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♪♪
[MUFFLED CROWD NOISE]
[CODY] Dreams are funny things.
As a kid, one's boundless imagination is inspired by the notion that
we're invincible and anything is possible.
Our childhood super heroes confirm those notions for a while
with super powers that ultimately vanish
in the face of our world's unavoidable realities.
But the dream doesn't go away
because we see living, breathing heroes in this world
-who accomplish great things. -[ANNOUNCER] Oh, strike 3. There's 300.
[CODY] With God given gifts and talents.
[ANNOUNCER] Hakeem Olajuwon showing...
[CODY] Sharpened by courage
wisdom and a passion for never giving up.
[MAN] My God Woodrow you just don't ever get the point do you.
It ain't dying I'm talking about. It's livin'.
[CODY] So then why not me? Why not my dream?
What if it's not even up to me?
What if my dream is just the road to a greater calling?
A destination
that not even I could have ever imagined.
[CODY] This place looks so different now.
This was where I pulled up right back here for my very first high school rodeo
and I was nervous.
[LAUGHS]
♪♪
The minute that I went to my first high school rodeo here in this arena,
I fell in love with the whole show, the whole thing.
And I just wanted to be a part of it someway, somehow.
Lookin' back on it now, I think the bull was just a representation
of something I was lookin' for and I didn't know then that
all that was going to lead to the things I've done now.
♪♪
[CODY] When I was a kid, I wanted to be the Lone Ranger.
Like I've always had those figures, like Gus McCray from Lonesome Dove,
John Wayne. That's what I want to be, you know,
I wanna be that when I grow up
because he's always the good guy.
He's always the larger than life guy that walks into the room.
[REBA] Well I always thought everyone wanted to be a cowboy or a cowgirl.
It's a way of life that's very romantic.
It's honesty. It's mother nature.
It's what God gave you.
[MAN] I always wanted to be a cowboy. I think everybody
secretly dreams of being a cowboy.
No matter where they're from.
[TRENT] The American cowboy is an icon.
It's part of who we are. Our identity as Americans.
[JAMES] It's something that is deep inside all of us to some degree.
A cowboy is somebody that takes pride in their work
and has a lot of integrity in what they do.
[MAN] But it's tough and it's hard.
And the country is tough and you got be just a little bit rougher.
[TRENT] We have this unique ability
to dream whatever we want to dream.
Nobody can tell us what we can't dream and chase.
At the same time, nobody's gonna pick us up and dust us off.
We gotta do that ourselves.
[MAN] Every cowboy enjoys being able to work in nice lookin' country.
Every cowboy enjoys the scenery, and the sunrises and the sunsets.
[TAYA] I think there's a lot about being a cowboy that's wholesome.
And there's you know the rodeo world, the comradery, the community.
It's something in and of itself. It's different than you find anywhere else.
[CODY] All I knew was what I wanted to be.
I think often times a cowboy is not something you do as much as
who you really are inside.
♪♪
[CODY] I grew up in a place where you could ride your bike
a mile to the store and your parents didn't have to worry about you.
I think if somebody was to write a
story about the countryest little quintessential
upbringing, that's pretty much what I had.
♪♪
My Mom and Dad taught me everything about music in church.
My Dad played the piano literally like Floyd Cramer. It was beautiful.
We would sit around the piano and they would make me sing the harmony parts first
and then I would have to sing the harmony parts of the song with nobody else singing
and it's really shaped me.
I can't read music. I don't read guitar tabs,
but that basis and that foundation of music was laid by my parents
and that we just sang gospel in church.
My Dad worked for the prison system here in Texas and
I can make the joke 'cause their my family, but in my family
you either worked for the prison or you go to prison,
but there's a few exceptions here and there.
You know he went to work with a gun belt on and spurs
and chaps and I always thought that there was kind of
a little bit of a badass factor to that.
He did sit on a horse all day and work those guys in the field
and he had to be a horseman but I don't think
even he would tell you that he's a cowboy.
[CODY] The first cowboy that I had my own personal contact with,
that personally influenced me was my AG teacher Larry Fortenberry.
His whole family ranch rodeoed and he was the one that saw it in me.
You're a cowboy son. Make no doubt about it.
You just need somebody to guide you.
You just need some help.
I told him I wanted to ride bulls in high school rodeo
and he said, "Absolutely!" And he got me all the paperwork. That was that.
♪♪
[CODY] I had the opportunity to go to Mike King's house in Pumpkin, Texas.
I'll never forget it. My buddy Josh Harrell told me about it
and I went over there and you know I got kinda trash talked to.
There's only real bull riders back here. And I'm like, "Well I'm not scared to get on."
"Oh really well let's do this." And they really loved and they enjoyed
puttin' me on bulls I had no business being on. [LAUGHS]
They were makin' jokes like,
"I'll give you my rope. I'll give you my spurs if you can ride one."
I mean they were just torturin' me.
These were bulls that guys that have been ridin' their entire lives were gettin' on
I didn't have that desensitizing period.
I mean I'd barely sat on a horse
and so to go get on this Colorado bull was just...
It was stupid.
And I did. I got to about 6, 7--
We didn't have clocks and we didn't have timers.
It was just kinda, "That's good enough. Get off."
And I barely held onto one
and I mean got the,
just the piss stomped out of me at the end of it.
But the adrenaline and the feelin' that I got was unlike
anything I've felt in my entire life.
Everybody was happy. "Hey man!"
And I don't remember what the bull did, I just, I don't really remember.
I just remember the feeling of like
that acceptance of, "Man I could be a cowboy. I could be a real cowboy."
And this was before I'd realized
ridin' bulls has nothin' to do with really bein' a cowboy.
[CODY] I don't think that being a cowboy can be defined by any one thing.
It can mean different things to different people.
We all have our own perception of what being a cowboy is
but the lure, the thing that draws us to cowboy is more often than not very personal.
Chris Kyle's story is the definition of a hero.
His strength and his courage captured the hearts of a nation.
But how was that metal sharpened?
[JAMES] A rodeo cowboy and a cowboy on a ranch are a little bit different.
The rodeo cowboy gets his heritage from the working ranch
because the events that are demonstrated in the arena
come from the working ranch.
Ranchers would get together back in the old days
and they would have competitions on who could ride the wildest bronc
and who could tie the cattle the fastest and
that stemmed from what they did every day
so as time has evolved and the sports have evolved
we have rodeo cowboys that they might not have ranched.
They might not have come from a ranching family.
My name's James Barton and we're here at the Houston ranch
in Bluff Dale, Texas. It's been owned by the Houston family
for over 100 years. My wife Emily and our kids are the
sixth generation running this ranch.
[CRICKETS]
Oh, oh wow.
Wow.
Sounds about right.
I feel like either started out in a horse trailer
or it was the size of a horse trailer but I look at this,
I think he actually started in a horse trailer until this freed up
or at least at one of the ranches.
But this is about the size of a horse trailer too.
Wow.
He'd do fine.
This is like being deployed. Probably the size of their--
and they have bunks their too.
I think there was a,
I wanna say a romance to going back to your past
your youth a little bit and seeing where
things started. This is you know where he
started living his dream of being a cowboy.
He did it of course growing up and he did FFA.
He did rodeo and he did rodeo at Tarleton,
but this was sort of now making a living, if you call it that,
being a ranch hand for a bit and so he loved it.
♪♪
[TV HOST] Chris Karl's a former Navy Seal.
He's also quite possibly the most lethal sniper in American military history.
-Mr. Kyle, thanks for coming. -Thanks for having me.
We were driving down here and I was thinking obviously about Chris
and our life and my daughter was asking
if you can make good money being a ranch hand.
And I would say, "No, it's really just like love of the game."
