Cody Jinks Brings Old School Country Music to Little Rock

by Julian Spivey
In early June fans attending the annual Riverfest music festival in Little Rock were disappointed when Texas Outlaw Country singer-songwriter Cody Jinks had to cancel last second due to a weather-related equipment malfunction. Jinks more than made up for this cancellation with a mostly free show (pit and lawn seating) on Friday, August 25 at First Security Amphitheater in Little Rock.
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Proving he’s a performer of the fans Jinks stood by the stage for at least 30 minutes prior to his show to sign autographs and take photos with patrons, which is something you don’t typically see from musicians, especially for that length of time.
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The show was opened by Monticello, Ark. native Ward Davis who I had never heard, but had heard good things about from fellow country bloggers. After seeing his 45-minute-or-so opening set he’s someone I’ll surely be looking forward to when he releases new music. Highlights from his set included “15 Years in a 10 Year Town,” from his 2015 debut of the same name, about struggling to make it as a musician in Nashville. My favorite original performance of his set was a new song he co-wrote with his close friend Jinks earlier this year and hopefully will appear on his next album called “Colorado.” It is a shame though that many in attendance chose to talk and party rather than listen to this wonderful song. Davis filled his set with numerous fantastic covers starting with Tom Petty’s “Something Big” before thrilling the crowd with The Highwaymen’s “Highwayman,” joined on stage by Jinks for Johnny Cash’s verse, and Cash’s “Big River.” Davis would set his guitar aside for the keyboard for his closing cover of Ronnie Milsap’s “Stranger in My House,” which he somehow made sound cooler than it is.

Jinks has only released three country albums over the last few years, but he’s such a talented songwriter and performer that his discography has enough great tunes for an almost two-hour set of terrific music. He began his set with “No Guarantees,” one of the highlights off last year’s I’m Not the Devil, which charted at No. 4 on the Billboard country albums chart despite Jinks receiving absolutely no airplay from country radio stations too afraid to play actual country music.

Jinks would showcase this real country music all night long with more terrific songs from his most recent album like “She’s Still Mine,” which would’ve been a No. 1 hit in the ‘90s no doubt, “No Words” and “Give All You Can.”

One of Jinks’ early fan-favorites on Friday night was “David,” off his 2015 release Adobe Sessions, which is one of the few tear-jerkers in his repertoire, though probably too sad for its own good. It gets a little too much when the titular character dies in a truck accident only to have his mom the ER nurse when he’s DOA. I admit I’m in the minority of Jinks fans who feel this way.

Some highlights from the Adobe Sessions performed on Friday night included “Mamma Song,” “Birds” and “Cast No Stones,” which turned into a nice sing-along moment for the crowd.

Like Davis before him, Jinks’ set included a few excellent cover choices of Hank Williams Jr.’s “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound,” Merle Haggard’s “The Way I Am,” which he covered on I’m Not the Devil, and his most recent single a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” an inspiring choice.

Three of my favorite performances on Friday came from last year’s release of I’m Not the Devil: the title track, which was co-written with Davis and featured Davis taking a verse on stage. “I’m Not the Devil” appeared at No. 20 on this website’s annual Best Country/Americana Songs list last year. “Vampires” and “Chase That Song,” both also appearing on that same list, were also favorites of the night. Those songs make me realize that Jinks is perhaps one of the most literary singer-songwriters in the country genre with references to J.D. Salinger and Ray Bradbury that I really dig.

Jinks ended his set with a fantastic performance of “Loud & Heavy” from Adobe Sessions, which ended up in another crowd sing-along moment. Jinks didn’t make fans wait too long for his encore saying, “Y’all waited two months for this show I won’t make you wait any longer for an encore.” He then performed the deeply personal “Rock & Roll,” which is sort of a tune about how he left the harder rock sound behind for country music. He finished the night with a performance about two of his favorite people, “Hippies & Cowboys.”

If you’re a fan of old school country music who’s grown disgruntled and let-down by country radio today I can’t stress how much you should seek out Jinks’ music. You’ll find just because country radio has left you behind it doesn’t mean the real artists out there have, as well. 

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