Dave Cobb

Dave Cobb (born July 9, 1974) is 9 time Grammy Award winning American record producer based in Nashville, Tennessee, best known for producing the work of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, The Highwomen, Take That, Rival Sons, and Zayn Malik, among others.^[1][2]

For other people with similar names, see David Cobb (disambiguation).

Dave Cobb
Born	(1974-07-09) July 9, 1974 (age 50) Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Americana country rock and roll
Occupations	Record producer songwriter recording engineer
Years active	2005–present
Website	davecobbproducer.com

Cobb is also a contributor to the six million-selling 2018 A Star Is Born soundtrack and produced "Always Remember Us This Way" for Lady Gaga.^[3][4]

Early life

Cobb was born in Savannah, Georgia,^[5] to Mary Cobb (née Floyd) and David Cobb, Sr.. He attended The Cottage School in Roswell.

Cobb said his family was very religious and was active in the Pentecostal faith (his maternal grandmother was a minister).^[3] Cobb began playing drums and taking guitar lessons at church when he was four years old.^[6]

Career

Cobb's career in music began as a session musician in Atlanta, sometimes working with producers Dallas Austin and Jermaine Dupri. In the late 1990s he joined Britpop band The Tender Idols, featuring Ian Webber (vocals), Danny Howes (guitar), Guy Strauss (drums) and Joe Jones (bass), and Cobb on guitar and bass.^[7] The band signed with New York record label Emagine and released three LPs, the second of which Dave Cobb co-produced.^[8] Cobb's involvement in the recording process got him interested in working in the recording studio and led to him recording and producing other bands he was friends with.^[5]

Cobb left the band and moved to Los Angeles, California in 2004. Cobb's manager, Andrew Brightman, introduced him to Shooter Jennings,^[5] and the two became friends, connecting over shared interest in bands like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, and Nine Inch Nails.^[8] Jennings also expanded Cobb's country music education and, in 2005, Cobb produced Jennings' debut solo album Put the "O" Back in Country. Over the next several years, Cobb produced more albums by Jennings, as well as albums by such rock bands as Rival Sons,^[3] and co-produced Jamey Johnson's That Lonesome Song (2008) and The Guitar Song (2009).^[7]

In 2009, thanks to his professional connection to Jennings, Cobb produced the Oak Ridge Boys' record The Boys Are Back,^[4] encouraging the band to record outside their standard catalog. The group then went on to cover songs by The White Stripes, Neil Young and John Lee Hooker.^[9]

In 2011 Cobb moved to Nashville, Tennessee.^[3] Cobb established a recording studio in a bedroom-sized room at the back of his house and named it Low Country Sound.^[10] After meeting Sturgill Simpson at a Billy Joe Shaver concert,^[11] Cobb produced Simpson's debut studio album High Top Mountain (2013) and its follow-up, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014). Recorded at Cobb's Low Country Sound studio in only four days, Cobb used many different vintage recording techniques, avoiding any electronic recording approaches for this particular album.^[7]

Cobb began working with Jason Isbell in 2013. Isbell's album Southeastern, recorded in Cobb's home and studio, was an effort to chronicle an acoustic sound similar to what is found on Simon And Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water, where a non-traditional recording environment was captured to provide an organic, live and "warm" sound.^[5][12] The same year, 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 met singer-songwriter Anderson East at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe, and Cobb ended up producing East's 2015 album Delilah, which was recorded at 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.^[13] The video for "Find 'Em" is shot at FAME.^[14]

In 2015, Cobb founded Low Country Sound (LCS), a record label imprint of Elektra that has a distribution deal with Atlantic Records.^[15] The debut project for Low Country Sound was the 2015 record Delilah by Anderson East, who is currently signed with the label.^[16] The same year, Cobb co-produced Chris Stapleton's debut studio album Traveller at the historic RCA Studio A on Nashville's Music Row, which was slated for demolition.^[10] The album would go on to top the Billboard Year-End Top Country Albums chart in 2016 and 2017,^[17][18] and win the Grammy Award for Best Country Album.^[19]

On March 18, 2016, the collaborative album Southern Family was released on the Low Country Sound imprint. Produced and curated by Cobb, the concept album was inspired by the album White Mansions, with themes centered on family values and the artist's experiences growing up in the South. It contains song contributions by Zac Brown, Anderson East, Jason Isbell, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Morgane and Chris Stapleton among others. It was officially released on March 18, 2016.^[20]

RCA Studio A was saved from demolition, and in July 2016, Cobb began a long-term residency at the studio.^[10] The title of Chris Stapleton's 2017 releases From A Room: Volume 1 and From A Room: Volume 2 refer to the albums being recorded at the studio, as does The Oak Ridge Boys' 2018 release, 17th Avenue Revival, referring to the studio's location on 17th Avenue in Nashville.

In 2022, Cobb produced Gavin DeGraw's eighth album titled Face the River, the album 4 by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, as well as Sammy Hagar and the Circle's album Crazy Times.

