Hear Cody Jinks’ Existential New Song ‘Lifers’

Cody Jinks sings one for the stubbornly dedicated in the title track from his forthcoming album Lifers, which will be released July 27th.

In characteristic Jinks fashion, “Lifers” pumps up the brooding atmosphere with its minor-chord progression and ghostly wisps of pedal steel, despite an insistent, upbeat rock tempo to move it along. With his opening verse, Jinks identifies a disappearing type of individual in his sketch of a Texas farmer, toiling from sunup to sundown like generations before. “In this modern world, movin’ breakneck fast, he’s a dyin’ breed, a thing of the past,” he sings.

Jinks makes the connection between that backbreaking existence and his own profession in the second verse, imagining a “Renaissance girl with a fire in her soul” who moved to Nashville to chase a dream and put in 20 years worth of work. And though big opportunities have seemingly passed her by, she’s still climbing onstage every night to do it all again. In both scenarios, it’s a Sisyphean type of existence that Jinks manages to make sound positively heroic.

“Lifers” follows the album’s lead single “Must Be the Whiskey,” which premiered in mid-June. On August 18th, Jinks will host his inaugural Loud and Heavy Fest in Fort Worth, Texas, featuring performers Colter Wall, Corrosion of Conformity and Nikki Lane.