Right? You do it because you love it.
Chris knew the two things he wanted to do in life.
He wanted to be a cowboy and he wanted to be in the military.
[CHRIS] Once I graduated high school
I was gonna join the marine core.
Decided well before someone else is tellin' me what to do
besides Mom and Dad, I'm gonna go to college, have some fun.
[TV HOST] Yeah, now what did you do as
-far as rodeo? What events? Really? -Saddle bronc.
He got a rodeo scholarship to Steven Bell Tarleton, a great school for rodeo.
I think he was three semesters shy of graduating and
he just realized he wasn't motivated for the school part of it.
The studies weren't going to be his, his concern
and he loved rodeo, so he thought, "Why am I doin' this?"
He left school and came out and he was a cowboy for a long time.
Chris Kyle worked out here as a ranch hand.
He spent a lot of time out here while he was going to school
but while he was out here he wanted to be a rodeo cowboy.
He went to rodeos. He rode horses, took care of the cattle.
Here he learned the value of hard work and getting up in the morning.
Not having somebody just stand over him every day.
[CODY] What did life look like as a child in Oklahoma growing up on a ranch to Reba?
[REBA] I was the third out of four kids
growing up on a working cattle ranch in southeastern Oklahoma.
8,000 acres.
We were the hired hands, Alice, Pake, Susie and me.
I absolutely loved growing up on the ranch.
We learned a lot. Work ethic.
And I loved to ride and I loved the cowboy way of life.
[CODY] After gettin' to know you a little bit, I feel like you still have that.
-It's very much being a cowboy is more inside than outside. -Yeah.
And I think that's true for men and women that grow up around that.
-Do you feel like that's helped you in your career? -Totally.
Totally. Not only with the work ethic, but respect.
-Right. -Show up. Be on time. Be prepared.
And do what you say you're gonna do.
I mean that's the cowboy code.
[JAMES] When people come out here and work for us, we say you ride for the brand.
You take ownership of it yourself and you're proud of the work you do every day.
One of the things that is a ranching joke is
when a new hand comes on here we call him fingers because
he hasn't made a hand yet.
It kinda shows like, you know you have to earn it out here.
That's really what a cowboy's about.
The calling might not be being out in the country.
The calling might be lots of different things.
When Chris left, he felt the calling change to join the military.
At one point he thought he was getting maybe a little bit
too old to join the military, so he thought I better go do it.
Got in a rodeo accident. I had pins and screws put in my arm
and then the marines wouldn't take me.
Kept workin' on the ranches and figured alright, this is what I'm gonna do for a livin'.
Then about the time I was 23, I got a call sayin',
"Hey, we're willing to take you in."
[TAYA] When he went there, the marine recruiter was out to lunch.
The Navy guy said, "Come on in here and talk to me."
I went, I don't want to sit on a ship. [LAUGHTER]
And he goes, "No, there's something called Seals.
"You can go do it right now."
[TAYA] He was capable of a lot of things but he had this path that was
accepting of what life was bringing. I'm gonna go where I feel
led to go but I'm gonna be serious about it. I'm gonna do really well.
He didn't accept the standards that everybody else had.
He decided what they were and he lived by 'em.
[CODY] When you were growing up, did you have it in your head that you wanted to be
a superstar in country music or did you really look
just no further than, I wanna barrel race, I wanna do anything I can do to be in rodeo?
I told Gail Patskill one time I wanted to be,
my dream was to be a world champion barrel racer.
And she said, "Man I wish I could sing like you."
And I said, "You wanna swap?" She said, "No."
But I wanted to be a world champion barrel racer
and I would go to bed after the CMA awards
the night that Merle Haggard won for 'Okie from Muskogee'.
I could still, I laid in bed and I was lookin' out the window and said,
"I'd like to thank my Mama and Daddy."
-I had my speech ready. -Yeah.
For one day I wanted to be that too.
Did you ever have a turning point where you knew before somebody else told you?
Like I feel like that music is what I was born to do.
Well it was kinda laced together. I got my start
singing the national anthem at the national finals rodeo
in Oklahoma City in '74.
I was gonna go up there anyway. I loved to party.
After the rodeo watch the barrel racin', have all my buddies up there. Daddy was very smart.
He said, "Reba why don't you get you a job if you're gonna go up there?"
And I said, "Doin what?" And he said, "Singin' the national anthem."
♪ Oh say can you see
♪ By the dawn's early light
♪ What so proudly we hailed
♪ At the twilight's last gleaming ♪
♪ Whose broad stripes and bright ♪
[REBA] So I asked Glenn McSpadden if I could do it and he got me the job.
I sang from '74 to '84
and then they moved to Vegas and I've done it several times there.
-Yeah. -But totally loved it.
Matter of fact, we were at the national finals rodeo
before that and I met Red Steagall
and he was the one that said, "Jackie." to Mama.
He said, "Jackie, why don't you bring Reba down and let's see if we can get her a record deal."
And it was 11 months later I had a record deal with Polygram/ Mercury Records.
So it was the rodeo, the cowboys
being Glenn McSpadden, Daddy and Red Steagall that kinda
helped me on my way.
Mine was my AG teacher back in high school he said,
"We need somebody to sing the national anthem for this rodeo."
He was the one that always pushed me to play music and pushed me to
still maintain that cowboy way that you were talking about.
Yeah.
[CHEERING]
♪♪
Tell me if it needs to be louder.
[CODY] When I was like 12, I would play guitar every day.
I would play till my fingers bled. I would get my homework done as soon as I could
and just play and play and play and play.
You know I would play everything from George Jones to Led Zeppelin
and so I brought my guitar to school.
I kinda have to give credit to my English teacher Dorothy Kennedy.
She tells Mr. Fortenberry
and he says, "I hear you play. Bring your guitar."
So one day we get the entire class and I played.
He just, the entire period, he let me play and entertain.
[BRANDI] The first time I ever saw Cody Johnson perform I was 14
and a freshman in high school and I was competing in FFA.
He had a talent team with some kids from his school and his cousin.
My girlfriends and I sat front row underneath the stage.
He was so cute and so talented. I remember he had a broken leg.
I know now that's from ridin' bulls.
[CODY] And Mr. Fortenberry pulled me aside and he was like, "You're gonna start a band.
"You're gonna start a band and you're gonna play for the FFA talent team
"because you've got it in you." And I said, "I didn't want to."
And he said, "Well I don't really care what you want. I see something in you."
He was the one that really pushed me.
And your first place team from Groveton, Texas.
[CHEERING]
[CODY] He always told me, "You need to be two things.
"You need to play country music and you need to be a cowboy."
That was that abrupt cowboy fashion I grew to love.
♪♪
Thank you very much Texas, have a good night.
Thank ya'll.
[CHEERING]
[CODY] Whenever I was a kid growing up we would come here to the Walker County fairgrounds.
This was where the big PRCA ropings happened.
I watched Joe Beaver rope here. I watched
Fred Whitfield rope calves.
Trevor Brazile. I watched the Carrillo Brothers ride bulls here.
Michael Gaffney. Tuff Hedeman.
It was a big deal. To me this was the big arena
and now lookin' back at 33 years old,
one of these exists In every small town across America,
but when I was 18 years old, this place was pretty intimidating.
Watched every event and waited all day long to
get pretty embarrassed. I've got a picture of me my buddy Codrick
and my Dad standin' right here on the back of this chute.
Back then they had a lot of bodacious calves and they loved to put
young ignorant kids on 'em. Probably lasted right out to about here.
I got drug all the way to the other end of the arena.
[LAUGHS] And that was that.
I was the kinda guy that I wanted to be a cowboy so bad
it didn't really matter to me if I looked stupid or got hurt. It was worth it for me.
