Album Review- Cody Jinks - Change the Game

It’s probably not possible to listen to the new Cody Jinks album Change the Game without thinking how the country radio landscape has changed in the 9 years since Jinks released his well regarded Adobe Sessions and the 3 years since his last new record. 

There’s critically acclaimed Zach Bryan, critically loathed Morgan Wallen and rapper turned Country superstar Jelly Roll- as big as any three stars in the genre. They have moved the needle from the so called Bro Country and party anthems to more introspective and personal lyrics. Things Cody Jinks has been doing for over a decade. So even in the hyperbolic entertainment industry, I will allow that Jinks did what he claims in the title track. 

The shift in country music is in debt in part to Jinks. To either his credit or detriment, Jinks did do it all on his own largely outside of the industry. He has a rabid following but he never got the radio hit that someone like Chris Stapleton and others did. Jinks doesn’t really sound “like” Bryan. As a metal singer turned outlaw country act, Jinks is probably as rock oriented as he is related to something on country radio. He’s similar to Copperhead Road -era Steve Earle in that aspect. (To further prove this point, Jinks covers “Take this Bottle” from Faith No More’s 1995 King for a Day Fool for a Lifetime album).

Online fan reviews seem to be tethered to the fact that his early albums were so good and that he won’t be able to top them. That’s a problem practically every artist will hear but Change the Game has some strong songs that make it stand out and I think (as do the online crowd) that you would have to go back 4 albums to 2018s Lifers to find an album as good. And it is a good album but it’s positive and negative is its ambition. Songs like the title track and I Can’t Complain are standouts but elsewhere, songs like Working Man seem like an attempt to connect with a radio audience. That is okay. 

It is not a bad album and the fact that someone with a similar vibe like Tyler Childers can get airplay means Jinks isn’t unwilling to try. This is also Jinks first record going sober. There are a few songs on here about that and they are my least favorite, though that’s probably coincidence- opening track Sober Thing is strong lyrically and Take this Bottle- a duet with Meat Loaf’s daughter Pearl Aday is just too commercial radio for me It probably sounds like I am describing Change the Game as a mixed bag, but I rather like it. Jinks is eleven albums in including a prolific five albums in the last six years. He still sounds vital and I think he still has a lot left to tell.