Cody Johnson, The [Dixie] Chicks, Bruce Robison, and “Travelin’ Soldier”

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Life and country music can be funny sometimes, turning what you think about certain things on their head. Tracing the lineage of the country standard “Travelin’ Soldier” is a good example. In an era when few things, if anything break through the political binary, “Travelin’ Soldier” does. Because no matter what your political stripes happen to be, you see the sacrifices our military servicemebers have made, and feel a sense of debt and gratitude.

“Travelin’ Soldier” was written by the great Bruce Robison of the First Family of Texas songwriters, which also includes brother Charlie Robison (RIP), and sister Robyn Ludwick. Charlie Robison was also married to Emily (Erwin) Strayer from 1999 to 2008, also known as the multi-instrumentalist for The Dixie Chicks, now known as The Chicks.

Bruce Robison first wrote and recorded “Travelin’ Soldier” in 1996, and then rewrote it slightly, and recorded it again in 1999—the year his brother married into the [Dixie] Chicks. Ty England also recorded the song in 2001. But it was the [Dixie] Chicks finding favor with it, including it on their landmark 2002 album Home, and releasing it as the third single from that album that sent it into the country music stratosphere, cementing its legacy in the country music songbook.

“Travelin’ Solider” shot up the charts, and crested at #1 in early 2003. Just like the rest of the selections on the Home album, it wasn’t produced and arranged like the pop country that was all the rage in country at the time. It was a stripped-down, rootsy, and decidedly traditional country track. It tells the story of a soldier and a hometown girl in the Vietnam era. But one the reasons the song resonated so deeply is how it paralleled the deployment of U.S. troops to Afghanistan and Iraq after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.


“Travelin’ Soldier” was the #1 song in country music when Natalie Maines stood on the stage at Shepherd’s Bush Empire Theater in London on March 10, 2003, and said she was ashamed that President George W. Bush was from Texas due to the deployment of troops to Iraq. This caused a full scale boycott of the band. “Travelin’ Soldier” and their previous single “Landslide” dropped completely off of radio and out of the charts.

Ironically, “Travelin’ Soldier” is very much a tribute to America’s military members, even if one could also perceive it to have an anti-war underpinning. But it wasn’t the words to their hit single that mattered. It was the Maines speech that resulted in a legitimate cancellation of one of the biggest acts in all of country music at the time, even if the backlash to the backlash ultimately resulted in the reconstitution of their popularity outside of country music subsequently. In 2000, the [Dixie] Chicks were the CMA Entertainers of the Year. Afterwards, there were organized protests to burn their records in the streets.

In 2025, Cody Johnson is up for the CMA Entertainer of the Year, even though he’s only had two #1 songs. He hasn’t even had another Top 5. Radio virtually ignores him, but he’s build a strong and loyal grassroots fan base that has made him one of the biggest entertainers in all of country music. And even though he loves to say, “I don’t like to get political,” Cody’s made it pretty obvious over the years that he codes right.

In observance of Veteran’s Day 2025 (11-11), Cody Johnson has released his own version of “Travelin’ Soldier,” which has already amassed over 4 million streams on Spotify alone in four days. Does “Travelin’ Solder” come with political connotations because it’s most identified with The Chicks, and it was the song that country radio pulled after Natalie Maines made her public statements? Of course not. It’s a song that everyone can appreciate and connect to, thanks to the careful writing of Bruce Robison, and the timeless story he interwove with a warm melody.


We all see the ravages of war. We all appreciate those that served, even if we agree or disagree about why they were deployed. And we can all find our common, shared humanity through a song like “Travelin’ Soldier,” no matter if it’s Natalie Maines, or Cody Johnson singing it. Because music, unlike politics, has a way of bringing people together across political and cultural divides. The continued popularity of “Travelin’ Soldier” proves that.

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