EXCLUSIVE: Bullfighter Cody Webster talks about starring in Cody Johnson’s new rodeo-themed music video.
In a way, Cody Johnson’s brand-new video for “The Fall” started in Wayne, Oklahoma, in 2002. That’s when Cody Webster had his first taste of the sport of bullfighting, which led to him making his living in it. “I think it was a God-given deal. I think this is what I was meant to do and meant to be,” Webster told Cowboys & Indians. “From the time I was a little bitty kid, that’s what I had my sights set on. I was going to the local rodeos and seeing all the bullfighters. And that’s what I was gonna do. There was no question of when or how. It was just something that I was gonna do from the word go.” All of which led to a friendship with Johnson, and ultimately, the starring role in “The Fall.”
But at first, as a kid, Webster tried his hand with sheep, calves, and steers, and then in 2002 when he was 10 years old, he tried bullfighting for the first time. His grandfather had a rodeo arena, so Webster was able to get in there with what he calls low-level bulls. “Then before I knew it, I was traveling all over Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, going to all the high school and junior high rodeos. By the time I was 15, I was flying to North Carolina for the ultimate bullfighters freestyle competitions. Then it was just like pouring gas on a fire. It exploded.” At 18, Webster had his PRCA and PBR memberships and started traveling all over the country. “We’ve been kicking down the doors and we haven’t looked back since.”
Here’s what kicking down those doors looked like for Webster: “I would get the bull rider magazines and call every bull rider around Oklahoma and Texas and ask them if they needed a bullfighter. A lot of times I’d show up and they’d be like, ‘Dude, you can’t fight bulls. You’re way too young for this.’ I don’t know what my mom was thinking, but thank God she let me keep on rocking and rolling with it because it’s literally been everything I wanted to do.”
The job of the bullfighter in a rodeo is to protect the rider at all costs. You see glimpses of that in the music video, but the way Webster explains it gives you the bigger picture. “You’ve got guys who run into burning buildings and you’ve got guys who run out. When the wreck breaks out in bullriding, we’re running in to go save the bull rider. We’re there to do a job, and keep these guys safe.”
Fast forward to about 10 years ago, Webster crossed paths with Johnson backstage at NFR in Las Vegas. First there were backstage hangs, then eventually, the two became good friends. “We were both young, both cutting our teeth and getting started. And we’ve been friends ever since. He’s a cowboy. I’m a cowboy, and it just fits. He’s down to earth, he’s real, and his music shows that.”
So the call Webster got earlier in 2025 was about as unexpected as it was expected. “I was in Reno, Nevada, and I get a message at literally midnight: ‘Hey dude, are you up?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, are you okay?’ Instantly my phone’s blowing up, and it’s him.” Johnson explained to Webster what he was thinking for his next music video, and asked if he’d star in the video.
What came next was the first part of the video shoot at Cheyenne Frontier Days. Then the second part in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. Then the last part in Johnson’s hometown near Hunstville, Texas.
Dustin Haney – the director behind so many of Johnson’s award-winning videos – found himself collaborating with the country star again for “The Fall.” He told C&I that he had creative freedom on this project, because he and Johnson have a history of working so well together. “Cody and I agree that the video needs to add something. He’s big believer in the song and the live performances can carry it to a certain point of success,” Haney said. “So the video needs to add a layer you didn’t otherwise have.” Like the extreme close ups of the cowboys before and after they finish their rides, which Haney was able to capture with a camera attached to a crane right above the bucking chute.
The lyrics of “The Fall,” written by Ray Fulcher, Jeremy Stover and Bobby Pinson, paint a picture of the realities of rodeo life. But it has a welcome sense of ambiguity that allows listeners to relate to the song whether they’re cowboys or not: Spent my whole life holding on, but even when I fell off/The ride was worth the fall/The fall was worth the smiles/The smiles were worth the tears/Tears were worth the miles/Miles were worth the pain/Pain was worth it all/It’s all worth this life/Life is worth the ride/The ride is worth the fall.
“The lyrics are so touching, especially for what we do day in and day out. The being on the road, the chasing your dreams, achieving your goals, setting out for what you wanted to go for, and riding and fighting through the blood, the sweat, the tears, everything that comes with the sport,” Webster shared. “That really hits home, especially coming from a guy that has rodeoed, that has been beaten up and down like Cody has, when you’re cutting your teeth and trying to make it to the top.
And there are days that aren’t fun. Broke bones, torn ligaments, surgeries, everything that goes into our sport. But it’s a lot of the same for them guys. You start out in the bars, you start out at the very lowest level, just trying to scrape and get by. And then man, when it hits, it’s just like Cody. Like gasoline on a fire, and he just exploded. It’s just been so cool to see our careers skyrocket with each other. This music video and being tied in with Cody? It’s the full circle. And it lets the whole world know what bullfighters do and it puts a spotlight on the bullfighters, I feel.”
When Webster is not bullfighting or starring in music videos, he runs his Bull School in Oklahoma to teach aspiring rodeo hopefuls how to follow in his footsteps. “I want our industry to grow. I want our Western sports, and our Western way of life to continue growing. We bring in young guys from all over the world. We’ve had people from Brazil to Canada and from Mexico to Australia, from every walk of life. Some of them aren’t even cowboys. Some are just guys who’ve seen bullfighting on YouTube and wanted to come try it. Here, they learn the very fundamentals of our sport and what we need to combat the bulls. And then as time goes on, they get to learn what fear is. They get to learn how rough and raw this sport really is. I’m all for that, because bull fighting has given me everything that I’ve got from the word go: a ranch, a beautiful life, a beautiful wife, and the things I get to do daily.
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“Man, if I can get a kid hooked on rodeo instead of drugs, then it’s gonna be a lot better world.”
