Cody Johnson Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of Award-Winning Cinematic Documentary "Dear Rodeo"
Platinum-selling COJO Music/Warner Music Nashville recording artist Cody Johnson is observing the one-year anniversary of his award-winning autobiographical documentary film Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story, which was released nationwide on this day one year ago. Since its release the film has received numerous prestigious awards from The Telly Awards, The Wild Bunch Film Festival and The Wild West Film Festival. Watch Cody’s sold-out 2022 appearance HEREfrom RodeoHouston where he performed for 70+ thousand fans and becoming only the third performer ever to sell out opening night following records set by Garth Brooks (in 2018) and George Strait (in 2017).
The film recounts Cody’s real-life journey from the dusty rodeo arenas of rural Texas to some of the biggest musical stages in America. With guest appearances by Reba McEntire, Navy Seal Chris Kyle’s widow Taya (Kyle), Houston Ranch’s James Barton, along with Johnson’s wife Brandi (Johnson), his producer Trent Willmon, his pastor Randy Weaver and his high school teachers, Cody opens up about how his years on the rodeo circuit fortuitously prepared him for his life as a country star.
The cinematic feature-length documentary, directed by Shaun Silva, debuted in 230+ movie theaters nationwide last summer before it was released on Amazon Prime last fall.
Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story takes viewers on the rollercoaster of emotions Cody rode on his journey to success beyond his wildest dreams. The film starts with his first attempts at bull riding in high school - just a rookie, but enough of a hotshot to get on bulls he had no business getting on and learned the hard way that nobody’s gonna pick you up and dust you off. With never-before-seen footage of Cody’s first times on stage during high school Future Farmers of America talent shows, and videos from his countless bull rides, fans will see what it looked like behind the scenes as he was shifting gears. Every emotion he felt over the past 20 years – whether he was standing in the back of the chute at the rodeo or singing about it in front of 75,000 fans – is captured vividly in this film, with all the highs and lows that come from the dreams you cling to and the dreams you ultimately let go.
The doc’s gold-selling title-track song “Dear Rodeo” has garnered nearly 130 million global streams and was praised by media as “a beautiful piece of work” and “The ballad is a path to quickly understanding art and artist — on paper, it's a love letter to an ex named Rodeo that Johnson gave up on years ago after realizing he wasn't good enough to keep her. His sincerity opens the song for anyone to apply their own love and love lost story. As the steel guitar cries and Johnson starts to drive through the final chorus, you may feel the pull of nostalgia in your own way. It's a personal performance that's not saturated.”