Cody Jinks

Listening to Cody Jinks’ moody country, it’s easy to hear that he comes from a heavy music tradition. Born in 1980 and raised in Haltom City, a suburb of Fort Worth, the Texas songwriter’s first foray into music was as lead singer and lead guitarist in the thrash-metal band Unchecked Aggression. When he returned to the country music he’d grown up on, he traded in the snarling amps for acoustic guitar, but his songs lost none of their weight. Jinks’ third album, 2010’s Less Wise, established his husky baritone as a powerful vessel for twang-laden laments about the passage of time, unrequited love, and “raising hell with the hippies and the cowboys.” Even among modern outlaw country singers, Jinks occupies his own particular space, carved out by the combination of a low-rumbling vocal style that recalls pioneers of the genre and his deeply traditional arrangements. He sounded bigger and more lonesome than ever when he broke through with 2016’s I’m Not the Devil, his voice echoing through the title track with a mysterious story about dark misdeeds. His songwriting took on deeper dimensions in late 2019 when he released two records, After the Fire and The Wanting, in quick succession. Through gloomy honky-tonk, the former, Jinks told Apple Music, addresses the sadder side of life, while the latter finds him “coming up for air.” Even at his lightest, Jinks’ trademark heaviness remains.