We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cody Ikerd a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cody, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve spent many years performing music in various bands. I played drums for 13 years and was really able to understand timing, rhythm, and song structure. I started singing and playing guitar when I was 20 years old after my experience with drums. Singing and playing guitar is an entirely different element of music I didn’t quite understand for a while. I knew how to learn other people’s melodies and chord progressions, but didn’t understand how to apply that to my own music. As I got older and had more responsibilities in my personal life, it took me a lot longer to understand all of that. It’s like my brain was wired for one thing and I had to rewire it to learn another thing. It’s taken a lot of practice, listening to a ton of music, learning a ton of music, and writing a lot of bad songs with a few good ones thrown in.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Growing up, I really only had one family member that was able to perform music. I had a lot of family that were avid listeners, but the performance aspect of it was unique to myself. Music was something I always gravitated to and ended up spending the majority of my life being passionate about. My band, Cody Ikerd and the Sidewinders, have been together for the last 9 years focusing on blending country music, rock music, and original music in to our performances. I’m most proud of myself for not ever settling for music that I didn’t really care to play. My band and I stick to our guns and perform our style of music our way, with no compromising, and continually find ways to push the envelope to stand out from other bands.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The music business isn’t for the faint of heart. It definitely isn’t for people looking to make a quick buck or do it based off of delusions of fame and fortune. There’s a ton of speed bumps along the way, even if you’re travelling at 100mph. Some of those speed bumps can be pretty detrimental as a creative. I always say, the only difference between a winner and a loser is a winner plays until he wins. From the miles spent on the road to play for 5 people, the time spent away from family, dealing with replacing band members, losing friendships, the constant struggle of not comparing yourself to others getting better opportunities, etc. The list goes on. But at the end of the day, music isn’t something I just got into, it’s a lifelong passion and the flame can’t go out.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission with music is to be as true to myself as I can, creating sounds that are unique to myself and my band, and evoking feelings within the people that listen to my music.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://codyikerdmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codyikerd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CodyIkerdMusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CodyIkerdMusic
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@codyikerd

Image Credits

Rodney Margison Photography