Shadowing Practice: Cody Johnson - The Leather (Deluxe) Interview | Apple Music - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Before we move on to record, I do want to just hear about the morning when all the CMA nominations came out.

I'm so disassociated when I get home that I rarely know what's going on.

So, like, my phone just blew up, and I was working on my place and getting stuff done.

I think we had roped that morning, worked some horses, and I was like, man, who died?

Yeah.

Oh, it seems like it should be bad news.

Did COVID hit again?

You know, like, my phone, I've got 47 text messages.

And then I start opening it and it's all the balloons and the confetti Congratulations, and I called Brandy and I was like what am I being congratulated for?

She's like you just got nominated for five CMAs.

I was like, oh sweet.

What are they?

You know what I mean?

Male book list of the year, album of the year, single of the year, music video of the year.

Damn!

Yeah, it's a lot.

Yeah, you know the two that I'm the most proud of are for the songs, you know, Dirt Cheap and The Painter But that goes to the writers and that award doesn't go to me, but like I always wanted to be a songwriter

and so like that's the coolest award ever like

when you're getting to help songwriters do their thing like I'm

I get to be the vessel kind of it's really cool I love

that I love the way you framed

that in both of those songs too I think it's just interesting like it's interesting

that on an album like Leather where they're where Dirt Cheap

and The Painter those are both kind of the those are like the serious contenders right yeah

and it's just cool that both of them end up getting to have a moment.

I try to take a very athletic standpoint to what I do.

So like if you want to be the best quarterback, like I want to approach this like Tom Brady.

I want to approach this like Conor McGregor or Michael Jordan.

Like when we're in the game, I'm here to win.

Yeah.

And I'm here to be the best and I'm here to dominate.

Now get outside the game.

I love our country music family and there's nothing I wouldn't do for any one of my friends.

And when they won an award over me, I'm genuinely happy.

Like, really, I'm like, heck yeah, she won.

Or heck yeah, he won, you know.

But when we're in the game on stage, I'm here to be the best.

And when it comes to putting a record together or picking the songs, like, I really, I'm here to try to clear all the air.

Like, I don't know, because I want to be around forever.

Yeah.

I mean, I, that kind of level of competitiveness speaks to me personally, but also, I mean, hard to not connect it to your past as a rodeo guy too.

Yeah, I think that has a lot to do with it.

And I still, you know, I'm still roping and rodeoing and doing all that.

And sometimes I win and sometimes I just get my ass kicked.

Wait, okay, so can you explain?

I'm obviously like, I'm a Nashville girl.

So I'm like, I'm a city girl.

But I'm like, you know, Nashville is Nashville.

So it is, it's country and city.

But I didn't grow up around any of these kinds of sports.

You're still actively competing?

Yeah.

What?

Yeah, like that.

I won this buckle this year.

What?

Yeah.

What does it say?

Brazos Valley Classic Champion.

Okay.

Yeah, but it's team roping.

What is that?

So you got one guy that comes out and the steer is released and there's two horses, two guys, and you have one guy catches the head and the horns,

turns him, and one guy catches the feet.

Whoever does that the fastest wins.

And usually it's like a four steer average of what your time is.

And it's pretty competitive.

And the reason why I like it so much is because it's five mines.

It's this guy and his horse, this guy and his horse, and then there's a steer.

And there's so many variables right there.

So when it does work and you win a buckle or you win a little paycheck, it's like everything was perfect that day.

And then you have days where it's like the header where you catch every steer and then every single healer misses.

And you call your wife and she's like, how did you rope?

And I'm like, I roped great.

Yeah.

But I didn't win anything.

That's hard too.

You ought to ask my wife about team roper math.

Yeah, that's fascinating.

I'm like, hey, I won $30,000.

She's like, no, you didn't.

You were pulling a $150,000 trailer, pulling a $75,000 horse.

You didn't win anything.

I'm like, I know, but it was fun.

Okay, there are three co-writes on this album, three places that you show up as a writer.

I'm always a little bit intrigued, just like, oh, interesting.

Like, this is what was coming out of your brain.

