Cody Cotton didn’t just pick up music along the way—he grew into it until it became a part of his identity.
Raised in Blue, Texas, he’s been playing and recording since he was fifteen — though the listening started earlier, on tapes and records his older sister had, from the Eagles and ZZ Top’s Eliminator back through Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Howlin’ Wolf. Guitar lessons in Lexington with Faith Gibbs, who with her husband Steve Williford put him on to Freddie King, turned into playing with their band in his later teens.
He helped found 5 Mile, winning the 2005 Texas Music Awards Rising Star Award, with a Song of the Year nomination for “Leave Me a Lone Star,” a song Cody wrote. He played lead guitar with the Allen Lee Band longer than with any other group, and plays harmonica today with Janky, as a duo and with the Juke Joint Boys. He’s also recorded and produced other singer-songwriters and full bands, live and in studio, and built a deep connection with North Mississippi cotton patch soul blues and hill country blues musicians.
Worship has run through it all since 2009 — four churches, plus camps, retreats, conferences, and MPACT missions, including six years at a cowboy church. A solo set is usually to entertain; worship is focused on God and praising Him. Sometimes, though, a solo set turns into a mini worship set when the audience wants to go that way.
Now, at 49, Cody is releasing music under his own name for the first time: a five-song EP waterfall from his own CottonMowfth Studios, starting with “Love Don’t Come Around Here,” a co-write with Tres Womack, then “Rich Man” on November 27 — a personal song about family, about money not ruling you, with his daughter Kaylin on bass and vocals.
In the background, quietly, is the teacher in him: a private lessons teacher for several years, and middle school choir and music teacher, 2024–2026.