Cody Johnson Shares Special ‘The Painter’ Video Inspired By Fan With Special Needs

Cody Johnson recently released a very special music video for “The Painter,” a song from his 12-track studio album, Leather.

Cody’s label Warner Music Nashville created the video in collaboration with an AI artist.

The visual for the ACM Song of the Year nominated single features a painting by Katie McCormick, a young woman with right-sided weakness and a learning delay disability due to a series of surgeries she underwent in her life.

“On Friday, August 11, 2023, I had just dropped Katie off at school and headed to work listening to our favorite radio duo Nate and Traci from US 96.3,” said Katie’s mother Teresa McCormick, who connected with the local radio station after hearing the song’s lyrics. “I was very much in my head that morning with a thousand swirling thoughts, half listening to the conversation because Katie was turning 18 the next day.”

“‘The Painter’ started playing while my thoughts were still somewhere else,” Teresa continued. But then a particular lyric – “I don’t remember my life before she came into the picture” – struck her like a bolt of lightning. “With every new verse, I had visions of Katie.”

“Katie has overcome so many obstacles. Every new verse, I could picture a different phase of life, story or image of her. Through a blur of tears, I reached for my phone and sent a text message to the radio station thanking them for playing that song right at that moment. She is the color to MY life.”

The visual for the song answers the question – “how can we take Katie inside one of her own paintings?”

“While this song is written about a man’s love for his wife and how she colors his world, it allows everyone who hears it to drift away in thought to that person who adds beauty and color to their own life. Be that a child, a parent, spouse, or friend,” Teresa said.

Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, and Ryan Larkins wrote “The Painter.” Trent Willmon produced track.