ShareCody Pennington performing his Country Show Tour at Rock City Nottingham on Friday 12th September 2025.
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
Rock City played host to Nashville country music star Cody Pennington on Friday night and amongst a packed crowd there were more cowboy hats than at a Madonna concert.
Delivering a set which lasted two hours, he traversed the country classics as well as his own music as he moved around the stage in an unforced and easy manner as though he was playing to old friends rather than a sold out crowd. Backed by an incredibly talented band of true showmen he started with Cowboy Sitting At The Bar, swiftly followed by Nothing On Us before launching into a cover of Luke Combs’ She Got The Best Of Me.
Pennington has an interesting background, having served in the military before undertaking a law degree and beginning work in a commercial job before finding success in the music industry after having finally found the place where he is most at home, on the stage performing his pop tinged country style music.
He was at his best in the many covers that he performed throughout the set. He delighted with a cover of Josh Turner’s Your Man and Alan Jackson’s Chattahoochee. He also performed some classics like The Gambler and Ring Of Fire before he moved on to some modern day hits such as Country Girl (Shake It For Me), Chicken Fried and Wagon Wheel, all of which had the crowd singing along.
Delivering a rare balance of professionalism and openness, his between song banter was amusing and well received. But it was his musicianship that was outstanding as he varied his sound and showed off some superb guitar skills, such as his great cover of Walking In Memphis with its awesome guitar solo.
Closing the night with John Denver’s Take Me Home Country Roads and his own song, Downtown, it was clear that Pennington is a star on the rise with his strong versatile voice that commanded the attention of the crowd. This is undoubtedly the start of his very exciting journey and the Rock City crowd were pleased to be a part of it.
