Cody Johnson Says ‘The Painter’ ‘Describes’ His Marriage

Cody Johnson released his new song "The Painter," the first single from his forthcoming album due out later this year. The song is written by Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, and Ryan Larkins.

Even though Cody did not write the song himself, it's about his marriage. He said, "My favorite lyric in 'The Painter' is 'For every wall I built, she saw a canvas.' If there's anything that describes my marriage with my wife, Brandi, it's that line. And that's why we've been together for 15 years."

Johnson added, "I hope my fans are encouraged to take the time to appreciate the people they have around them. The ones who make their life beautiful and bring all the beautiful colors to their world when it could just be black and white and dark. Remember them and tell them you love them."

"The Painter" is the follow-up to Cody's career-making Grammy-winning (Country Song of The Year) two-week #1 single "' Til You Can't."

Johnson is currently opening shows for Luke Combs in Australia with dates through August 26, when they wrap up the tour with a show in Perth, Australia. This is Cody's first trip "Down Under," and while he'd love to make it a family trip, his focus will be on making sure he'd giving his Australian fans the best shows possible.

Johnson told us before he left for the adventure, "You know, my wife and my two daughters were going to come by at some point, and I was like, 'Look, this is going to be set up shop, play two days in a row, get on a train, go down the road, set up shop, play two or three days in a row, get on a train or plane or bus and go do it again.' It's pretty much work."

While working hard, he was still excited before going about the fans there waiting to hear him sing live. He told us, "We know that those people are there, and you'll be able to see the genuine thankfulness on my face whenever I get there, and I hear those people singing words to songs I wrote cause, I mean, as an artist, that's what you do it for."

Cody Johnson has been making waves in country music in the last few years and has been taking home some awards including winning the Single of the Year award at the 2022 CMA Awards for his 'Till You Can't." He also won a 2023 CMT Music Award for Performance of the Year.

Cody recently announced during a CMT nominations special earlier this month, that he will be releasing a 24-track double album, titled Cody Johnson: Leather. And the new project will feature a duet with Carrie Underwood. He revealed this when he was asked what it was like to compete with Underwood for a CMT Award. "I actually just recorded a duet with her yesterday for my new album coming out. And getting to know her — man, she's such a pro and everybody that she surrounds herself with are all very professional, as well. I don't mean this to sound bad, but it's kind of hard to compete with that."

The new album will be Johnson's second consecutive double album, as his October 2021 project, Human, was also a two-disc project with 18 tracks.

As Cody continues his climb in country music, heading for superstar status, we take a look at the last couple of years of this Texas country star's life in Nashville and beyond.