Cody Johnson Says His Hearing Might Never Be The Same Following Burst Eardrum That Caused Him To Cancel Part Of 2025 Tour: “I’m Not Scared Of It”

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A blessing in disguise.

Back in early October, Cody Johnson had to cancel the remaining 2025 shows on his Leather Deluxe Tour due to a burst eardrum. He had to have immediate surgery to repair it, and he’s been taking it slow back home while recovering.

Last night at the 2025 CMA Awards, CoJo was up for four different awards in his first-ever Entertainer of The Year nomination, as well as nods for Male Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year with Carrie Underwood for their song “I’m Gonna Love You.”

And during an interview with ABC Radio Host Stephen Hubbard ahead of the show, Cody admitted that it was really hard on him to cancel on his fans. Of course, he had a really good but also unfortunate reason for doing so, but it sounds like there’s a small chance he might never fully recover, though he admits he’s “not scared of it.”

He has full faith in his ear engineers that go out on the road with him (a lot actually goes into protecting the artists hearing these days, you’d probably be surprised), though he says he’s talked to people who have had a similar experience, and they have told him it eventually comes back, but it does take a while.

I can’t even imagine how painful and scary a burst eardrum would be, but Cody seems to be handling it like a pro:

“I hated, hated canceling those shows. But, it’s one of the things, like, an eardrum, it’s not like anything else. You have to sit, and be patient, and wait for it to heal. It’s not like there’s a magic button you can push, a rehab you can do on it.

So, just waiting. I mean, this may be the way it is for the rest of my life, and I’ll have to figure out how to play shows anyway. Talking to people that have had it happen, they’re like, it comes back, it just takes a while.

And I’m like, well look, I’m just gonna go play music anyway. We live in 2025 where these ear engineers that you have on the road can do literally anything, so I’m not scared of it.”

In the middle of that journey, Cody’s son was born on Tuesday, October 21st, and so him being sidelined by this health issue had actually been a blessing because he’s gotten time at home with his wife and kids he never would have otherwise:

“So there’s the silver lining of being home. I was in the grieving process of, I’m not going to play shows… my son is born. and I started really thinking about it, these moments that I’m having, I wouldn’t normally have if I had been on the road.

So I was disappointed for myself and the fans, but at the same time as a dad and a husband. I’m getting to be home with all these moments that I would’ve missed. So I’m in a way kind of thankful for the blessing in disguise.”

It absolutely sucks that he’s dealing with this ear issue, but the time at home with his newborn son is irreplaceable, so it’s great that he’s been able to soak in that time and be present for all the special moments with his new family of five.

The 59th Annual CMA Awards show airs live tonight, starting at 8:00 PM EST on ABC and will be hosted by Lainey Wilson.

Cody also scored the highest charting song of his career this week, as his cover of “Travelin’ Soldier” debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart this week, which encompasses all musical genres.