Brent Cobb made his breakthrough with ‘Shine On Rainy Day’ in 2016 after years of honing his craft and performing.
Since then he’s gone on to amass an army of fans with his blend of Country and Americana, offering welcome relief from the sounds that are dominating Country radio. In 2020 Cobb released his critically acclaimed album “Keep ‘Em On They Toes”and less than two years on from that, he’s unveiling his first gospel record ‘And Now, Let’s Turn to Page…’.
I caught up with Brent this week to talk about the inspiration behind the album, find out about how he choose the songs to include, and to discuss the artists that have made an impact on him…
Your new album ‘And Now, Let’s Turn To Page…’ is out today. This is a real passion project for you and something you’ve wanted to do for a while. What’s the story behind it?
I grew up with all of these songs,in a small rural country church. I’ve always wanted to make a gospel album as a country singer, because there would be no country music without gospel music. It used to be historically, that’s what country artists did. They would make a gospel album at some point. I didn’t know when I would do it. My son and I were in a car accident in July 2020 and we got really lucky. I only broke my collarbone and he was fine but it did influence me to go ahead and make the album.
That must have been a very scary experience, especially to happen while the pandemic was already changing our way of life. Did the pandemic also impact on this record?
Oh yeah. The title of the album, it’s called ‘And Now, Let’s Turn to Page…’, which is what the lead of the singing says in church when you have your hymnals open. But also if we could turn the page in this life, and if we could go to the next chapter that’d be great (laughs).
At this point it feels like we might never get there…
Yeah, it feels like we’re just spinning wheels. Everybody’s working so hard but I think we’re getting somewhere. I have faith anyway.
You were supposed to be here with The Cadillac Three last year but unfortunately that had to be postponed. Are you planning to make it back here this year?
I wanted to this year but I’m unable to make up my set with The Cadillac Three for their rescheduled dates, unfortunately. I’m going to shoot for 2023 so as soon as possible.
Were there any benefits of being able to focus solely on making this album during the pandemic, free from other distractions?
Yeah. When we went to record, I brought my dad’s group in to sing on a couple of the songs and there was not a whole lot of work happening on Music Row, and there was an ice storm. I think we were the only people down there working at that time. It’s sort of felt that way this whole time. You can’t tour so all you can do is focus on the creative part of it all and that part has been very freeing for these pandemic times. That’s sort of a positive, as far as creativity is concerned.
Some artists have found that the pandemic has really impacted on their ability to be creative. Did that happen to you?
A lot of times I write my songs after I have gone through whatever the situation is. After it’s come and gone, and I’m able to evaluate it and not be so close to it. I think I was needing a time to reflect and it helped me to write. I knew I wanted to make a new album but I didn’t necessarily have all of the songs for a new project. I have hundreds of songs but I didn’t have the ones that needed to go together and yet, I wanted to be creative. It all happened perfectly, it was natural the timing to make this album. I wanted to be creative. We’re in a pandemic, we weren’t touring and these songs uplifted me. It just made sense.
Gospel music has so many fantastic songs. Was it hard to choose the ones you wanted to record?
It wasn’t, only because these songs are sort of the Southern Baptist’s Greatest Hits. These were the songs that I grew up singing the most in our church.
Even though gospel might seem like a new sound for you, it actually fits in so well with the music you’ve already put out. Was it important for you to make these songs your own so your fans come on this journey with you?
If it wasn’t for these songs, I wouldn’t make the music that I’ve made so they sort of go hand in hand. My muse and creative pursuit, my goal is to hone in on whatever the core of what I do is. Maybe I’ll go crazy someday and I’ll just do something really weird that is outside of my character, but for now my pursuit has always been to try to get even closer to the root of what it is that I do.
Now that you’ve recorded this body of work will you take more elements of gospel music with you moving forward?
Um, I don’t know. I don’t overthink it. It’s possible, but I don’t know. It’s all one and the same to me.
This record arrives at a time when we’ve all got pandemic fatigue and we’re longing for the world to get back to normal. I think people will find it uplifting and full of hope and optimism. Is the timing of its arrival a happy accident?
Yeah, that’s just what I feel too. I wouldn’t want anybody to feel like because it’s a gospel album…. it doesn’t matter… I don’t care what anybody believes in. It’s not about that. If you believe in music, I think that you’ll like this album, and like you just said, I think it will be uplifting. I just wanted to make a good album.
I’m not a religious person at all, but I love gospel music. There’s just something about it…
That’s where music comes from.
I love a lot of the stuff that Elvis did in Gospel back in the day. Who would you say have been the biggest inspirations for you when you were thinking about this project?
Elvis was one of them and his gospel albums, especially for our cover design artwork. I love that one where he’s up there and it’s red. It’s such an amazing album cover. Also Otis Redding. Originally I wanted to go in and I wanted to make a Jerry Lee Lewis country style album. He did these country records from ’68 to ’79, or something like that, and they just sound so good. Then we got in and we found that groove on, ‘Just a Closer Walk With Thee’ and then we knew, ‘oh there it feels like home’. Then it turned into Jerry Lee Lewis and Otis Redding got together and went down and made a album with Lynard Skynard in Muscle Shoals. I live somewhere in that world anyway.
This is a style that suits you and I’m excited to see how it impacts on what you do next. You’ve really tapped into something…
Maybe so (laughs). I appreciate that.
What else is on the schedule for this year for you?
We have a whole year full of touring. We have a lot of dates. You can plan for whatever and hopefully it all sticks. That’s really all I plan to do is as long as COVID doesn’t cancel anything else. I plan to put this album out and tour, that’s it.
Brent Cobb’s new album ‘And Now, Let’s Turn to Page…’ is out now. Watch the video for ‘When It’s My Time’ below:
