Cody Hibbard Was Addicted to Pills, Mad at His Religion and Lost His House. Then He Found Music (Exclusive)

The country artist tells PEOPLE going back to turbulent times during the making of 'Long Ride in a Short Bed' certainly was a challenge — but one that cleansed him mentally

Country artist Cody Hibbard was 13 months old when he left South Korea.

"I was adopted," Hibbard, 31, tells PEOPLE. "We lived in Tulsa for the first year. My dad was a trash hauler, and my mom was actually a math teacher. And when they got me, mom quit teaching and dad kept the trash route."

That is, until his dad bought the farm he had always dreamed of.

"Dad bought 340 acres," Hibbard remembers of the plot of land located in Adair, Oklahoma. "We lived in a little double wide for a while until dad built the house. We were running cattle out here. And dad wanted chicken houses, so we started doing breeder houses for Tyson [Foods]."

So, if anyone has ever had a doubt about Hibbard’s country roots, he’s always been quick to point out that they are downright wrong to do so. "I'm actually sitting out on my side-by-side right now," he admits with a laugh.

Granted, Hibbard is the first to admit that he didn’t always love the country life growing up. "I kind of had that rebellious spirit," he says. "I remember my granddad taking me to the United States Military Academy in New York and I loved hearing about the CIA and Secret Service and the DEA and the FBI. I actually wanted to be a forensics investigator."

But when it came time to either go to college or get to work on the family farm, Hibbard says he decided to enlist with the Marines. "I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to go to college for," he remembers. "I honestly didn't want to go to college."

Hibbard’s rebellious spirit continued when he ended up changing his mind about the Marines, and instead decided to accept an invitation to attend the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was there where he suffered an injury to his shoulder, resulting in two eventual surgeries.

"I got on pain medication from the first surgery, and I got easily hooked," Hibbard remembers. "I wanted more and needed more and didn't think something a doctor would give you would be something that bad."

Soon, Hibbard ended up leaving the Naval Academy to attend another school, but his need for pain pills began to turn into an addiction. "I was doing a lot of it behind people's backs," says Hibbard, who started playing the guitar while working as a pipeline worker after leaving college. "I was really good at hiding things. I remember waking up in the hospital. My friends had just dropped me off at the front steps of the emergency room. They must have got scared and drove off. I knew I had a problem."

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It was these and many other dire circumstances that that ultimately found their way into his music. Hibbard released his first EP, Memory and a Dirt Road in January of 2020, followed by the self-titled Cody Hibbard EP. But thus far, nothing touches the grit heard on his hard-driving album Long Ride in a Short Bed.

"'’Kill the Messenger’ is my song about how I got so mad at my religion," Hibbard recalls of track one of Long Ride in a Short Bed. "I had spent most of my life following a pastor that ended up doing some really bad stuff,  and so that's where the symbolism comes in on that song. I had to really dig down deep and, in my mind, I wanted to ask myself if I wasted all that time going to Bible studies and church camps?"

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Then there is "Bad Trip," a soul-sucker in the best of ways written solely by Hibbard that materialized from another turbulent period of his life.

"This was the last time I had a bad night," remembers Hibbard, who says he "quit pills cold turkey" 10 years ago when he found out his ex was pregnant with his first child. "I took some pills, and I was drinking whatever I had. I was behind on every single bill. My ex had wanted to leave me. I was a young father, and I was trying to pay for whatever took care of our daughter. And I'll admit it — I didn't care. I lost my first house. I thought the repo man was after me. I thought the cops were after me because I was behind on my bills. I didn't know how any of that worked."

Hibbard says going back to these turbulent times during the making of Long Ride in a Short Bed certainly was a challenge, but one that the now father of four says it cleansed him mentally, as did the so-very sentimental songs on the album such as "Backroad to Heaven" and the destined to be a hit "Had It Been a Boy."

"I've never cried in the vocal booth, and I really didn't cry much until I got to be around 30 years old," he says. "And I have never cried in the studio as much as I have recording about four or five of these songs on this album."

But today, life is better.

"I'm not addicted to anything else," he says. "I don't have any alcohol in my fridge. I'm very blessed with the way it all turned out."

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