On Friday, January 19th, Cody Wickline performs at the Sweet Shoppe in downtown Lewisburg, WV.  Cody is a singer/song writer from the mountains of Southern West Virginia.  He is the grandson of a coal miner who taught Cody to love country music. Growing up Cody loved listening to Waylon Jennings, Hank (Williams) Sr., and George Jones.   While in nursing school Cody was contacted by NBC’s “The Voice” and asked to audition.  After much discussion with his family he decided to audition.  Cody decided to sing “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones for his blind audition. All four coaches turned their chairs around. He chose Blake as his coach.  Cody’s rendition brought immediate attention from country music fans all over the world.

Cody found his love of music when he and a friend needed to do a project for their Spanish Class.  They decided to compose a song in Spanish.  Cody sang the song for class and before the day was over he had sung the song in classrooms all over the school.  That is when Cody discovered that he had an ability to be a singer.  Encouraged by his dad, Cody taught himself how to play the guitar at 16.  He began writing songs and recording music videos.  He entered some competitions and began winning many.  His success included winning talent contests, first at the high school level, then during a local radio station’s “Texaco Country Showdown.” That led to an invitation to sing at the station for about an hour, at least once a month, for several months.

Cody has spent the year and a half since being on “The Voice” opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd, JoDee Messina, and John Michael Montgomery, performing at the opening of the George Jones museum, and performing every weekend around the country and area at venues and numerous fairs in festivals.  In May 2015 he headlined his own show at The Raleigh County Convention Center.  He played twice at Jamboree in the Hills, and performed at the WV State Fair.  Cody’s passion is music and entertaining his audiences.  His “Son of a Working Man” tour has played festivals and other venues throughout Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.  “l love playing in West Virginia and going to fairs I haven’t been to before,” he said. “Small towns are always really appreciative. It always makes you feel good to be able to play for your neighbors.”

Cody’s version of the George Jones classic “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was soulful and unique and captured the attention of the judges and garnered a standing ovation from the crowd almost immediately.  His rendition is the number 4 best performance in the history of NBC’s the VOICE.  Jones’s widow, Nancy, approved of Wickline’s rendition of her late husband’s legendary tune. After his performance aired on “The Voice,” she reached out to him. “She called my house and that was really cool getting a phone call from Nancy Jones,” Wickline said. “She told me that George would have been proud of the way I sang his song and that means a lot coming from her. He released his first album in February 2016.  The CD is a collaboration of Wickline and Billy Yates bringing traditional country back to mainstream country fans.  Four of the songs’ are originals by Wickline, one being the CD title “Son of a Working Man”.  Wickline’s combination of traditional and outlaw country is bringing rave review from fans.

Cody is busy working on a second album.  “Hopefully, we’ll have that done and ready to release next year,” said Wickline about the album that remains an empty canvas, but has a great deal of thought behind it.  “I want this album to be a reflection of who I am as an artist and who I am as a person,” he said. “I was really pleased with my first album and it’s been going really good.”  As of September 19th, ‘Son of a Working Man’ — the single — has been No. 1 on the new country artist charts for eight weeks breaking the old record. 

Don’t miss Cody at the Sweet Shoppe this January! He is scheduling tour dates for his debut album Son of a Working Man.  To book a concert please contact codywicklinemusic@yahoo.com or go to his website at CodyWicklineMusic.com.  He also has a Facebook account at Cody Wickline (Music Page) and a Twitter account @cody_wickline.

– HashtagWV #97 January 2018.