I was really just gettin' on as many bulls as I could
truly having the confidence and believin'
eventually this is gonna take hold. Eventually I'm gonna get it.
I'm the first generation rodeo cowboy in my family. Very proud of that.
♪♪
When I was high school rodeo with my buddies Mark Johnson, Codrick Murphy and Tyree Cosse
the camaraderie was unlike anything I'd ever felt.
[CROWD CHEERING ENCOURAGEMENT]
[RODEO ANNOUNCER] Hang in there buddy! Hang in there!
[CODY] When I started listening to Chris LeDoux's music. Things changed.
Cause to listen to Chris LeDoux's early music, it makes it sound like a fairy tale.
It makes it sound like a bunch of ol' boys jump in a car
and we're gonna go hit a bunch of rodeos
and to me that was me he was singin' about.
I didn't know that he was tellin' stories of his professional
20 years into his professional rodeo career.
I was experienced in those rodeo legend type scenarios in my high school years.
I rode a couple of bulls at a series over in Liberty.
I rode one, one night at CPRA in Mexia, Texas.
I covered a couple of New Caney. Then I made the state finals.
It wasn't a lot, but it was just enough.
It's like feedin' a drug addict just enough to be addicted.
Next step, let's start tryin' to ride in some of these amateur bull ridings
and these amateur rodeos and what I did was I stepped into the lion's den.
I am in so far over my head, but I am not going to back down.
That's just not in me. I don't have it in my DNA to back down from a fight.
Every single bull I ever got on
I said, "I'm gonna ride this bull. There's no doubt in my mind."
[RODEO ANNOUNCER] Protect the young man who's a little guy named Cody Johnson.
[CODY] If I die, at that point I was just young and that competitive,
doesn't matter, I'll go down as a cowboy.
[RODEO ANNOUNCER] Let's help him! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[WOMAN] Wooo!
♪♪
[CODY] I think this is something that only people from East Texas understand.
There's a lot of black bull riders and black rodeos.
But you can enter. You can enter no matter what. It's just gonna be mostly black guys and
Most of the time we were like the two, the only white guys there.
At that point I was hangin' around guys like Craig Jackson and my friend Justin Richards.
And those guys were freakin' cowboys man.
And could ride a lion. I'm tellin' you.
They call'em dragon slayers.
I found guidance from those guys. I found encouragement
and I found out I was watchin' some of the best bull riders in the state.
[HORN] [ANNOUNCER] You can get off. Where you ridin'? It don't really matter. Look out.
So I clung to those guys. I wanted to be around them in the car.
I wanted to sleep in the same hotel. I wanted to listen to what they said,
watch how they did everything and that was enough for me to hold onto confidence.
[FAIR NOISE]
[CODY] At that point, we were broke. I didn't have money for a McDonalds cheeseburger.
And a lot of times we didn't eat. And we didn't care.
We just really didn't care. It was about being together, chasin' that dream.
I think at that point I really stared turning to music because
like Chris LeDoux, well I won't say like Chris LeDoux.
Chris LeDoux was a professional world champion
who sat on the back of his tailgate and sold tapes of his professional album
that was Capital Records out of Nashville. Huge difference.
But what I did was like, well okay I'll spend 200 bucks
I'm gonna go to somebody's garage that owns something that can record me
and I'm going to play every song I've written
about rodeo and every country song, whether it's good or not, just me and a guitar.
I bought a printer and after rodeos, whenever I would lose money,
I would sit on the back of my tailgate and I'd play.
And people would sometimes give me tips.
Sometimes they would say, "You got any CDs?"
And I would print them out a CD right there. Burn'em.
And I'd give it to them for hey, five bucks. Whatever you got.
And I would take that money and go down the road.
[RODEO ANNOUNCER] Cody Johnson, Texas.
[CODY] So you could say at that time music was already makin' me money even whenever
I was throwin' it away on bull ridin'.
The hardest part was after high school with those guys
when I really started to see the herd separate.
♪♪
[RODEO ANNOUNCER] How about it all?
[CODY] I had to start takin' jobs. I worked at a department store sellin' hats and boots
and all the while wantin' to be out there hearin' what they're doin.
"Oh, we're in, we're in Amarillo tonight. We're going to New Mexico."
I can't afford to go to New Mexico. If I do I know I'm gonna,
I know I'm gonna lose all the money I've just made.
But I had my guitar and I had my songs and I had what I'd been developing
so at that point I really started turning to, "Well I'm just going to play."
And that's really where the rough times really started.
The best man at my wedding, Nathan Reedy.
I meet Nathan and he plays drums and he's a really good drummer.
"Cool man, you wanna get together and jam sometime?"
We work at the same place. We start hanging out. We start drinkin' and partyin'.
Throwin' parties with just a djembe
or a small stripped down set of drums and I would plug up my guitar
and we made a little amp set and we'd have
full on house parties and just play covers.
We didn't make any money, but we, man, we were happy. We should start a band.
We gotta find a bass player. Enter my Dad.
And at the time my Dad was going through a lot.
There was a lot going at home with my brother. There was a lot going home with him personally.
And I think it was an outlet for my Dad. I think he always wanted to be in a band.
I remember him telling me when I was a kid his dream was to be Elvis' drummer.
I always thought that was really cool, like that was really high expectation.
And at the time it was also an outlet for him to kinda come party.
I didn't really know any different. I love my Dad and at the time
I had a great time partying with him.
I didn't see then, I didn't have the maturity then to see
the pain that he was going through and the dark place I was in.
And we started traveling the roads the three of us.
My mother, whenever I'd started playing in bars actually was like,
"You're gonna wind up like your Uncle.
"You're gonna wind up like this guy."
It was drilled into me that if you play in a bar
the Devil's gonna get ya and that was very true.
[APPLAUSE]
♪♪
♪ Mmmmhmmm
[CODY] My parents raised me playin' in church.
I think that was one of the biggest shocks, the culture shock
for me was when I finally did get out into the honky tonks I was going wow
you can move people with music in a honky tonk
just like you can move'em in church.
It's just different subject matters and different people.
All I know is that we would just care about the hundred bucks a man.
Give us a hundred bucks a man and a free tab and we're good.
So basically what happens is you put a hundred bucks, you go sit someplace
and you play till you're wasted.
Early on I thought that's what, that's what you do.
That's what is supposed to happen.
There were not really a lot of good influences
in any of my friends that were around me back then. If you're watchin' this
you know dag gum good and well you wasn't no good influence on me.
And I wasn't on you.
And we eventually found other bass players and guitar players
and we added and we're in a bar playin' for 300 people
playin' Bob Seger 'Turn the Page' as wasted as it gets.
It started.
We're in a band man and we're supposed to travel, raise hell
fight, you know and it's just, it starts to take off.
♪ Baby, why don't you stop now
The more places we played and the more popularity that I started to gain
my ego started to really take control and
you know my buddy Codrick shows up at my house one night
and I was in a really bad spot doing a lot of things that I
really shouldn't have been doing and he called me out on it.
You know, he's like, "Hey man, I heard you're out at these parties man.
"Are you doing these drugs? Are you? Are you drinkin' this much?" You know.
"Nah. I'm good man. I'm good. You outta come hang out."
He's like, "Nah, I'm good, but I'm gonna go do my thing. I'm gonna go ride bulls."
And I couldn't blame him. You know, I wouldn't, lookin' back
I wouldn't want to hang out with me either.
Seems like my constant MO at this point in my life, in my young life
is I'm constantly having to shake off the bad.
Constantly having to shake off these demons that I'm putting on myself.
And my wife is, played a huge incredible role of
keeping me in check with reality and reminding me who I really am
because I think she saw me before I ever saw myself.
