Cody Johnson built his life on rodeos, prison shifts, and country music, then a ruptured eardrum stopped him cold and forced him to face a very different kind of silence.
Every remaining 2025 tour date went away, along with a huge Las Vegas finale and a dream CMA Awards performance.
For a man who once rode bulls and worked as a prison guard, sitting still felt worse than pain. He has admitted he was angry, restless, and worried about what this meant for his career and for CoJo Nation.
Then something very simple and very real started to happen. While the speakers stayed off, his house stayed loud. A newborn son, Jaycee Daniel. Two daughters, Clara Mae and Cori. Family dinners. Bedtime stories. Little moments that are easy to miss when you are racing from city to city.
Cody has said more than once that “Till You Can’t” is not just a lyric. It is a way to live. This forced reset turned that idea into his daily life.
Cody Johnson’s gruesome eardrum injury: finding gratitude in the pain and anguish of recovery
After hearing about the “forced reset” and the blessings in his silence, it helps to see just how serious things really were. The Texas newscast breaking the story of Cody’s medical emergency lays out the hard facts behind the pause: his own statement to fans, the doctor’s warning about permanent damage, and the long list of cities that lost their shows.
Texas country artist Cody Johnson cancels tour after medical emergency
Before the arenas and awards, he rode bulls and worked as a prison guard, spending long days on horseback watching over inmates. That life shaped a kind of toughness most people never see up close. Hearing him talk about those years shows why this ear injury cut so deep, and why admitting he was hurting meant so much.