\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou can be a badass for a long time,\u201d Cody Jinks<\/a> asserts, \u201cand then age and wisdom and a lot of other things catch up with you. You realize that you\u2019re not as badass as you thought you were.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe 44-year-old Texan has worn badass on his sleeve from the get-go, cutting the coolest figure in country music for the better part of a decade in his brash voice, hard-living lyrics, and modern long-haired outlaw. He\u2019s done it while staying fiercely independent and carrying the torch for a generation of artists forcing such a lifestyle back into the country music lexicon. He still embodies all those traits, but Jinks says there\u2019s more to him now. He\u2019s a parent. He\u2019s a frontman who made it big shunning record labels, and he\u2019s got a band and crew whose livelihoods depend on him keeping it up. He\u2019s sober, and has been since 2023.<\/p>\n \n\tThat\u2019s what was on Jinks\u2019 mind when he wrote and recorded In My Blood<\/em>, the 11-track record he dropped on Friday and is celebrating with a sold-out concert at Colorado\u2019s venerable Red Rocks Amphitheater this weekend. It\u2019s not so much that Jinks suddenly became serious for his 11th studio LP. His music has always been serious, badass or otherwise. Rather, Jinks sees this record as a fresh snapshot of the life he\u2019s living now, a little more than a year after his 2024 album, Change the Game<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI hope that people think this is one of their favorites,\u201d Jinks tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cAll my records are personal. It\u2019s just the order of my life put on recordings. Change the Game<\/em>, I think, was the end of part one of the book. This record is part two of the book. I am not the same guy that wrote Less Wise<\/em> or Adobe Sessions<\/em>. There\u2019s not as much bravado in this.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThere is a parallel, though, between In My Blood<\/em> and Adobe Sessions<\/em>, the 2015 record that became Jinks\u2019 breakout and has since been certified gold. Both were recorded at the Sonic Ranch outside of El Paso, Texas, and both were produced by Charles Godfrey. Jinks\u2019 longtime bassist Joshua Thompson co-produced the current project with Godfrey. A few of the songs, namely \u201cSee the Man\u201d and \u201cLost Highway,\u201d have been in Jinks\u2019 catalog for two decades, waiting for their moment, but the bulk of the songs are brand new.<\/p>\n