” he explains. “Sometimes it’s easier for me to tell someone else’s story than even my own.”

That outsider’s lens helped him distill the veteran’s wisdom into a track that feels universal, upbeat enough to get a crowd moving but layered with the kind of grit that makes you pause between verses. “We all laugh at what we did when we were younger,” Cozz says. “But it’s that hindsight that shows us how far we’ve come.”

The Authenticity Curve

As Cozz reflects on his own career, he admits the hardest lesson hasn’t come from a bar, but from the industry itself. “Early on, people fall in love with your genuine self because that’s all you know how to be,” he says. “But then the comparison game kicks in, and you start hearing from industry folks about what you should sound like or how you should be.”

Ironically, the detour away from authenticity only pushed him back toward it. “At the end of the day, being yourself even if it’s just for a million people in a world of eight billion is enough. That’s a lot of people who could relate.”

A Hero’s Heart

More than just a new single, “Things We Learn In A Bar” feels like a turning point for Cozz. “I’m tired of writing for what I think people are going to like,” he admits. “I want to write songs that I’m proud of, songs that move people.”

It’s a mission rooted in service. Once upon a time, Cozz thought he’d become a surgeon, driven by a desire to help people. Now, he sees music as a different kind of healing. “I realized I can still help people, it’s just with words and with music. Not everybody has to be the outlaw or the bad guy. I want to try to be the hero for someone who needs it.”

And with “Things We Learn In A Bar,” Cody Cozz may have already stepped into that role, turning a quiet moment of eavesdropped wisdom into a song that reminds us all that growth, joy, and second chances are just one barstool conversation away.

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