What the hell is going on in Georgia Peach?

Oh Like I have tried to just I think I finally discerned this story, but I'm like this is fascinating It was an accident.

Okay, so a friend of mine who will remain nameless Randy Mayer

Brings us this jug of its its brass line copper steel sure enough Georgia Moonshine, but it's got peaches in it and it's dangerous because

it's so good it's so sweet but if you drink about

that much of it you're going to be in a bind uh

so after a show one night we were in Georgia

and uh started drinking these peaches me

and my guitar player Jake Mears my band leader

and fiddle player uh Jody Bartula were sitting on the bus

and we all get to we get pulling on this jug of these peaches

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and I just had we had our our guitars out and stuff.

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And I just said, Georgia peaches, Georgia peaches.

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They'll tear you all to pieces once you run them through that copper line.

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And I'm sitting there playing it and Jake's kind of playing on his banjo.

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And I looked around, I was like, and they're burning down the county.

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Still ain't nobody found me looking for that man that's been running shine.

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And it just kind of, the story just fell out.

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I love it.

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I have no, I had no idea where that story was going.

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My wife goes, Brandy says, did you put Jesus and methamphetamines in the same song?

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I was like, yeah.

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Yeah, baby.

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Well, because I was thinking, I was like, you know, now it ain't no big deal.

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But, I mean, 30, 40 years ago or more, running moonshine was a bad deal, right?

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Nobody cares now.

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You know, it's not a big deal.

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Why?

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Well, thanks to those methamphetamines, nobody's worried about the moonshine.

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And it was like, it just, the story fell out.

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That's so fun.

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Okay, then we go from, like, you know, Georgia Peaches, which is an absolute great time,

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to the doozy that is I Wish It Was You.

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So Hardy, Michael Hardy, sends me this song.

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And the demo was like, you remember the song Hey There, Delilah?

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That's what it was like.

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Shoulda left that last phone on the bar.

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That's what the demo sounded like?

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And I was like, I was so enthralled with the lyrics.

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But my deal was this guy in this song is miserable.

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He screwed his life up.

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There's no chance of getting her back.

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And he's drowning in a bottle and he's going, hey.

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I did it.

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I wished it was you.

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Sorry.

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I screwed up.

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It was late.

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I was drunk.

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I was drunk.

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And I wished it was you.

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And so I picked up my guitar and I was like, I just want, this guy's sad.

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It needs to sound sad.

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You know, the Grand Tour by George Jones is sad.

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You know, he stopped loving her today.

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It's sad.

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And so I tried to paint melodically this guy to be what he is.

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It's Merle Haggard, Misery and Gin.

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And whenever Hardy and his co-writer came by the studio, they were like, where did you get this from?

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I was like, well, the guy y'all wrote about was really messed up.

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This needed to sound sad.

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It needed to feel that way.

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So that's where that came from.

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Okay.

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I got the chance to hear.

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I just randomly went to a writer's round at the Bluebird, which I'm so cynical anymore.

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I hardly get to do.

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Yeah.

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And Kelly Archer was there.

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And she performed it was the week after I'm gonna love you with Carrie Underwood came out

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and I'm I'm been saying this is a song This is song of the year.

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This is a major hope you're right.

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Y'all heard it here first You know y'all have to be saying it to y'all have to be thinking it.

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I mean, this is a massive massive song

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And she's telling the story about them writing it

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and it was just like what's a Boring title

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that we could just write the shit out of I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna love you Yeah, and then they just wrote it They wrote the shit out of it.

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I think it's amazing because it's so simple Yes, this is gonna happen and this is gonna happen

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and this is gonna happen But I'm gonna love you

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and then this is gonna happen and this is gonna happen

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and I'm gonna love you It's like but that's kind of the basis of like marriage

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It's just so simple like we we overthink Relationships we overthink marriages and all this stuff.

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It's like dude no matter what happens.

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I'm just I'm gonna love you And that's that's I think it's beautiful and the way that hooked melodically that

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I don't know whether that was Kelly or whether that was Travis, but that's the coolest melody ever So it sounds like this song had been in your orbit for a second.

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Okay, so my story on the song is

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Travis had played me this song when we were out doing some shows together

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And I was like I'm in love with this song like please let me have this song

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and this was when I was cutting human

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so Universal says this is going to be a single on Travis's record and I never heard of it again

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unbeknownst to me Travis is not a single

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so he pitches it to Carrie goes in Carrie's pile doesn't make Carrie's cut

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so it goes back out right

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and Travis had even talked about maybe him doing it as

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a duet with Carrie still I don't know this I'm completely oblivious to this

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so when we come around to leather I'm like what was

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that song that Travis pitched me that one time that like him and Kelly Archer wrote this, like I'm gonna

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It's I'm gonna love you so we get it

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and as soon as I hear it I go Carrie it's Carrie Underwood Well, but what about what if we can't get care what about her

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or what about her and I'm like that's great It has to be Carrie Underwood

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or I'm not cutting the song

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So then whenever I finally talked to Carrie she's like well

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everything happens for a reason like this is the second time

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The song has been put in front of me like really so I hear her version of the story Yeah, yeah, and I'm like it was just meant to be

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The other freaky thing about this song is y'all should not sound that good together.

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It's really weird It's like kin harmony.

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I said this in an interview earlier.

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I grew up singing with my parents.

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We called it family harmony Yes, like so Jake and Jody we've but we've all been singing together for over a decade We have family harmony.

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I can do something completely different and they just jump to me.

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They already know yeah, so It's interesting because Carrie said two things.

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I don't do is love songs and and low register.

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So like when we were tracking it, I called her and she was listening and I'm like, do we need to go step up?

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Do we need to go step down as far as key?

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Are you good with the production tempo and all this?

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And so she kind of signed off on it and I was like, all right, cool.

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Then when we got into seeing it, I'd already done my vocals.

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So she comes in the studio, she does her vocals.

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And when we got to the end of it.

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Are you there?

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I don't miss a beat in the studio.

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Like that's, I'm very, very, very hands in the mud on this stuff my fingers on all of it.

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And it just like, I don't know what it, it wasn't a look of like disappointment on her face, but it was just like this.

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It was like, hmm.

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I'm like, what are you, what are you not liking?

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Like, what's not, what's wrong?

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Cause I'm kind of like, oh gosh, it wasn't, it didn't have the boom panicking.

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It didn't have well.

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And I'm sitting there going like, we're both professionals, you know what I'm sitting there?

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Like for me, it doesn't have that thing either.

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And I'm like, I don't know what do you, she's like, what if we just sing it live?

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I'm like that's a great idea to each other.

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Yeah So we went in opposite sides of glass just like you

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and I are sitting and we sang it live and that's what's on the record That's what you're hearing is one take.

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Stop it.

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I swear to God and but the cool part was is now We're sitting there singing.

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I could see her

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When she's gonna breathe and she's watching me for what so that part in the bridge that mmm

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That was completely ad-libbed but we're sitting there being able to look at each other and going you're gonna go All right, I'm gonna go with you.

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And it was so organic.

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So it was like singing in church

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And afterwards I was like now that that was it like

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that was the take that's the one So here's the thing that that makes sense to me.

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But when I hear this performance It is

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so masterfully precise It just doesn't even feel like it could

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be a live vocal like that's crazy I mean obviously in

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the studio there's gonna be some you know some mic pops

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that they edit or like there was a S that wasn't time.

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Yeah.

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But no, that's nuts.

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But it was crazy.

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And we did it the one time.

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I was like, I'm pretty sure we just got what we needed.

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And Trent Willman and Jack Clark are sitting there going.

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Yeah.

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We got it.

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Yes.

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Like, just get out of there.

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You're fired.

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Get out of the booth.

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I love it so much.

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But, you know, like, afterwards, you know, I wanted to make sure she was happy with it.

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And she's like, dude, it's your song.

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Like, of course I'm happy with it.

