I think my brand of country music is that's been influenced by not just the rough-stock rodeo side or Ted Nugent's "let's get crazy style", but also the stand-up and sing style's like George Strait and Merle Haggard, and also the wild side of Chris Ledoux

It's really helped a ton in the sense that we get to reach people who don't normally know our music. At least once a night at a show someone will come up to the merch table after the show and say they've never heard of me but they saw me on Troubadour, TX, and it reminds me that I'm not Elvis and anything I can do to get my name out there is beneficial in every way.

Ultimately, these fans that we're blessed enough to have, the ones who pay money for tickets to come see us live, that's the bread and butter. That's the basis of what this is. Before I ever had the chance to record an album, the live show is what it's been about.

In the back of my mind, I want it to do well, but at the end of the day I literally just got down on my knees and prayed - "However you want this thing to go lord, let it go that way." Low and behold, it did what it did and it's doing what it's doing. I'm just trying to sit in the saddle on this deal, just trying to stay on board!

My publishing deal is out of Nashville, my management is split between Nashville and Texas, but we are also getting to play eight other states as well as Canada and Europe this year. I don't want to pigeon-hole myself. When people ask me if I'm Texas or Nashville, I tell them I am just Cody Johnson.

As far as the persona, I'm true to myself. Not because I'm arrogant, but I'm true to myself because I believe that you have to stand for something. When you start sacrificing that, even if it's just a line in a song or something you say on the mic at a show, or the way you treat someone when you see them out in public, that all reflects on who you are.

I am who I am and I don't think you can put a label on it.