Cody Johnson Covered Merle Haggard For a Powerful Reason

Cody Johnson's new rendition of Merle Haggard's "Footlights" was timed to come out on the late legend's birthday — which also happens to be the day he died.

But that's not even the most powerful part of why Johnson covered this song.

It's not even the fact that Johnson won the ACM's Merle Haggard Spirit Award in 2025, or the fact that Johnson had his guitar autographed by Haggard before he died in 2016 (although that's getting closer!)

Why Did Cody Johnson Cover Merle Haggard's "Footlights"?

Haggard is one of Johnson's all-time biggest country music influences.

"When I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm frustrated, when I'm anything in between, Merle has sang the soundtrack to my life," Johnson recounted in an interview with RFD-TV in early 2026. "He's still the only artist that's ever passed away that I've cried like it was a family member."

Read More: The Top 10 Merle Haggard Songs

Haggard is so important to Johnson, in fact, that he's passed his love for his music down to his kids. Both of the singer's daughters have a Merle Haggard song that's special to them, between them and their dad.

"My song to my daughter Clara is 'My Favorite Memory,' and my song to my daughter Cori is 'The Farmer's Daughter,'" Johnson continues. "So it's like, Merle is just a part of our family and always will be."

"It's to the point where my kids have asked, 'When can we go see Merle Haggard in concert?' Because I play it so much," he says elsewhere in the interview.

Hear Cody Johnson's Cover of Merle Haggard's "Footlights"

"Footlights" is also a poignant choice, since it's about life as an entertainer who's starting to get a little older, but still giving audiences a heck of a show.

Haggard's original starts off with the line, "I live the kind of life that most men only dream of / I make my living writing songs and singing them / But I'm 41 years old and I / Ain't got no place to go when it's over."

Johnson swapped out the age to reflect his own age — 38 — in his cover version, emphasizing how personal this song is.

30 Outlaw Country Songs That Define The Movement

With its roots in the '60s and the honky-tonk style forged by Hank Williams, outlaw country music began to snowball in the '70s as more and more artists bristled against the genre's commercialism, social conventions and the slick and shiny "Nashville Sound."

Though some artists like Johnny Paycheck and David Allan Coe had served jail time before their success, the "outlaw" label applied more broadly to those artists who rejected the status quo in Nashville. Many of the definitive songs of the movement speak directly to that rebellion, while others simply embody an artist-driven, independent musical vision that sidestepped Nashville's country hit formula of the day.

Keep reading for a round-up of 30 songs that define the outlaw country movement.

Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak