Dave Cobb

Early life

Cobb was born in Savannah, Georgia, to Mary Cobb (née Floyd) and David Cobb, Sr. He went to The Cottage School in Roswell, Georgia.

Cobb said his family was very religious and was active in the Pentecostal faith (his maternal grandmother was a minister). Cobb started out playing drums and taking guitar lessons at church when he was four years old.

Career

When Cobb was first starting in music, he worked as a session player in Atlanta. He joined the band The Tender Idols, featuring Ian Webber (vocals), Danny Howes (guitar), Guy Strauss (drums) and Joe Jones (bass). They released three LPs, the second of which Dave Cobb co-produced. They signed with Emagine Records based in New York. Cobb played guitar and bass and was in the band for seven years. He was involved in the recording process, which got him interested in being in the studio, and led to him recording other bands he was friends with. The record contract was very restrictive and took a long time to get out of.

From when he was 27 years old, Cobb lived in Los Angeles, where he went after moving on from the band. He lived there from 2004 to 2011, eventually moving to Nashville in 2011.

Cobb considers Shooter Jennings family. The two have worked together for a long time, since they met in California via Cobb's manager, Andrew Brightman. In 2005, Cobb and Jennings made the record Put the "O" Back in Country, together as their first collaboration.

In 2009, from his connection to Jennings, Cobb produced Oak Ridge Boys' record The Boys Are Back, encouraging the band to record outside their catalog. They covered songs by The White Stripes, Neil Young, John Lee Hooker.

Cobb and Sturgill Simpson first met at a Billy Joe Shaver concert. They completed the record Metamodern Sounds in Country Music in four days. Cobb says he used many vintage recording techniques, avoiding the electronic approach.

The approach of recording Jason Isbell's Southeastern was an effort to chronicle an acoustic sound similar to what is found on Simon And Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water, where non-traditional recording environments captured a live, warm sound.

Cobb met singer-songwriter Anderson East at Nashville's legendary Bluebird Cafe. The two ended up making East's record, Delilah, which was recorded at legendary FAME Studios in North Alabama's Muscle Shoals. Rodney Hall from FAME allowed the pair into the archives—in the vault they found George Jackson's song, "Find 'Em, Fool 'Em, Forget 'Em," which is now a track on Delilah. The video for "Find 'Em" is shot at FAME.

In 2013, Cobb began work producing Early Morning Shakes, the third studio album from Whiskey Myers, a Country Southern rock band from Palestine, Texas. The record was released on February 4, 2014.

Cobb is managed by Brightman Music. He has a record label imprint called Low Country Sound that has a deal with Atlantic Records. The debut project for Low Country Sounds was the 2015 record Delilah, by Anderson East, who signed with the label.

In 2016, Cobb curated the collection Southern Family, inspired by the album White Mansions, that will be released on his Low Country Sound licensing imprint via Elektra Records. The record, characterized as a concept album, is focused on themes centered on family and the artist's experiences growing up in the South contains new song contributions by Zac Brown, Anderson East, Jason Isbell, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Morgane and Chris Stapleton among others, had a release date of March 18.

In July 2016 Cobb took residency of RCA Studio A on Nashville's Music Row. The studio is the sister studio next door to RCA Studio B which opened in 1956. The title of Chris Stapleton's 2017 release From A Room: Vol. 1 refers to the album being recorded at the studio.

Artistic approach

Cobb said he focuses on the performer's voice, aiming for an end product which sounds natural. Cobb often plays guitar, and occasionally drums, on the records he produces. Cobb cites Jimmy Miller (Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street) as an important influence in his approach to producing, as well as Glyn Johns and Brendan O'Brien. Current influences include Gabriel Roth (Daptone Records).

Personal life

Cobb lives in the Green Hills neighborhood of West Nashville, Tennessee. He is married. He and his wife, who is from Albania, have a daughter.

One of Cobb's paternal cousins from Georgia is the singer-songwriter Brent Cobb. Additionally, Cobb said he grew up with musician Butch Walker.

Cobb has talked about the long-term passion that turned into a serious hobby where he explores different types of wine, especially from the Paso Robles, California and other California vineyard areas.

Awards

Equipment

Chart positions

Twice in June of 2017 Dave Cobb produced albums held 4 of the top 5 Billboard Country albums. The first was the week of June 8th with Chris Stapleton's From A Room: Vol. 1, Zac Brown Band Welcome Home, Chris Stapleton Traveller and Wheeler Walker Jr. 'Ol Wheeler. And again the following week with both Chris Stapleton albums, Zac Brown Band and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.

In August 2015, the Cobb-produced record by Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free, debuted at number 1 on Billboard Magazine's rock, folk and country record charts. Although he had had critical success in the Americana genre, this was the first time Isbell received such high ranking across genres.