Cody Johnson‘s got two songs, “The Painter” and “Dirt Cheap,” up for Music Video of the Year at the CMA Awards.

However, Cody is in a pickle about picking a favorite since both videos are special to him for different reasons.

“Both of them are great. You know, obviously ‘The Painter’ is a huge tribute to my love and affection for my wife and how she’s stood beside me through thick and thin. I think we’ve been through just about everything a married couple can go through,” Cody tells ABC Audio.

“We were just discussing this the other day. She sent me a picture of, like, our first date. I went, ‘You know, what a crazy, wonderful, painful, beautiful, ugly, wonderful thing this has been, like this journey, like, look where we’re at now.’ And so ‘The Painter’ holds a little bit of a soft spot in my heart,” he says.

“But for ‘Dirt Cheap,’ I would have to say, having my good friend and mentor Mr. Red Steagall in the video playing the older gentleman, the farmer, that was pretty damn special to me,” shares Cody.

Cody’s also up for the night’s biggest award, Entertainer of the Year — and it’s one the real-life cowboy’s got his eyes on.

“That’s the one I’ve always wanted. I mean, if you’re rodeoing you don’t want a buckle, you want the gold buckle,” the Texas native says. “And so I think that Entertainer of the Year is something that I’ve always wanted personally.”

“However, I don’t let that define my success,” Cody adds. “I don’t let that define my drive or my ambitions for my career. But it sure would be nice.” 

The 2024 CMAs air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu.

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