After finding success as an independent country artist, Cody Johnson released Ain’t Nothin’ to It, his major-label debut, in 2019. His star has only risen from there. Recently, the 37-year-old Texan celebrated his third No. 1 hit with “Dirt Cheap,” off his 2023 album Leather. Although Johnson described the song as “ultimately unapologetically me” to American Songwriter’s Cindy Watts, “Dirt Cheap” was originally intended for a different country star. And it sounds like Luke Combs is still kicking himself for passing it by.
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Luke Combs Passed on “Dirt Cheap”
Penned by Josh Phillips, “Dirt Cheap” sees an elderly cotton farmer refusing to sell his land to a railroad company looking to complete the right of way for a new subdivision. The company promises the farmer that he “can leave town a rich man” if he just accepts their offers. But the older man insists, “Boys, whatever you’re offerin’, it won’t be enough.“
Keep your money ’cause a man can’t leave his dog, Johnson sings. And over there is where I got down on one knee / You can’t buy that kind of dirt cheap.
The song has clearly struck a chord with country music audiences, giving Johnson the third No. 1 hit of his career. And it turns out, Luke Combs’ loss is Johnson’s gain. Phillips intended for the song to go to the “Fast Car” singer. After Combs nixed it, the songwriter’s wife suggested he send it Johnson’s way.
“He didn’t click on it,” Johnson said during a recent interview with Country Countdown USA. “So here’s to you Luke!”
“Everything Happens For a Reason”
Combs recognized the title after Johnson released it. “I talked about it afterwards, he had some choice words to say about ‘Dirt Cheap,’” said the “Human” singer. “I said, ‘Everything happens for a reason.’”
While “Dirt Cheap” would have been in capable hands with Luke Combs, the song truly does feel destined for CoJo. The “‘Til You Can’t” singer lives on a 7,800-square-foot ranch house in East Texas with wife Brandi and their two daughters.
“I am that old man in that song,” Johnson said on Country Countdown USA. “The ranch mentality is very different. I’ve already got the oak tree picked out where I’m going to be buried. I want my grandkids to own this land.”
Featured image by Rob Latour/Shutterstock
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