Cody Riley knew at a very young age what he wanted to do for a living, and has not backed away from his vision of being a singer-songwriter. That's why - even though he's not even 25 - Riley is a veteran on the Texas music scene, and his new music speaks to that fact. I'm grateful Cody stopped by the to hang out with us on the KEAN 105 Afternoon Show.

In the first part of our conversation, we talked about his first experience co-writing songs with Nashville songwriters. "When I started ['Something I Wrote], I'd been writing for three days straight up in Nashville. My first time to go up there and write with these guys, and they're like writing machines, you know. The write all day, every day. I went in there with [songwriter] Mando [Saenz], and I didn't have anything left. So we just started, you know, shootin' the bull, and talking about my trip up there and all that, and that's what the song's about. I spent my last dime getting up there, and my wife now, she left a letter in my console. It was a little sweet letter, and, anyway, so he said 'Man, that's what we need to write the song about'. So, that's what we did." Cody goes on to explain, "There's a little bar up there in Nashville called Losers...that's where all the guys like me hang out...so the whole song's about my trip to Nashville and hanging out in that little bar".

Cody told us about how he came about working with Wade Bowen on his new CD, 'Dozen Dead Roses'. "I met Wade when I was about 14...I opened up for him in Paris, Texas...when they were sound checking, they were going over a bunch of songs, you know, and we were just enjoying listening to them practice. Well, he came off stage and he apologized to me for taking so long. And I said, 'Man, you don't even know. This has been a great experience just getting to hang out and watch you guys practice.' But he was just too cool to me...and now my manager, Todd Purifoy is good friends with Wade and his family, and we got to play a bunch of shows with them throughout the next 3-4 years...and I built up the courage to just ask him if he would produce my record. And surprisingly he said 'Yes.'"

We also talked about the good ole days, when Cody was still in high school and his dad used to bug me to play his son's music on the radio. It worked. Check out part 1 of my conversation with Cody Riley here:

Cody Riley Interview - Part 1

Cody took a break from all the chatter to grab his guitar to play us a song. He chose to sing 'Dozen Dead Roses', the title track from his new CD. Take a listen to it here:

Cody Riley - 'Dozen Dead Roses'

In the last part of my conversation with Cody Riley, he talked about how much he's improved over the years. He tells us, "I feel like the last couple of years, I've taken a lot huge strides. You know, I've matured in my songwriting, and I think that was the biggest part. And just, you know, experiencing life a little more, and you just find more real things to write about...I know now it just seems like if I could just go back, how much further I might be...if I knew now what I didn't know then." I jumped in to point out that Cody isn't even 25 yet.

"The EP is out, there's 5 songs,you can go on iTunes and get them now. But the rest of the record probably won't be out [until] probably toward the end of the year. We're working at a slow pace, but like I said before, me and Wade both are playing shows. He's playing a lot more than me. And so we're just getting in there when we can. And we're just gonna not rush nothing. We're gonna try to make this the best record we can."

Check out the second half of my conversation with Cody Riley:

This kid is one of my favorite people in the Texas music scene, and it's great to see his career coming together for him so well. You can keep track of Cody Riley through his official website, also "like" the Cody Riley Band on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and get his music on iTunes.

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