Cody Jinks Has New Album in the Can … & ‘Caned By Nod’ Metal Band?

News 50 Comments

photo: Brad Coolidge

Cody Jinks spent the better part of May sequestered in the studio at the infamous Sonic Ranch just outside of El Paso, TX with his band the Tone Deaf Hippies, recording his next album ahead of hitting the road again with the full band after a long period away. According to Jinks,

“Recorded nearly 30 country songs during the month of May… Have 12 empty slots, so we will find out soon enough which 12 make the to be named country album! Expect the new album to land this October or November. We are releasing it 100% indie. No label. No distribution company. Nothing, but team Jinks and team True Grit via my Late August Records label. Perfect.”

But that’s not all. As many Cody Jinks fans are beginning to discover, Cody also has started a metal project called Caned By Nod, and has a new full-length 10-song album coming from the new band too.

Jinks first alluded to releasing a rock album in August of 2020, saying, “I’m not saying I’ve been writing some rock music… I’m not saying I have a catalogue of rock songs I’ve been stacking up for years… But let’s say I did say that, now what?”

But that’s where it ended. In fact the official word about how the rock project would materialize was in the form of an EP. Perhaps the extra time off the road resulted in more time to spend fleshing the project out.

Though Jinks himself has yet to announce the project proper, hints are being dropped all over the place. Caned By Nod has a Facebook page, and on it is a photo of a bald-headed Jinks writing, corresponding with a similar photo taken by Jason DeRamo that Cody Jinks used while announcing he’d finished the country album.

On the Caned By Nod Facebook page, an update from June 3rd reads, “10 songs in the bank. The “Caned By Nod” debut album will properly melt your faces off in all the best ways possible. Coming this October or November.”

The Facebook page was started by Cody’s management and booking company True Grit Entertainment. And even though the only posts on the page are from recently, it appears the page was originally started in December of 2018. So this project may have been brewing in the offing for a few years now.

But then frequent Cody Jinks collaborator and co-writer Ward Davis pretty much spilled the beans (or primed the pump) on Cody’s plans in a missive on Cody’s “Flockers” fan page.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

“Wanted to share something with you guys.

As y’all know, I’m a big supporter and fan of my pal Cody, and he’s always been the same way when it comes to me. I’m not one to blow smoke up his ass or anyone else’s for that matter. I reserve my opinion on a lot of things for the people with whom I think should know.

In today’s case, I wanted to share something with you, the Flockers, who hold my friend in such a high regard, as I do.

As many of you may have figured out by now, Caned By Nod, is the musical love child that Cody has spawned with the 10,000 snakes in his head. I knew Cody had been talking about this ‘Metal Record,’ for several years, but figured he was maintaining a level of sanity and objectively to keep him from completely going off the deep end, and entertaining his little wet dream.

I mean, Cody’s our guy, right? This is the voice, and the songs, that me, and you, and every other true country music fan has been waiting for for years. Jinks came along, and swung the door wide open for guys like me, and gave us all a reason to believe that country music was alive and well in the ears of the fans that needed that music so badly.

What the hell must he be thinking to step outside our little world to create something so far from such a pure form of American art?

Well, I don’t know what he was thinking, because after I heard the ‘metal record,’ in the studio, I realized there was more to my friend than I would ever know, because the music he created for this Caned by Nod project, is a FUCKING MASTERPIECE.

There, I said it.

There are layers to this dude, man. I sat on the couch at Sonic Ranch with my jaw on the floor for about an hour, as my ole pal blew my mind, over, and over, and over again. I like to think the music Cody and I have made together was some of his best, as I know it is some of mine.

But this shit blows everything out of the water. I have no idea what the plans are for this record. All I can tell you is that I heard the record from top to bottom, and it is literally one of the greatest things I have ever heard.

When this music starts trickling out, you will find out what I suspected, and now know for sure. Cody Jinks is a goddamn genius, and the world is in for one hell of a treat.”

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Cody Jinks dabbling in metal music can’t come as a surprise to his fans. He started his musical career off as the lead singer and guitarist in a band initially called Silas, that then became Unchecked Aggression that was active between 1998 and 2003. Heavily influenced by Pantera and Metallica, they released an album in 2002 called The Massacre Begins.

After Unchecked Aggression went out to Los Angeles to try and make it, they broke up. Jinks took a year off from music afterwards before starting his career in country in 2005, wanting to return to the roots of the music he grew up with.

Cody can be regularly seen wearing metal T-shirts on stage as well, and at his personally-curated festival in Fort Worth in 2018, he booked two metal bands in The Sword and Corrosion of Conformity.

Of course Cody Jinks wouldn’t be the first independent country alpha-male to make a rock or metal record. For years Hank3 carried his metal project Assjack with him out on the road to finish up his country concerts. Then there was Sturgill Simpson’s Sound & Fury.

But it seems unlikely this is a new direction for Cody Jinks. It’s more of a passion project. With 30 country songs in the can, as well as a Lefty Frizzell tribute record that’s said to be on the way, Cody’s passion for country still remains strong. But now at 40-years-old and with a successful country career, Jinks probably feels it’s now or never to scratch his metal itch.

Expect more info on both Cody’s new country and metal projects in the coming weeks and months.

© 2025 Saving Country Music

, , , , , ,