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And I think this song for me, It's just one of my favorite songs I get to show

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off a little bit I think for her we hear a different side of Carrie's vocal

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That is so freaking It's my favorite side of her vocal

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That sultry Aretha Franklin thing I see it almost like it's like the caramel part Of her tone

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If that makes sense And it's a little warmer And a little darker

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But still just as precise And just as controlled

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I thought it was great And she's been so gracious Even through the creation of the music video worked with me for, I mean, we sat in that studio for 12 hours and never,

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never weakened, did everything with a smile on her face.

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And I'm like, dude, thank you.

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Like you didn't have to do that.

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You know, I think I would assume that their team sees this as a big song too.

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I mean, it's not just a favor to a buddy.

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This is, I mean, and I know there's a lot of mutual respect there, but this is a big song.

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Carrie and I are not, and before this, we're not like besties and all that stuff.

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Like, but we've known each other.

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I remember the night we met at an award show, I think it's 2022.

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And I went to the hotel room and I was, because we sat next to each other.

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And I told my wife, I was like, she was like really nice.

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She said, yeah.

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She's so kind.

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I was like, you seem like such a cool person, you know.

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And I still haven't gotten to meet her husband yet, but apparently we have a lot in common.

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And I'd like to go hunting if you're watching this.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Let's make it happen.

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If you're listening, I'd like to go hunting.

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But yeah, it was one of those things that we kind of really developed our friendship over the song, which I think is very special too.

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That's kind of how it happened for me and Reba too.

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And now Reba's one of my besties.

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The album closes on the Mustang.

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This is another one of the co-write that one of your rights.

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This is one of those songs that

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Well one it's just deep mm-hmm Like and everybody is not gonna feel this way about offense

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right right but I Happen to think that when Well, I want why don't you set up with the song?

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I wanted to hear your take on it I was just gonna say

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that inside having full freedom inside of a boundary is a really beautiful thing

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and it provides safety and Like I think it's one of the ways

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that God cares for us I remember on my wedding day Our pastor from colleges who married us

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and he said you're about to watch two people do the riskiest and safest thing in the world.

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That's a great way to put it.

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Wow.

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And so obviously, I mean, I interpret this song as kind of that moment, the come to Jesus moment.

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Okay.

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But I'd like to hear what it is, what it's about for you.

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So Wes Bayless, who is the lead singer of the Steelwoods, which is one of my favorite bands ever.

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So he sent this song to me and it was at a time.

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Let me say this first.

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I am not a perfect person.

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If you back me in a corner, I will fight my way out.

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I have no problem telling you what's on my mind.

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And sometimes it's I have to apologize for the things I say.

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You know, I like a good cocktail.

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I'm not a I'm not a preacher.

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OK.

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But I had reached a point in my life as just a man, as just a man.

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But, you know, as a husband as well, where I feel like I'd hit rock bottom where I'm like, I'm looking in the mirror and I really don't like what I'm seeing.

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You know, like, how do I change the way I think?

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How do I change my habits?

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How do I change my triggers that go back to that person that I don't want to be?

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You know, because when I was a young, when I was a young man, I was, I was pretty wild.

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Like, and I know people are going to be like, what?

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When I say this, but very, very well could have wound up in prison.

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pretty wildcat.

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Um, and nobody could tell me anything.

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Um, so I was, I was questioning a lot of things about myself and felt like if I talked to God,

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like I'm not worthy anyway, he's probably not listening anyway.

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You know, who would want to listen to me?

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And, uh, then I felt like a hypocrite too.

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Cause you get on stage and everybody's like, Oh my God, Cody Johnson, you're so awesome.

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Like, dude, if you only really knew, you know, the, the mental stuff and the, and the stuff that's going on.

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And so I was in this funk, man.

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And Wes sends me this song.

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And at 30, I'm 37 now, but at 36, it clicked because I own horses.

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This metaphor of this Mustang, you see a Mustang running wild and free across the prairie.

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Well, he has to worry about predators.

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He has to worry about his own safety, his own health.

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He has to worry about all that.

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And it's all about him.

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And he's got to worry about all this stuff to keep himself.

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But my horses on my place that are inside that fence have the best food.

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They have the cleanest water.

