Jenna Paulette Recruits the Love of Her Life to Star in Heartbreaking Video for 'You Ain't No Cowboy' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Jenna Paulettewas desperately searching for a true cowboy to star in the music video for her song “Midnight Cowboy” a few years back when she ended up finding the love of her life.

“We had just met, but we immediately started talking about how we both wanted to start cattle companies in our grandfather’s name,” remembers Paulette about her love Ross. “It was just the connection that I don’t think you could ever forget.”

Little did she know that mere months before having the conversation that would ultimately change both of their lives, Ross had gotten sober.

“I just really think it’s one of the most amazing things you could conquer in life to say no to an addiction, especially when you have addictive personality, because it’s really in your blood,” says Paulette about the past struggles of the man who once rode bulls professionally. “It’s not something that is easy to do.”

Jenna Paulette.Nick Swift

So when it came time to film the music video for Paulette’s current single “You Ain’t No Cowboy,” Paulette tells PEOPLE she began to wonder if Ross could basically tell his own redemption story within it.

“I was talking to Ross about ideas for the video, and he was like, ‘Well, what if we told the story of me getting sober?'” Paulette recalls. “I just got tears in my eyes. That was the only thing that could make this thing mean more to anybody.”

Indeed, while the lyrics of “You Ain’t No Cowboy” speaks about the true definition of a true cowboy, the music video tells a far deeper story.

“I think the struggle in the agricultural community is the fact that we can give you our all, and there can still be a drought,” remarks Paulette, who has long been a rancher herself alongside her family, working cattle on their sprawling property in Thackerville, Oklahoma.

“Those calves can all get sick and die. Just so much of it doesn’t depend on us. And then you add any form of addiction into it, and it just adds to the problem. And then you’ve got a family in a heritage that is depending on you to pass it down to the next generation, and the pressure’s just immense.”

Jenna Paulette.Wes Walker

Wes Walker

Ultimately, the music video for “You Ain’t No Cowboy” was shot in west Texas on a ranch that Ross had managed previously and delved deep into his own story.

“That’s when we partnered with the988 Suicide & Crisis Hotlineand theTexas Department of Agriculture. I thought people needed to know that it’s possible for [sobriety] to last. That sobriety isn’t just a three-week thing. It can be a five-year thing and a 10-year thing and a lifelong thing.”

The music video also put Paulette’s very own cowboy into situations he hadn’t been in for a long time. “He was in a really tough headspace the whole day,” says Paulette. “He kept saying, ‘I haven’t held a beer can in so long.’ It’s something that was so common for him before.”

He replaced the liquid in that beer bottle with a Topo Chico. “That’s what he drinks every day now,” Paulette tells PEOPLE.

Ross.Wes Walker

Watching her love be so very vulnerable was something that still melts Paulette’s heart. “He’s felt like part of his calling in life is just to be true to himself,” she says. “It’s not somebody saying, ‘I’m perfect.’ It’s not somebody saying, ‘I don’t struggle with it anymore’ because he does. But it’s somebody still sticking with it and finding their reason. I know what a fight it is for him on a daily basis.”

And for the record, if you are going to wear a cowboy hat around Paulette, you better mean it.

“Being a cowboy is a job as much as it is anything else,” concludes Paulette, who is performing the national anthem at this year’sNational Finals Rodeoon Wednesday.

“There’s a cowboy code. You take your hat off and you pray, and if you say you’re going to be there at 6:00 a.m. you’re there at 5:50 a.m. and your horse is saddled and you’re ready to go before the boss says it’s time to ride out. People don’t realize what standard that we hold ourselves to when we wear that cowboy hat.”

source: people.com