[BRANDI] I could see that something's wrong so I said to him,
"Why are you angry? What is the root of anger?" You know?
And I think a lot of times for him is the failure
that he doesn't want to admit because he's really tough.
[CODY] When I couldn't accomplish what I wanted with rodeo, it ate me up.
The first buckle I thought, I can win this. I'd actually been ridin' pretty good.
It was at the Cody Dernehl memorial bull ride.
Me and a bunch of guys get out in the middle of the arena and line up
and they turn out this bull and they play the song 'Bull Man' that I'd written.
The song's over and we all start walkin' forward and the bull goes back in.
I drew that bull to ride in the first round.
And I had it in my head that because my song was played for Cody Dernehl
and I drew that bull that they turned out for Cody Dernehl
that I was gonna win that.
I had my buddy Justin Richards and now my buddy Codrick
and Mark, a couple other people that were all really pumping me up.
Like, "You got this. This is gonna happen."
[SQUEEKING GATE]
I blew a spur rowel in half. I don't know how. It just happens.
And I ate dirt got stomped and Justin Richards won that buckle that night.
I think that was a very discouraging moment.
At that point I started really focusing on this is fizzling out
and I was lookin' for some type of fulfillment.
Something to make me feel like I wasn't just a loser.
Really. Cause that's what I felt like when I had to quit ridin' bulls was a loser.
That's where the real torture started. The setting in of that
I'm really not good enough.
♪♪
[RANDY] When I was 5 years old my Dad took me to National western livestock show rodeo.
The national western. They had a guy up there had a booth
with a bunch of belt buckles in there.
My granddad, he said, "You want a belt buckle?"
I said, "Man that'd be nice."
I picked a belt buckle out, a calf roping buckle
-and the guy said, "What do you wanna write on it?" -[CODY] What'd you say?
-I said, "Randy Weaver, world champion calf roper." -No way!
-I promise! [LAUGHS] -Alright.
And they said it's like something was inside of me
-that it just, it was always there. -Right.
♪♪
[CODY] I think that Randy's story is very unique.
He's had a very successful rodeo career and the man
is a third generation pastor.
I told him recently that the only reason you rope this much
is because it's the only drug a preacher can do.
He's figured out a way to take ropin' with people and help shape their lives.
You don't realize you're in a counseling session
till you've roped 2 pens of steers, you're going
we're not talking about ropin' anymore.
I'm hearing things from this man and he's been very influential on me.
One thing that stuck out to me was, as a cowboy, you said you felt like you had
confirmation that you were going to be a world champion calf roper.
Right. Right.
[CODY] When it didn't happen right away, I was sitting in the pew going,
-"Man I kinda feel that." Tell me your side of it. -[RANDY] Sure.
[RANDY] We had a church service at, in Eugene, Oregon.
My brother and I were going to sing and preach there.
They're in the middle of church. I'm sittin' back there and this guy comes up and he says,
"Randy Weaver I want you to come up here."
In front of all these people in the middle of church.
So I get up and I walk up there and he says,
"God spoke to my heart about you."
And I'm like, "Well that's pretty cool."
He said, "You're going to be a world champion calf roper one day."
How long was that before you really start to go?
-Well... When I turned 40 I was like -Or did they?
-this is gettin' a little past my deal, you know? -Yeah.
[RODEO ANNOUNCER] He's ready to dominate. He's got it on his mind.
[RANDY] Here's what was interesting.
In 2010 I won the reserve world champion in the quarter horse calf ropin'.
Next year we qualified again, went back.
Reserve world champion again. Behind the same guy.
I'm listening to this from an outside perspective of goin' that's just gotta be a test.
[RODEO ANNOUNCER] He's waitin' for him to be out there a little bit.
[RANDY] In the last two, me and him again and I looked over at him, I said,
"This is lookin' awful familiar."
And then, then they call his name meaning that I won the world, the world championship.
He'd do the little victory lap and all that, but it's the same way with this rodeo business.
It's the same way with our lives. We're on our way to a destination.
If you want to go someplace, you need to get on the right road.
You gotta figure out what road that is that's going to take you where you wanna go.
[CODY] Throughout this time period in my life I know what I'm doing isn't right.
I feel it. I have that conviction of
you know I can't live this way forever.
[BRANDI] The turning point I think in his life
is when he started surrounding himself with a very, very strong
group of men around him that
just simply won't put up with his crap you know? They call him on it.
Howie Edelman is my manager
and Howie was the guy that sat me down and said, "Look
"I don't care what this takes. I believe in you.
"I'm not makin' a dime till you make a dime."
And he knew Trent Willman.
So he brings me to Nashville
and I met him and immediately It was like I found a big brother.
We had so much in common. Our personalities were a lot alike.
In our love and our passion for country music was a lot alike.
Trent was a cowboy. I was a cowboy. He grew up on a ranch.
[TRENT] When I was growin' up in West Texas
cowboy's what you did. That's what you put on your
tax form as occupation.
The people there are just the remnants of the dust bowl.
They are made of grit and wind and cocklebur seeds,
mesquite. That's the kind of people that I grew up with
but I think that gives you a good perspective of life.
You know being raised around cowboys I feel like I got a
I got a good sense of I'm on my own
in this world. Nobody owes me anything.
And as intimidating as that sounds, it's also very freeing.
There was a lot about Trent that I really looked up to
as a mentor but at the same time
he made me feel like we were on the same playing field.
He had struggles in his life with
family and his career at the same time that I was.
[TRENT] So there's a funny thing that happens when you're the new kid on the block.
Everybody blows smoke up your ass in this town
and it's called the buzz. Everybody get's the buzz.
When you're that young up and coming guy
it's hard not to drink your own Kool Aid.
And I didn't realize but I was setting myself up for a big disappointment.
[CODY] Trent was eaten up by the system.
He had a record deal, goes to work one day,
this record label buys this record label.
Your contract's null and void, you don't work here anymore.
[TRENT] We were out on the road and I remember gettin' that phone call
on the bus. You've been dropped.
it was devastating. Here's my dream.
It's right here in the palm of my hand and then
it just like sand goes through your hands.
It was tough.
[CODY] Trent wasn't a producer when I met him.
He was a hardcore song writer.
And Trent and I hit it off so well when we were writin', it's like
everything else came after that.
We started writin' music then we would form this bond.
He gave me this sense of confidence.
I feel that love and that affection like a brother
and I know that he's shaping me and I know he's mentoring me
and I think that's very special that we cultivated it
organically just because of Trent
and I's common bond and our belief in each other that
we were meant to be together to accomplish something.
We just didn't know what yet.
♪♪
[JAMES] To be able to influence a young person and
maybe change their direction in life
is something very powerful.
I've really enjoyed taking that as part of our job
not only stewards of the ranch
but you know helping people learn lessons
and become better cowboys at heart.
[TAYA] I think that Chris learned so much
from just that cowboy part of him and
being on the ranch or around animals.
He knew more about people
having spent the time that he did and being the person he was
so the main difference I think with Chris and a lot of other people
even people that he knew very well
you know so were related to, he didn't hit a horse.
He didn't believe you ever had to.
So he could return a horse that he had trained
to the person that wanted to ride it for long term
and it wasn't broken spirit trained.
It had a good spirit.
When he was here, there was a horse that nobody could work with, Floyd.
He was just a throwaway horse because he was never going to be any good
and Chris just decided Floyd was the challenge.
And so he would ride him late and
spend more time with him after everybody had been done
and he'd done his other work for the day
and, in the end, Floyd was the best roping horse.
I think that speaks a lot to who Chris was.
Just his patience. Challenge didn't scare him. He enjoyed it.
He could get people who others wouldn't connect to to connect to him.
He would see if it was a kid, an animal, his wife,
somebody on the battlefield.
If he saw you in need, he was there and he'd bring you up.
[JAMES] We spend a lot of time with our ranch hands.
You know, they become part of our family,
but when they do leave we want them to have a
productive future. We want'em to learn from here.
I feel that anybody can choose to do whatever they want to do
as long as they work hard, follow their dreams.
It's fun to learn that they've gone on to do
special things and become productive in their life.
[TAYA] Chris didn't want to write a book,
but ends up doing it. It becomes a way of service.
You know they say with great power comes great responsibility or something.
Well he was the guy they would go to and say,
"Do you ever have bad dreams? Is this normal?"
Cause they knew it wouldn't go anywhere
and that he would relate to them on a kind level.
And I remember that the moment that we were in bed.
I was lookin' and I said, "Babe, do you realize?"
He was tellin' me about a phone call that he had and
some questions that guys were opening up and asking him and they always did that.
And I said, "You realize your serving again with this book."
He started to see that more and more. He was like, "Wow. You know that
"is a way I can help and serve." And so
I think in a lot of ways
he was starting to recognize that he could impact people
and he sought out the people who were struggling.
He just wanted to quietly be behind the scenes bringing them up.
[CODY] I believe you're a product of who you place around you.
And I didn't realize that a lot of my friends at that point,
a lot of people I had in my life at that point
were affecting me in negative ways.
When I started to get the right influences,
it made me more uncomfortable
with things in my life that I didn't realize I needed to get rid of
and that's where the turning, I think that's where the real turning point starts.
I told you I had that aha moment, where I finally, when I was like
okay and I feel like that
-God said, "Okay. Now I can work with that." -[RANDY] Yeah.
[CODY] But I feel like I was damming up my own path
and I've heard you say this a lot, like He's not a forceful God.
He's not going to kick your door In and say, "You're gonna follow."
[RANDY] He'll make you do nothin'.
[BRANDI] What is that thing they say now? It's enjoy the process.
Or you know, really be there for the process because
the failure and the pain fills you, you know, and think about how much
art and how many significant things have been born from pain
and from failure and that's a lot of times where it starts.
So many wonderful things have happened from rock bottom.
[CODY] This entire story that's gone on, God has been at work.
There's not a single failure, there's not a single dark place
that I truly believe He didn't allow me to go to.
I believe that God's not someone who's sittin' up there goin',
"You're gonna do this. It's my way or the highway."
He kinda stands back and, "Hey. I'm here.
"I'm gonna keep workin' in your life.
"If you don't acknowledge me, I'm here."
And I definitely didn't acknowledge but I truly believe
everything He allowed me to go through and allowed me to screw up
was for a greater purpose.
And I feel like we're getting closer to the point in the story
where that's coming to light.
[CODY] Looking back as an adult, you're like
failure's all about perception and how you handle it.
You know, if you can turn failure into something positive, you didn't really fail.
And I didn't realize that then
so I held that anger and that kinda loneliness and that loss and that
not havin' closure for a long time until we wrote the song "Dear Rodeo".
When I quite ridin' bulls it was like
like I lost my best friend
because let's face it, my best friends at the time
were out ridin' bulls.
At this point I've got buddies that are in the PBR,
buddies that are in the PRCA that made it
and I, I didn't ever address that tiny bit of jealousy.
Couldn't even watch bull ridin'. Couldn't even watch it. My publisher Scott Gunner, he said,
"You told me one time that when you stopped ridin' bulls "it was like a divorce."
He said, "I think you need to address that.
"I just think that's a piece of you
"that you've never addressed."
And I was like, "I don't want to."
About a week later my buddy Dan Couch comes out
and I told him I need to get this out.
I need to get this out of my system.
And he said, "Well if you could talk to rodeo,
"like if she was the love that got away and her name was rodeo, what would you say?"
I said, "I think I would start by saying, Dear Rodeo.
"I'd be lying if I tried to tell you I don't think about you."
He's like, "Woah."
I said, "After all the miles and the wild nights that we been through."
And he said, "Lord knows we've had a few."
Dear rodeo.
I said, "I'd like to say I took the reigns and rode away."
He said, "No regrets. No left unsaids."
I said, "Just turn the page."
And he said, "Aw, but you know better babe."
We both kinda sat there and I'm going,
we know what's happening. Songs just don't fall out like this.
I won't say that. When songs fall out like this
it's rare and this is the first time its ever fallen out for me like this.
But he said, "Okay, at this point though,
"would you rather never experienced it?"
I said, "No." He said, "Well somehow the highs outweigh the lows."
And I said, "You know what, I'd do it all again.
"Even though I know I'd have to let you go."
And at this point the production that we're putting on this is very sad.
'Cause that's the atmosphere in the bus.
The more and more the song progresses, it takes this turn.
It takes this turn and this emotional
outlet of it's okay.
It's okay.
And the very last line of the song is, "I'm still in love with you."
It was like for the first time I'd written down
emotions that I didn't want to address.
And every night since I've written it and I've played it, I smile.
♪♪
[CODY] If I had to put my finger on what I believe is unique about
the dream to be a cowboy, I'd say this.
I didn't see a cowboy and say I wanna be that.
I don't think most people even see it that way.
The dream of being a cowboy is more about discovering if it's in you.
We just wanna know if that toughness,
that honesty and determination lives inside of us.
And can we claim in certain arenas
what we believe cowboy stands for?
[CRICKETS]
[TAYA] It was so cold one night that you had to sleep
on the floor between some cracks
to get some sort of heat
that you kinda curled up and
I know one night he got stuck outside all night
and he didn't complain. Just did his job.
♪♪
Being a cowboy to Chris was somebody who was really doing the job.
And it drove him nuts the people that sometimes wore
a cowboy hat and weren't an actual cowboy.
You know it's not a glamorous life right? Like being a ranch hand isn't glamorous.
It's sort of, I think that idea that somebody would glam it up
and make it look like something different. It's like you don't know what you're doing.
You don't know what it's like to sleep in that bunkhouse.
That's the dedication that a real cowboy would probably have in his mind right?
I believe it was December before he was killed.
He'd been out of the military for a couple of years
and Montana Silversmith, they made this buckle
that was so cool and it was 'Battlefield to Back country'
and it sort of spoke to his life because
that's what he was.
And at that time he was transitioning out of the military into
family life again.
And he said, "Babe, can I wear this buckle?
"Do I look like an idiot?" And I said, "Hun you're a cowboy."
He goes, "I'm not though. I was, but I'm not."
I just remember that moment. I remember where we were in the hallway and
just that thought. It's not something that was common for him
to consider because he was who he was. He's comfortable with it.
But that moment of can I go back is almost what it was, you know,
and can I still harness that part of me?
And I felt a little bit of sadness, you know, because I thought
I don't know if you can ever take it out of you.
It's been you since you were little and you pull it off.
You know. Wear it.
Are you havin' fun so far tonight?
[CHEERING]
♪♪
When I would get on stage I've always taken that
athletic viewpoint to it, of I don't wanna be the
best show you've seen this week at this place, I wanna
be the best show you've ever seen.
I dove into it, I poured my heart and soul into it, and
we grew from one bus, to two buses. And we were out headlining
every big Texas festival there was and now we're starting to headline arenas.
And going outside the state. We started courting a lot of record labels
and very quickly I got asked, "Well would you be willing to take the cowboy hat off?"
And I said things like, "You think I bought this to come see you?"
And how he had to be the nice guy and I was not so nice.
[TRENT] I think about what Willie did when he changed the world, y'know
sold the first platinum country album.
He wasn't chasing anything, he was doing Willie, y'know?
What Garth did, he was just doing what he did. And that's
what Cody Johnson does.
[CODY] Kim Wiggins was with Sony ATV at the time.
She was the first person to really try to approach me.
We tried and we tried and we tried and we tried and we couldn't get the deal done.
And she told me, "It's okay. Be who you are. Don't change those things.
"I just feel good about it and I love you."
No harm no foul. Next to enter would be Cris Lacy who was with Warner Brothers.
She would travel out to shows in the
bleeding snow and the pouring rain just to play me stuff.
Just getting to know who I was. And to help and develop. And I really wanted that deal.
And it didn't work.
I was really hurt by that. I said,
"Because of that I will never sign with Warner Brothers." And I truly
feel like you wanna know how God was present in my life?
When I said that I really felt like he went "Okay.
"Let's see who's in charge. Let's just sit back and see."
♪♪
[CODY] At this point, because I'm a member of the organization
the Tejas Vaqueros I'm roping, team roping.
I'm getting to ride cutting horses and enter
sortin' events and all these different ranch rodeo type things
so I'm still cowboying. I wasn't worried about proving anything that I was a cowboy.
But bull riding specifically was a touchy subject.
Trent's probably the most inspiring individual I've ever met.
He was one of the first people to tell me
"You don't have to be ashamed of not riding.
Just because you're not riding, just because you're not
competing doesn't mean that you can't take
what you learn and take who you really feel you are deep down
in your soul, that John Wayne wannabe and apply it right here.
And it can be a part of your personality.
You've got a cowboy's heart. And you need to start acting like it."
♪♪
And I think that's the first point where I said, "I wanna do something nobody's done yet."
I want to be the guy to come from Texas
and stick to my guns, not change my name, not take this hat off,
not change my sound, and be accepted.
That's when I think I truly started to let go of bull riding.
I started to let go of my past. I had a new mountain to climb.
And I knew that it was gonna be tougher than any mountain I'd ever climbed.
[RANDY] Yes sir.
Success!
[CODY] In 2017 I was in San Antonio. Trying to help my brother out.
I won't go into any detail out of respect.
But my brother needed some help and he didn't want help.
And as I'm going through the worst day of my life, quite possibly the worst day of his,
I get the phone call from my manager Howie,
"Hey, Houston Rodeo just called. And Old Dominion had a death in the family
"and they need a replacement. I need you on the phone now."
I'm like "I can't. There's a reason we're 50/50 business partners. Make the decision."
♪♪
[RODEO ANNOUNCER] Ooh Houston let's go!
♪ Welcome to the show, welcome to the home ♪
♪ Of the world's biggest rodeo
♪ Where the stars light up the night underneath that Texas sky, Texas sky ♪
[RODEO ANNOUNCER] Well here we go!
♪♪
[ANNOUNCER] Ladies and gentlemen.
How loud can American patriots get inside this building?
[CODY] That day was a very emotional day, today I'll never forget.
I remember every minute of it.
[CODY] Tonight's about more, for me, than fame. It's about more than money.
Bring the fire tonight.
You are, the underdog, you are the rookie, you are the "call up".
But this type of pressure, and this type of anxiety,
This is what you've been asking for your whole life.
This is your calling, this is your time, this is your spot.
You're only gonna play the Houston Rodeo one time
-for the first time. -For the first time.
This is it. Leave nothing behind. Each one of you leave nothing behind.
We go out there, we prove to the world that we're supposed to be here.
When you walk off that stage you just played the Houston Rodeo.
[ANNOUNCER] Ladies and gentlemen, from Huntsville, Texas, Cody Johnson.
Played in front of 61,000 people and I'll never forget riding a horse out that night.
I was supposed to walk out. Back then you had the entire
floor of NRG Stadium full of dirt.
And I was supposed to walk the horse around.
Screw it, my show was done.
I kicked that horse and I rode as hard as I could.
And I'll never forget riding out and going, "This is the turning of a page."
I felt like I was just leaving things behind.
Like I was just running.
Letting go of things and knowing that there's a different future.
Knowing that that moment, that night, was going to change things for me.
That show that would turn the career, and break the
dam that I'd always said we were gonna play?
We'd just played.
And I'll never forget it.
♪♪
So at this point we've probably got 10 plus #1's on the Texas
Regional Radio Report or back then it was called the Texas Music Chart.
And we just knew this thing was starting to grow, and it was starting to get bigger.
♪ People like you got nothing better to do than throw rocks at things that shine ♪
♪ Well you oughta be chasing your own dreams instead of shooting holes in mine ♪
And the next year we set the record, 74,000 plus for the largest
crowd sold by an independent artist in NRG stadium.
I'm watching the things that hurt and the things that I was
angry about are starting to pay off.
What didn't happen is now coming to make things happen.
♪ I'll be reeling for the day gonna see my face as big as life and laughing out loud ♪
♪ Lovin' all you haters begging you to doubt me now ♪
That record deal I was so pissed off about not getting.
I wouldn't hold the record if I had taken that.
♪ Hop on the bandwagon
♪♪
I think at that time I realized "I am not the smartest guy in the room anymore."
I'm not gonna think that anymore in my life, like, humility starts to set in.
We get to play music for a living, keep telling yourself that.
I'm thankful for my job, there's a lot of people out here man.
Let's go play this thing like we want to do it for the rest of our lives. Let's go have fun!
At that point I'm thinking, well I don't want a record deal.
I don't need a record deal.
I don't need to be that guy or that gal on the radio, and
I know that my music doesn't sound like that, so why don't I just be happy with where I'm at?
Look what God's gave me and look how far we've come.
And I think when the confidence and comfortability in my life sets in
I think God honestly at that point allows me to go to the next chapter like,
I was ready for it.
♪♪
We went in the studio and I said "Guys I don't want to record
"to get a record deal."
I don't want to record a record to get played on the radio.
I want to record a record for these thousands
and thousands and millions of people that are streaming our music
These people that are paying our tickets? That's who we're playing for."
And my manager Howie says, "I think we need to shop this to a record deal."
I don't wanna do that! We specifically recorded this not to get one.
He says, "Yeah, but man this is just too good, trust me."
I said, "Alright. Shop it!"
And one record label.
One record label said, "Okay."
It was Warner Brothers.
And I laughed, I laughed. And I remember thinking...
Y'know God has a really good way of making me look stupid to myself.
Doesn't make me look stupid to anybody around in the room but me.
And it's in those moments, those "ah-ha" moments where I'm like,
"You've been, you've been at this, this whole time!"
Like the best thing I can do for myself is stay out of the way, and just work.
♪♪
[CODY] I know for me, riding, when I thought that bull riding was my career it was all fast.
It was very fast. But now that I rope, slower is faster.
And the more you slow down and you trust your horse and you give
more to him, he's giving back to you. There's this relationship and this bond
-that you have to be patient, you can't rush things. -[REBA] Yeah.
-[CODY] I think it's therapeutic. Don't you feel like -[REBA] Very.
that you get to shake off some of the road and shake off some of the music
-whenever you do get to reconnect with that first love? -[REBA] Oh absolutely.
When I'm off riding by myself that's my time with God, the holy spirit.
And just talking, and visiting, and talking with my angels, and
thank them, and they're always with me.
And you just get to see the beautiful creation that he's done
-and it's so peaceful. -I agree.
It just settles, it grounds me.
One of my favorite sayings is "be still".
-Hard for me to do, I have not accomplished that. -Yeah.
I'm not a master of it at all, but I'm getting close to it.
So, a good friend of mine Carolyn Snell got me a little
framed picture we saw it in a little curio shop.
It said "be still". She said "I can't believe we found it" and I said "Hmm well,
-"things happen for a reason as you said." -That's right.
♪♪
[BRANDI] I think that 'Dear Rodeo' speaks to people on a spiritual level
because that's where your dreams come in you know?
[TAYA] The first time I listened to the song 'Dear Rodeo' I cried
because it was so much of Chris's spirit in there
and it took me off guard.
[TRENT] After listening to 'Dear Rodeo' a couple times
I realized this song's not about rodeo. This song's about life.
It's something that we can all relate to, letting go of a dream.
[BRANDI] Even if the dream doesn't come true,
doesn't mean that a dream isn't going to come true
The one that's gonna be so much more fulfilling than one you ever could possibly imagine.
[TRENT] So many of us are having to reinvent ourselves
'cause we're having to let go of a dream.
But you know... we're Americans, that's what we
do best is reinvent ourselves. That's the cowboy way.
-[RANDY] I think everybody has a 'Dear Rodeo' story. -[CODY] I think so too.
I think everybody has something that they wish they could've done,
Y'know maybe a relationship that failed, or a job that
they lost, or a position that got messed up
Or maybe, maybe something real strong where, even
they've lost a family member and this is not what I planned.
Come here Bubba.
We'll read two more, then you can go to bed.
This is so later.
When I'm gone, you can look at the tape.
♪♪
[TAYA] I looked back not long ago and thought,
When I was young my mom asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up.
My very first answer was, I just wanna be happy. Right? That always used to irritate me like
And that's a, c'mon dude, Taya have some goals y'know?
I never really could quite get my hands on it.
I loved psychology, I loved helping people,
I didn't want to get my doctorate's, so I thought, "What's the point?"
You know I loved philosophy, "What's the point?"
I never really saw the plan.
[TRENT] We have these dreams sometimes that we think,
"This is what's gonna fulfill my life."
And then that rug's jerked out from under you.
And it's easy as humans to get devastated about that.
But God has got a lot better of a plan than we got.
[TAYA] All this time I spent trying to figure out, "What's my plan? What's my path?"
And I was banging my head against the wall and then in comes Chris and...
It's like it ends up providing me everything that was supposed to be my plan.
So now I have this different experience of living more like Chris did which is
It's okay, it'll work out. I don't necessarily know what's coming next.
But I know it's gonna be good, and I know I'll somehow be prepared.
And in the end I look at it and I go, "Wow that person who just wanted to be happy
"I think that really is my path." How do you be happy there?
And I'm finding it. And I'm finding it I feel like in a large part because
God gave me Chris to learn from first. He gave me a lot to build on there.
[RANDY] There's a lot of turmoil in the world today.
Because people didn't get what they wanted or it didn't turn out the way we wanted it to.
But I'll just say this, and this is what I believe we're all learning,
When we make it about Him all of the sudden things change in our lives.
-[TAYA] Hi how are you? I'm Taya. Nice to meet you. -[CHILD] Hi.
-[TAYA] What's your name? -[CHILD] Ezra.
[NEWS ANCHOR] Two years since the man known as the U.S.
military's most lethal sniper was shot and killed
By a veteran he was trying to help.
Now Chris Kyle's widow, Taya, is stepping up and reaching out
to care for veterans and active military families across the nation.
[TAYA] If I can give hope to people, if I can
tell them that it's okay, and that they're not alone in that
I'm hoping that we can do a lot of good and
it's very therapeutic to be able to take
something negative and turn it into a positive.
[TEACHER] John Beck is headed to, uh, West Point.
-TAYA] Oh wow. I feel like crying. -JOHN] Nice to meet you.
I don't know why it's emotional but
I um, I wish the best for you guys and
I'll be praying for you. Don't lose yourself.
Don't be afraid to talk about it if it gets hard you know?
♪♪
[TRENT] I think that one of the best things that ever happened to me
was me losing my record deal.
Because also at that time
not long after I got custody of my kid
I knew being out on the road I couldn't raise my daughter. Not as a single dad.
And I was praying for something to come along to where I could make a living
being at home and raising my daughter.
And so all these things started happening at one time
and I met Cody Johnson. And I got to produce that first record.
And then I got to produce some other records. And kept writing, and
what looked like this devastation of losing my record deal
became this huge fulfilling blessing
because I was, y'know, getting to stay home and making a living making music
and I had my daughter with me
and it brought this incredible life that I have now.
♪♪
[CODY] Looking back on my career from music I look back and think
man you know everything happened for a reason. God had this like
little woven plan to get me to where I'm at.
Do you look back now on your career, and like, there's the high-
'cause for me it's like I see all the highlights of,
"If that hadn't happened, and if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't be here."
[REBA] Yeah. It's kind of like rodeo... released me.
Said, "C'mon you go do what you're supposed to be doing over here."
Because I had to have my foundation laid for me to come to Nashville and slowly grow.
So it went from ranching to rodeo to singing to... helping.
And now I know what I'm supposed to do
and why he took me from this, from Chockie, Oklahoma, population 18
to being in front of people. [CROWD CHEERING]
[REBA] You know I was discovered singing the national anthem at the national
finals rodeo in Oklahoma city in 1974.
And here we are 20 years later getting to do exactly what I love to do the most.
And I always pray before I go on stage
-"Who do You want to reach tonight? Please use me." -[CODY] Yeah.
"Let me help somebody. I mean that's why I'm here right?"
And that's the greatest thing that I've gotten out of all of this
are the people I get to meet and get to work with, and hopefully get to help.
♪♪
[TAYA] I know Chris would not have imagined the influence he has on so many people.
It's like he had this way of seeking out the people in need
and being whatever they needed.
When you look at his life of serving people
and bringing out the best in people who needed the most
I feel like he did it with me too.
He did it with our kids. I feel like he did it with everybody.
It was just this really unique path where I think...
In the military he said he'd rather be known for the number of lives that he saved.
That's what he was doing.
But I haven't thought about it before but I think if I had to sum up
his life that's the common theme.
♪♪
[RANDY] We thank You Lord for loving us today. Thank You Lord for Your many blessings.
We thank You Lord that You are more than enough for every situation we find ourselves in
We know God that You have Your hand in
everything that we do because we've invited You Lord
and we thank You Lord for the privilege we have right now of coming to You and saying thanks.
We love You, in Jesus' name, everybody say it!
-[GROUP] Amen! -[RANDY] God bless y'all. Thank you. Just jump in.
[RANDY] This one's gonna run on out of there though Cody.
He's one of the better steers, but he's one of the stronger ones too though.
This one'll run. Get you a good start, that way you'll be ready right here.
-[CODY] Aw Randy! -[RANDY LAUGHING]
[CODY] You should've never told me that!
-[RANDY] I told you he's one of the better ones! -Oh no!
-Did I say that? -Yeah!
That was a good, that's the one you wanna draw right there.
-Yeah, there went the truck, the trailer. - Yeah, yup.
All of it!
[CODY] He hasn't been the pastor to me. He's treated me with respect as a grown man
and quite frankly, he's been himself with me
about how he did have a dream, and he'll tell you.
I don't think even he realized the gravity of his story.
About struggling with that not happening while still being obedient
still starting churches, still doing rodeo ministry
and not saying, "Why didn't you give that to me?"
But being human at the same time and saying, "That was supposed to happen. Am I wrong?
"What's the deal?"
Y'know I don't know if I could've done that, felt I got a word from God
or somebody walk up to me and go, "You're gonna be a--
I would've banked on that. But your maturity level, you continued to rodeo
and do you think maybe that's why, because you didn't get bent out of shape about it.
That you've continued to have so much success rodeoing?
Here's what's interesting. Those belt buckles
come and go, and it's really more about what's going on in here.
[CODY] Yeah I was sitting here thinking while you were saying that
I believed in that fairy tale of, "I'm gonna win a buckle and all of a sudden I'm gonna-
-"It's gonna happen!" And it doesn't work like that. -Yeah.