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They have the cleanest stalls.

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They get brushed.

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They get exercised.

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They get corrected too.

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So I've got a certain horse that every now and then he wants to, he wants to really run off.

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I've got a certain bit.

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You know, the bit is what goes in their mouth.

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It's pretty aggressive.

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And I only break that out whenever he decides he wants to go do too much.

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And when I put that bit in his mouth and I give him one of these, it's an ouch.

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Okay.

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okay that hurt I'm gonna stop then you take that bit out

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and you put the soft bit back in his mouth

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and say okay now that you're listening

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and it clicked it uh it clicked for me that God does

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that with us you know for me for a lot of

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years he just let me run off fine you want to run run see how you do on your own

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and then and you're like ow

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that hurt like why am I going through all this stuff

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because I'm trying to save you I'm trying to trying to put you in this fence where you'll be safe

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and you'll be free.

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Once you're in this fence, you're free.

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There's a freedom to it.

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And when that metaphor clicked to me, I called Wes and I was like, hey, why'd you send me this?

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He's like, man, I just had you on my mind and, you know, and just, I really felt like you would relate to this song.

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And I'm like, please, please let me have it.

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And he was kind enough to make me a writer on it because I changed a few things here and there, but I'm not really a writer on it.

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All the credit goes to Wes, but the story in this song was just, it changed my life For sure.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 362 sentences and 3889 words to shadow. The speech runs for 18:38. The speaker talks fast, about 209 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

peach /ˈpiːt͡ʃ/ (noun) — Any tree of species Prunus persica, native to China and now widely cultivated throughout temperate regions, having pink flowers and edible fruit.
vocal /ˈvoʊ̯.kəl/ (adjective) — Of, pertaining to, or resembling the human voice or speech.
rope /ɹoʊp/ (noun) — Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.
steer /stɪɹ/ (verb) — To guide the course of a vessel, vehicle, aircraft etc. (by means of a device such as a rudder, paddle, or steering wheel).
guitar /ɡɪˈtɑɹ/ (noun) — A stringed musical instrument, of European origin, usually with a fretted fingerboard and six strings, played with the fingers or a plectrum (guitar pick).
fence /fɛns/ (noun) — A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.
harmony /ˈhɑ̟ɹ.mə.ni/ (noun) — Agreement or accord.
pitch /pɪt͡ʃ/ (noun) — A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand.
afterwards /ˈæf.tɚ.wɚdz/ (adverb) — At a later or succeeding time; after that;
leather /ˈlɛðɚ/ (noun) — A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing; often denotes leather from cattle when no qualifier…
copper /ˈkɒpə/ (noun) — A reddish-brown metallic chemical element (symbol Cu) with the atomic number 29; also, the metal made up of this element.
precise /pɹɪˈsaɪs/ (adjective) — Both exact and accurate.
demo /ˈdɛm.oʊ/ (noun) — A demonstration or visual explanation.
heck /hɛk/ — Hell.
metaphor /ˈmɛt.ə.fɚ/ (noun) — The use of a word, phrase, concept, or set of concepts to refer to something other than its literal meaning, invoking an implicit similarity between the thing…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

come out /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ (verb) — To be discovered; to be revealed.
fall out (verb) — To come out of something by falling.
get out of (verb) — To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
go in (verb) — To become obscured by clouds.
go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verb) — To continue in extent.
grow up (verb) — To mature and become an adult.
run off (verb) — To flee or depart quickly.
back in (verb) — To reverse a vehicle into a space.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 151 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, gonna, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: leather /ˈlɛðɚ/, worthy /ˈwɝ.ði/, breathe /bɹiːð/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, athletic /æθˈlɛt.ɪk/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, brush /bɹʌʃ/, shine /ʃaɪn/, nomination /ˌnɑmɪˈneɪʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, miserable /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/, nomination /ˌnɑmɪˈneɪʃən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like peach, vocal, rope.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	If you're listening, I'd like
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	being congratulated · is released · was drunk
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have tried · has been put · she's been
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	Peaches, which is · Steelwoods, which is

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →