Cody Webb Thank you for having me.
Angela Barrett “Absolutely. I know we were talking, right before, but, I remember the days of you being barefoot and playing your guitar with a beer bottle. I think you probably still wear the day. Yeah. That is. You’re probably still at Clemson at that time.”
Cody Webb “Yeah. Who knows about it? It was, I know back in the day. I’ll look at something. I’ll take showers. Not just to laugh, but, you know, for the last probably ten years, I’ve been like, you know what? It’s hot, and I’m going to wear jeans and boots, and I feel like I’ve just kind of hit that point in my life where it’s just 100 degrees outside.”
Cody Webb You know what? I’m wearing? Shorts and flip flops. I don’t care what y’all think.
Angela Barrett “Listen. There you go. There you go. so now, speaking of going to Clemson, and I’m sorry. No, I’m just kidding. just, you actually, have a degree in mechanical engineering. The engineering?”
Cody Webb “That’s right. Well, now, by the grace of God, I would never do it again. I mean, I’m glad I did it, but, it was, I did not know we all signed up. Or. Let’s just say.”
Angela Barrett “That. so you’re not only talented, but you’re very smart as well, because I understand that is not a degree for the weak of heart.”
Cody Webb “Well, no, that was the problem. I wasn’t I wasn’t smart enough to do it, but I was just too crazy to to quit, so.”
Angela Barrett “Well, I.”
Cody Webb Somehow finished it.
Angela Barrett “Well, good. So, back in the days of, you know, your early days, you were playing a lot with your dad. Was there an uncle, too, or did he kind of travel with y’all? How did how did that work? Well.”
Cody Webb “I had a couple uncles, cousins, my dad’s brothers who came to the shows a lot, but they didn’t actually play with us. but yeah, my dad, it’s kind of the one who got me doing. As I always say, he’s the one that got me into this mess to begin with because, you know, when I was growing up, you know, I’d written a couple hundred songs and I knew most of the songs.”
Cody Webb “My heart knew every word. And when I was about 12 years old, he let me start practicing with his band on Sunday afternoons. And, there are a couple of really good guitar players in that band. So I learned a lot from them. And we started playing local festivals. And Robert parties and things like that. And, you know, throughout high school, my dad and I played a lot of acoustic shows together, like they used to do those shows.”
Cody Webb “And, when I got to Clemson, it’s kind of time. I started playing a lot by myself, and he would come up sometimes and we play down, down once and, but, that’s not really started playing. you know, all over the state a lot more and visiting Nashville and sort of starting to, try to figure out how to make a career out of it.”
Angela Barrett “Right. And your first single, she’s Carolina. That was in 2016. Right?”
Cody Webb “That it was, I believe it was 2016. That sounds right.”
Angela Barrett “j. Yeah, I remember that one. now, take us from 2016 and kind of, at some point in time, you co-wrote a song that Luke Combs, put on his, one of his albums that memories are made of. But take me, Take Me how we get where we are.”
Cody Webb “So I’ll just kind of give you a crash course on how that all happened. I mean, so Luke and I moved to town around the same time. I’m not exactly sure what you mean, but there’s another guy that actually moved to Nashville the same day as I did. Name Rick old shirt. And, we all all three wrote that song.”
Cody Webb “so I met I met Luke at Tin Roof at a writer’s round. He was playing, I think he’s playing the round before I was, and I heard him saying I was like, man, this guy can really saying, there’s something going on here. So we talked and I believe we were at the next day or two days after that, we wrote a song at his apartment and then, we probably read 5 or 6 more times, you know, after that.”
Cody Webb “And, you know, I remember he was getting ready to cut his head with six songs. And, I already had one song we wrote again, and I thought he was going to put on it, but it turns out Kenny Chesney released another song with the same title. So I didn’t go on his record.”
Angela Barrett “But,”
Cody Webb “He was like, man, I really want like a Springsteen kind of vibe song. And I had that guitar lick on that song in my in my fall notes for a long time, and he really liked it. And we wrote it like two days before we went the studio and wound up getting older, and now we had no idea that he was gonna do what he did.”
Cody Webb “And that album will be triple or quadruple platinum or whatever it is, and, you know, he’s just absolutely exploded in the next couple years. And it was really fun to watch. And the a small part of so that was we probably wrote the song in 2015, and I think he was EP came out in late 2015, early 2016, and it was released again on his first album and his deluxe album and on vinyl.”
Cody Webb “So it was released several times, which was really cool. And yeah, since then I’ve been through three managers, three booking agents, a record deal, a pandemic, and, you know, it’s just been a crazy time. Lots of different bands and it’s just been a roller coaster, but it’s something I really wouldn’t ever trade. But it’s kind of gotten me into a place where I feel like I’ve been through the whole mess.”
Cody Webb “I know who I am as an artist. I have a great team. I got a lot of good songs I feel excited about. I have a great fan base, an incredible band, a huge support system and like the team and just, I’ve got my head down and we’re just we’re just pushing forward and I’m trying to grow it every day, and, I’m just trying to make good decisions and, you know, see where this roller coaster takes me?”
Cody Webb So.
Angela Barrett “Yeah. Yeah. I imagine it is quite, a roller coaster for sure. tell me about. There’s been some talk that it hadn’t been that long ago. Probably the end of last year, maybe. About this. A song with, that had some sensitive religious content and, Tell me about all the talk about roller coasters, because I think y’all are really going through it.”
Angela Barrett “Then, tell me about that song. Daddy didn’t if daddy didn’t have a truck, is that the name of it?”
Cody Webb That’s right.
Angela Barrett Right.
Cody Webb “So so that’s actually an outside song. I think every song that’s come out in the last couple of years and a song that I’ve written or co-written, and that’s one song that, friends of mine wrote that I was not a writer on. So I heard the song and fell in love with it. And I’m like, man, why is nobody putting the song out to you?”
Unknown “You, you, you?”
Cody Webb “So we decided to put it out and, I posted a video of my band and I planned in Guitar Center on the white House show in Alabama, one night, and I got a message from TikTok saying that the song contains sensitive religious content and it couldn’t be promoted. It may not reach its full potential or whatever, and I kind of sat on that for a couple weeks, and the more I thought about it and didn’t do anything, you just bugged me over and over.”
Cody Webb “So I said, you know what? I’m just gonna say something. Just how I feel about it and see how people feel about it. And after that post just kind of blew up. And every time I talked about that video, everybody felt the same way, right? that I did, it was just kind of ridiculous and scary, really, that social media has such an influence on what we see in our younger generation that, you know, these kids are trying to figure out who they are.”
Cody Webb “And social media is able to manipulate that. And that’s what really scared me for my daughter. Like all are on these, these social media applications and all that, if they’re going to be, you know, it’s just making her into somebody that I wouldn’t, you know, and, and you know, a lot of people agree with it. And honestly, since then it started kind of snowball on social media that just kept on growing and grow.”
Cody Webb “And, that song really did a lot for us. It it was kind of the first song we’ve had that did well streaming wise and what that did even better. Then I wrote about my daughter, don’t grow up too fast. Right. then since that day, I guess about ten months ago, months ago, we went from probably about 50,000 followers to over a million followers across social.”
Cody Webb “So it’s been huge growth and, just just really fun to watch and, and be a part of.”
Angela Barrett “Yeah, it was a big statement. I’m glad you did it. Glad you did it. and speaking of daughters, you got another one on the way, don’t you?”
Cody Webb “Well, I have a five year old daughter, and I got a little boy on the way. Yeah, I have one of each, and I think we’re calling it quits.”
Angela Barrett “Then we’ll see. We’ll see. Oh, well, happy belated birthday, by the way.”
Cody Webb I he like.
Angela Barrett “So, we’re going to get to, your what is going to be your new release? I think in a couple of days from now, actually, but through from Cheese Carolina to, this new release. What’s been the favorite of yours so far? Yours. Oh, man’s.”
Cody Webb “Yeah, I think personally. Oh, man. I, it’s why I’ve seen that kind of changes as you go. You know, you get excited about songs, but the one that’s been the most. I don’t know if I say life changing, but definitely career changing. is don’t grow up too fast. I heard about a little girl, you know, it was a very personal song.”
Cody Webb “I don’t think it’s a really great song because, I mean, I guess if you look at it from the standpoint that it was just very real to me. I don’t think it’s, very, from a songwriter standpoint, a great song, but it was a very, like I said, personal in real song to me. And I never really planned on putting it out, but we decided to, you know, five years later, sure enough, I guess four years later, my daughter was born.”
Unknown To do two. Two.
Cody Webb “This is blown my mind every day to see how many people live stream that song. It debuted at number 13 on the US. Got your attention, and that was just mind blowing for me in the time to how many people went and streamed it and downloaded it, and I think we had one video that got, I think it was just under 25 million views across, like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.”
Cody Webb “And it was just crazy to watch that thing take off like it did, for a little while. So that was a huge blessing. And, you know, kind of lit a fire under me to, to keep working at it. And. Right, right. More songs like that. It’s fun to see them work, you know?”
Angela Barrett “Yeah, yeah, yeah. and I’m going to disagree with you a little bit. I think because the song is so real is what makes it probably that good. I mean, in how many followers. Sure. Because it is. It’s raw. It’s real. and I think that’s great. So sorry to disagree, but I’m going to disagree.”
Cody Webb “No, I, I totally do its thing.”
Angela Barrett And yeah.
Cody Webb “I think that’s a problem, not a problem as a songwriter again. So. And delight. Well what makes a good song. And sometimes you get away from just the, the raw honesty of, the emotion that comes out of, you know, just to, just to put it out there and be real vulnerable and honest, you know.”
Angela Barrett “Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So let’s talk about Tin Cup, which is again being released it what, two days from that two, three days anyway. The 19th I think. Right.”
Cody Webb That’s right. Yeah. It didn’t get.
Angela Barrett “There. So I did my timeline at least only of it. Yeah. so tell me about Tin Cup. By the way, I love how the upbeat,”
Cody Webb “Thank you. Yes, it’s definitely a nice cut. It feels like, know tin can and, I wrote it with with, my dad and my friend Trent Jeffcoat, who’s you probably have heard around there if you’re from the area. you mentioned students.”
Angela Barrett “Like, I would say what I call that. I call him Hollywood.”
Cody Webb “that’s a good name, but, I wrote it with a friend and my dad, so it’s really special. And to me, that’s kind of one of the folks who got me into songwriting a long time ago. And, but yeah, it’s a very up, upbeat, kind of nice country feel. And we’ll probably be the, I will say the fastest, most upbeat song in our set now, which is gonna be fun to play.”
Cody Webb “So, I’m really excited to add that set. And, and get it out there on Friday.”
Angela Barrett “Yeah. And I’m and I’m really glad for the upbeat for lots of reasons I think over Covid, a lot of you guys in the industry, I think there were a lot of that roll the slow, rightly so. Where where we all were in life at the time. Yeah. So I’m kind of glad to see it coming back.”
Angela Barrett “I’m like, yeah. So yeah, actually that’s state. but so tell me, I like you said you wrote it with the book. How did you come up with Tin Can and the story, I mean, honestly.”
Cody Webb “honestly, I, I just came up with that idea on the way to the ride I was driving, we rode at my dad’s house that day. My parents house, and Trent met us there, and, I was driving there, just kind of going through some old ideas, and I kind of had that melody there, not melody, but I guess the, the music to that song playing on guitar.”
Cody Webb “And I was going down the road and. Man, but that’s just one of those that just pop out of the sky that this guy just slapped on my birthday. I don’t know, very, you know, just like, like that crash my heart like a tin can and kick it on down the road and I have no idea where it came from, but it just popped in my head and, you know, as soon as I threw it out, Trent loved it and, and added it to you and, and we just kind of started working on it.”
Cody Webb “We really for a long time that day, I, we probably wrote, I don’t say 6 or 7 hours straight, on that song and, you know, try to bunch different things with it and completely rewrite the chorus at some point, like, yeah, started over that way through it. That was it was kind of a bugger to get through, but it, I like how it turned out.”
Angela Barrett “Yeah, yeah, I’m looking forward to that one. So what comes first for you or is it happened different each time? Lyrics or the melody or the music?”
Cody Webb “I get asked that question a lot I think is it’s different for each song, but my normal, I guess process would be having an idea that I’m excited about, you know, like a lyrical idea, you know, written down on my phone. And usually when I have that lyrical idea written down, I already sort of have a melody of how I would sing that, that phrase or, you know, those lyrics a little bit and sometimes that changes in the process.”
Cody Webb “But, I mean, the biggest thing is when I have a lyrical idea, I try to say, say to myself, like, what does that sound like? We’re letting it be so like, is it, you know, is it make me sad or happy? And I just need to be upbeat. And that’s kind of how I get started. And, I have a lot of music.”
Cody Webb “A lot is already recorded on my phone that sometimes can match up with those lyrical ideas. But to be honest songwriters, when I say that I’ve written hundreds of songs and, every time I write a song, I’m like, okay, we did that, but I have I have no idea what I was, what I was doing. Like, how do we do another way, you know?”
Cody Webb “Do you still feel kind of clueless every time? A little bit, but it always somehow works itself out. But.”
Angela Barrett Right.
Cody Webb “I think that’s part of the magic of it. When you get a good song, it’s like, man, I have no idea how I did that, but there it is, and I’m glad I did, you know?”
Angela Barrett “Right? Right, right. So now most I know you’ve written most of your songs, but now with the help of your father or, and, you know, friends sometimes and or most of them by yourself.”
Cody Webb “most of America. Rise of some of the been, you know. Right. Some my own. But I love co-writing and that’s sort of part of the culture in Nashville especially is is co-writing. I think I think it really keeps you going, because if you don’t really make an appointment to go write with somebody, sometimes the songwriter, we’ll get lazy and not not finish song or something, but going to an appointment with somebody else who’s also very talented, some people are better lyrics, some better music.”
Cody Webb “you know, it just makes it a lot, I don’t know, just, like, really expands your brain, expands your your capability. The songwriter, in my opinion, I think, you know, I have and I, I’ve it was right over a hundred different writers, but, I have my 5 or 6 and I know I can go to for a certain kind of song, like if I have, you know, like a family, you know, emotional kind of song.”
Cody Webb “I know the guy I need to go to to write that song. If I have, like, a fun, upbeat musical song, I have a guy go, you know. So. So I have a lot of co-writers I trust to go to with an idea. and it took me a long time to learn that, because I feel like I wasted a lot of ideas through the years, not take them to the right person to work on them with.”
Cody Webb “And, I feel like that’s another thing I’ve kind of doubt in the last few years who I’m writing with.”
Angela Barrett “well, that when they’re scared and I noticed there was something, was it John Boat? Yeah. There’s a bunch of you. I guess that helped on that, right? Was that.”
Cody Webb “Boat? I started it with a buddy who’s not even a songwriter. I just started his house one night. We were having a good time and kind of had the idea. And, he called a songwriter buddy over to his house, and we kind of work on a few lines. And then, Fred and I got together and pretty much wrote the song, and then I took it back to the other songwriter guy, and we got tweaked some.”
Cody Webb “This it was it was, probably 4 or 5 step process to making that song, but right now we’ve got, you know, everybody was a star. Now it’s up.”
Unknown To you to.
Angela Barrett “yeah, I think there was some other interview. I think I was reading about that. And in fact, that’s how I put you and, Trent together. I was like, oh, look at. Oh, God. so in 2025, I know you’re going to be at the Carolina Country Music Festival, correct?”
Cody Webb “we were just there this year. we have not heard next year schedule yet, but, hopefully we’ll be back.”
Angela Barrett “well, you might want to look, because it has 2025 on there that really that’s what I saw.”
Cody Webb “But. Well, that’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
Angela Barrett “I maybe I saw it wrong there. I could have sworn is in 2020. and they don’t and I don’t even know where I got that from. Doing mouth, you know, digging on online. so where of where do you go from here? Where do we where are we going to what? What’s the plan?”
Cody Webb “well, we are, you know, me with lots of industry folks right now. I just a showcase in Nashville a couple weeks ago. we’re continuing to release these, like, every 6 to 8 weeks. So I actually working towards a full album right now. So we’re just full steam ahead, right? Record recording, playing shows. you know, just traveling around and, just just kind of full steam ahead right now.”
Cody Webb “And, you know, honestly, I’m not, you know, I’m God keeping keeping an open mind. So I’m not, you know, I don’t want to be in the place where I’m like, I need a record deal. I need this or that. I just want to build this thing and continue to grow a fan base, continue to play shows and see how they can get it.”
Cody Webb Yeah. so that’s kind of where we are. Is full steam ahead right in record and playing?
Angela Barrett “if there’s one thing that you could tell everybody that most people would not know about you, but they might be shocked, what would it be about me? Haha.”
Cody Webb “Oh man, you’re throwing tough questions on me now. Oh probably that I’m a lot more goofy than most people think I would be and not in real life.”
Angela Barrett “I don’t know that,”
Cody Webb “I think a lot of people meet me and like, I’m some, like, serious, you know, I don’t I, but, Yeah, I’m,”
Angela Barrett Your wife will say you’re a crazy.
Cody Webb “Probably. So if you know what my wife say about me, you know.”
Angela Barrett “Oh, yeah. Oh, last.”
Cody Webb “Yes, I, I don’t know if things people don’t know about me. yeah. That’s a tough, I used to like growing up. I used to go on the snake town every year and get snakes and, for this, this, place that keeps snakes and alligators. And that was kind of a weird thing growing up, so. No.”
Cody Webb Super. I don’t know that.
Angela Barrett “Yeah, I would say that most people probably don’t know that. And you’re right. That’s that’s, that’s that’s different. You’re right. Yeah. That’s, so have you ever had weed out on the lake or a pond or, and had to be towed in by your fishing line, tow rope.”
Cody Webb Had to be towed in.
Angela Barrett You think?
Cody Webb “Oh, as a kid, more times, like, yeah. You know, my parents always had these boats when I was growing up. And I feel like every time we ever went out on the lake, they would break down. You know, that’s kind of boats I grew up on. Like, in my mind, your boat’s not supposed to make it home.”
Cody Webb That’s just the way it is.
Angela Barrett “But,”
Cody Webb “Yeah, we’ve been.”
Angela Barrett “Story all new. So, y’all didn’t have any paddles and so had to go home on the, fishing line. Tow rope.”
Cody Webb “That sounds about right. Yeah, I’ve. I’ve been at this location plenty of times. And again.”
Angela Barrett “Oh. Well, congratulations. on your new release in a few days and clearer modulations on the baby on the way. and, I have enjoyed watching your process this whole time, because it has been a while since you were standing there, you know, barefoot, sweat floats, beer bottle, playing a guitar. but I have enjoyed it, and I, and looking forward to seeing where you’re going.”
Cody Webb “I really appreciate it. Thank you for taking the time to to, do this today, and I can’t wait to hear it. And, let me know when it comes out.”
Angela Barrett Absolutely.