♪♪
[CODY] Many, many years after my buddy Justin Richards won that buckle that night
I'm sellin' out 'Big Texas in Spring' which is a pretty large
club and we were doing pretty well.
It was back to the point where I could go to the merch booth and sign for
everybody in the bar.
And uh, I'll never forget it, Justin comes by and he says,
"Hey man I'm fixing to get out of here."
I said, "Alright." and I leaned over and he took his buckle off
and he stuck it in my jacket pocket.
I said, "What're you doing?" He goes, "I want you to have that."
He said, uh, "You deserve it."
"What I don't- why do I deserve it?"
He said, "Because I've never seen somebody work that hard."
He's like, "You're tough, dude"
And you know it...
It meant a lot. It meant quite a great bit to me.
So much that I started putting it on and wearing it.
And people'd say, "Man did you win that?"
Nope! My buddy Justin Richards did, and he gave it to me.
"Aw well that's kinda gunsel."
It is what it is, it had a different meaning for me.
That man that I looked up to
gave me that recognition of all my hard work.
And uh, he recently passed. He recently passed and...
I really started to put together two and two together.
That was the buckle.
That day was that the dream of a buckle I'll never put on.
That was the first one that I thought, "I've got it on already."
And it didn't happen.
But I wound up with it because of him and he was a very special man.
[CODY] In time we all come to know the greatest challenges
exist well beyond the shade of a wide brimmed hat.
The cowboy, maybe more than most,
understands that life will not only test him but mold him without apology.
What's left in the wake of that life is character.
Justin Richards had a level of character greater than any one buckle.
He was my friend, and he was undeniably a cowboy.
Now Justin being gone I look at that buckle the other day
and I thought, "My focus was on some trinket."
[RANDY] Yeah. You may be disappointed along the way with
your lot in life, but God takes hard situations
and makes extremely good things come out of that
if we will embrace the process. I think that's the story behind 'Dear Rodeo'.
♪♪
[CODY] David Lee told me one time, "Songs, good songs, float around in the air."
And it's those that will sit still long enough and listen and let that song come visit you
and if you're lucky you'll grab It and you'll pull it out of the air and you'll put it down.
I think that's really what happened to me and Dan that day
because it went from being my life story
to everybody's life story. And the relate-ability of something so specific
that can be relatable to everybody, that's beautiful.
[MAN] Alright, everyone ready to roll?
♪♪ ♪ I like to think you miss me too but I know you don't ♪
-[CODY] I'm glad you got to sing that line. -[REBA] Me too! I loved it.
♪ Oh but that won't change the past, that won't change the truth ♪
♪ I'm still in love with you
You know the unison just kinda hops up out of there from nothin'.
-[MAN] Yeah it does. -[CODY] Yeah, we didn't have it anywhere before so it kinda
-[REBA] Uh-huh -[MAN] You wanna try the lower unison?
[REBA] I like the lower harmony the best. Can we hear that? -[MAN] Of course.
-[CODY] Well then afterwards if you do any lead parts -[REBA] Uh-huh.
[CODY] That we're gonna take my vocals out I can harmonize
-with you and just go that 3rd up or whatever. -[REBA] Perfect! Okay.
-[REBA] I'll just go play with it. -[CODY] Yeah, go have fun!
You can change it however you want.
♪♪
Check one-two.
[CODY] When we recorded it we were supposed to stop the song at 'Dear rodeo'
and the band just starts playing, and we're going, "Don't do anything."
The band played this huge outro and we said, "We don't know what we're gonna do with that."
[CROWD CHEERING]
My band played that outro for the last Houston Rodeo that I played
and I could hear every note.
And I got on that horse again.
I'm sitting there thinking, "Now I'm a labeled artist with a single on the radio
"and this is actual reality now."
♪ Dear rodeo
♪ I'd be lying if I tried to tell you I don't think about you ♪
♪ After all the miles and the wild nights that we've been through ♪
♪ Lord knows we had a few
And I'll admit, I didn't run out like I did the first time
and it hit me, it hit me right then and there.
At this point I'm not running from anything.
I just kinda made my way out and it was incredible.
And that song started, I started to fall in love with
the song the way I fell in love with the sport.
The way I fell in love with my wife.
It started getting deeper when people around me were telling me how much it meant to them
and then random fans would come up and tell me, "That song changed my life."
"Y'know that song, that song kept me from committing suicide," or
"That song pulled me out of depression."
"That song made me go back and apologize to somebody."
Things that I never thought.
Things I never thought would happen.
♪ Between the 'almost had em's and the broken bones ♪
♪ The dream of a buckle I'll never put on ♪
♪ I'm jaded
♪ Woah I hate it
And I say every night, "I want you to know that I
"have just as many problems as any one of y'all."
However, when I started to see the ripple effect of this song in my life
I started to see that God had taken me from beating my head against a brick wall
and changed everything for me because I said, "What do you want me to do?"
The crazy part is all the big rodeos that I used to dream like, "What would it be like?"
I've headlined all those rodeos with my band.
And all my buddies that made it, that I didn't wound up on the bus hanging out
and they talked to me like, "Man it must be cool to do what you do."
And I think, "If that's not a full circle, I don't know what is."
[CROWD CHEERING]
I've already told you once, I'll tell you again I'm living proof,
step outside the box, defy everybody, and chase your dreams.
This is for everybody who says, "No."
♪ But somehow the highs outweigh the lows ♪
♪ And I'd do it all again even though we both know ♪
♪ I'd still have to let you go ♪
Because of my manager, Howie, because of Trent,
mostly because of my wife, Brandi,
they've shaped me into being this man that I am.
My life's about the journey of getting to where I am now
and for the first time in my life I can't wait for the next chapter.
[BRANDI] We have such a unique lifestyle and I just
I pray that as we're living with someone leaning on the fast-forward button
that we're able to soak it all in and we get to the end of this
and we take a deep breath and look at each other and say,
"Wow, here we are, we made it."
[CODY] And listen, if all this stops tomorrow, if this is it,
what a ride. I don't have any regrets
and if they told me, "Cody you're done, go home to your wife and kids."
I'm gonna do it with a smile.
♪ Dear rodeo
♪♪
[CODY] You guys ready?
♪ Dear rodeo
♪ I'd be lying if I tried to tell you I don't think about you ♪
♪ After all the miles and the wild nights that we've been through ♪
♪ Lord knows we had a few
♪ Dear rodeo
♪ I'd like to say that I took the reigns and rode away ♪
♪ No regrets, no 'left unsaid's just turned the page ♪
♪ Oh but you know better, babe
♪ Between the 'almost had em's and the broken bones ♪
♪ The dream of a buckle I'll never put on I'm jaded ♪
♪ Woah I hate it
♪ Somehow the highs outweigh the lows ♪
♪ And I'd do it all again even though we both know ♪
♪ I'd still have to let you go ♪
♪ So dear rodeo
♪ I try like hell to tell myself it was all your fault ♪
♪ I held on tight with all my might I just couldn't hang on ♪
♪ And that's hard to hang your hat on ♪
♪ Between the 'almost had em's and the broken bones ♪
♪ The dream of a buckle I'll never put on I'm jaded ♪
♪ Woah how I hate it ♪
♪ And somehow the highs ♪
♪ Outweigh the lows and I'd do it ♪
♪ All again even though
♪ We both know
♪ I'd have to let you go ♪
♪ So dear rodeo
♪ I'd like to think you'd miss
♪ Me too but I know you don't
♪ Oh but that don't change the
♪ Past and that don't change the truth ♪
♪ That I'm still in love with you ♪
♪ Dear rodeo
♪♪
[CLAPPING] -[MAN] My man! -[CODY] Whew.