Cody Jinks Goes off On Sam Hunt’s “Hard To Forget”

photos: Brad Coolidge / MCA Nashville

WARNING: Some Language

Cody Jinks is the currently the king of independent traditional country with an Outlaw bent, and if you don’t believe that, you should see the kinds of crowds he draws and check out how he released two successive albums in 2019 that both went #1 on the charts. Without any mainstream radio play or major label push, the guy has put himself in the position to sell out small arenas in certain areas, and his dedicated fans called “Flockers” are some of the most loyal out there in music.

But unlike some of his contemporaries, Cody Jinks rarely casts stones, and isn’t inclined to spout off against pop country unless the situation is really called for. That happened to be the case when he made a recent visit to the dentist, and was exposed to the Sam Hunt song “Hard To Forget,” though he didn’t know the song or artist at the time.

I guess I’m just behind the times, I don’t keep up with what’s going on with mainstream radio serving any format,” Cody began in a Facebook missive. “I turned that shit off years ago when I heard how bad the major market stations from most every genre were caving to big labels and playing trash. Trash rock, trash country, trash r&b, trash metal, etc. I don’t make fun of people for what record labels make them sing, I simply chose not to be one of those people, cool.

“However, I was waiting at the dentist office today and they had on a pop country station. That’s fine, but I thought that when the iconic Webb Pierce song “There Stands The Glass” came on there might be a ray of sunshine. Then the sample went off and I heard the biggest piece of shit I’ve heard in a long time. I didn’t know who it was but I was pissed. So much in fact that my blood pressure went up and the dental staff had to wait till it went down to start on me. For the love of God, please stop incorporating classic Country samples into shit songs. It’s not paying homage, it’s a slap in the face.”


Cody’s observation underscores what Saving Country Music said about the song in a rant posted shortly after it was released.

“Birds will fly upside down over Sam Hunt’s ‘Hard To Forget’ because it’s not even worth shitting on … The truly offensive thing here is the fact that Sam Hunt really does believe he’s doing a good turn toward traditional country by sampling Webb Pierce’s ‘There Stands The Glass.’ Yet Hunt might as well have walked into a studio, had the engineers bring the feeders up, and told all traditional country fans calmly and politely to go fuck themselves.”

For most country fans, they would rather listen to a straight up pop or hip-hop song than whatever hybrid is being peddled by many of today’s country stars. It’s patently offensive to take something like a Webb Pierce song, and try to incorporate it into Sam Hunt’s white boy version of Drake-inspired EDM. It’s not about genre purity, it’s about decency and taste. The comments of Cody Jinks underscore that.

Sam Hunt’s “Hard To Forget” currently sits at #4 on country radio.

Just in case you’re curious about the subject in question:

© 2023 Saving Country Music