In 2024, Cobb produced singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony's debut album Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind, who came to prominence half a year prior with the viral single "Rich Men North of Richmond". While most of the songs were already released as acoustic recordings, they were re-recorded and provided new arrangements by Cobb.^[21]

Artistic approach

Cobb has 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.^[5] 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.^[22] Current influences include Gabriel Roth (Daptone Records).^[5]

Cobb also is known to not have a preference over analog recordings versus digital, instead believing the spontaneous nature of creativity as well as the inspiration derived from new discovery, predominantly drives the organic quality of a song.^[5]

Personal life

Cobb lives in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee.^[3][16] Cobb is married; he and his wife, who is from Albania, have one daughter together.^[6][7][3]

One of Cobb's paternal cousins from Georgia is the singer-songwriter Brent Cobb.^[7][23] Additionally, Cobb said he grew up with musician Butch Walker.^[6]

Cobb has talked about the long-term passion that turned into a serious hobby where he explores different types of wine, especially from Paso Robles and other California vineyards.^[6]

Awards

• 2011: Grammy Award for Best Country Album (nominee) for Jamey Johnson's The Guitar Song^[16]
• 2014: Americana Music Association, Album of the Year for Jason Isbell's Southeastern^[24]
• 2014: Americana Music Association, Producer of the Year^[5]
• 2014: Grammy Award for Best Americana Album (nominee) for Sturgill Simpson's Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
• 2015: Grammy Award for Producer of the Year (nominee)
• 2015: Grammy Award for Best Country Album for Chris Stapleton's Traveller – as producer
• 2015: Grammy Award for Best Americana Album for Jason Isbell's Something More Than Free – as producer
• 2016: Americana Music Association, Album of the Year, Jason Isbell's Something More Than Free
• 2016: Americana Music Association, Producer of the Year
• 2016: Music Row awards, Producer of the Year
• 2017: Country Music Awards, Chris Stapleton's From A Room: Volume 1
• 2017: Country Music Awards, Producer of the Year
• 2018: Grammy Award for Best Americana Album (nominee) for Brent Cobb Shine On Rainy Day
• 2018: Grammy Award for Best Americana Album for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's The Nashville Sound – as producer
• 2018: Grammy Award for Best Country Album for Chris Stapleton's From A Room: Vol. 1 – as producer
• 2019: Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song for Brandi Carlile's "The Joke" – as co-writer, producer
• 2019: Grammy Award for Best Americana Album for Brandi Carlile's By the Way, I Forgive You – as producer
• 2022: Grammy Award for Best Country Album for Chris Stapleton's Starting Over - as producer
• 2022: Grammy Award for Best Country Song for Chris Stapleton's "Cold" - as songwriter and producer
• 2023: Grammy Award for Best Americana Album for Brandi Carlile's In These Silent Days - as producer

Equipment

• Console / board: HELIOS by Dick Swettenham (Abbey Road Studios)^[6]
• Recorder: Endless Analog's CLASP (Closed Loop Analog Signal Processor)^[25][26]
• Converters: Burl Audio B80 Mothership and the B32 Vancouver^[27]

Selected discography

Artist	Album	Label	Credit	Year
Red Clay Strays	In These Moments	RCA	Producer	2024
Zayn	Room Under the Stairs	Mercury	Producer	2024
Greta Van Fleet	Starcatcher	Universal	Producer	2023
William Prince	Stand in the Joy	Six Shooter Records	Producer	2023
Sammy Hagar and the Circle	Crazy Times	Universal	Producer	2022
Gavin DeGraw	Face the River	RCA	Producer	2022
Slash	4 (feat Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators)	Gibson Records	Producer	2022
Jade Bird	Different Kinds of Light	Glassnote Records	Producer	2021
Barry Gibb	'Greenfields': The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1	Capitol Records	Producer	2021
Chris Stapleton	Starting Over	Mercury Nashville	Producer	2020
Dawes	Good Luck with Whatever	Rounder Records	Producer	2020
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit	Reunions	Thirty Tigers	Producer	2020
William Prince	Reliever	Six Shooter Records	Producer	2020
Ian Noe	Between the Country	"National Treasury Recordings"	Producer	2019
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit	Live from the Ryman	Thirty Tigers	Mixer	2019
Dirty Heads	Supermoon	Five Seven	Producer	2019
Rival Sons	Feral Roots "Do Your Worst"	LCS/Atlantic	Producer	2019
Brandi Carlile and Sam Smith	"Party of One" Single		Producer	2019
Lady Gaga	A Star Is Born Soundtrack "Always Remember Us This Way"	Interscope Records	Producer & Music Consultant	2018
Marcus King Band	Carolina Confessions		Producer	2018
Elle King	Shake the Spirit "Ram Jam" and "Told You So"	RCA	Producer	2018
Brandi Carlile	By the Way, I Forgive You	Low Country Sound/Elektra	Producer	2018
The Oak Ridge Boys	17th Avenue Revival	Lightning Rod Records	Producer	2018
Lori McKenna	The Tree	CN Records	Producer	2018
John Prine	The Tree of Forgiveness	Oh Boy Records, Nashville	Producer	2018
The Revivalists	Take Good Care		Producer	2018
Amanda Shires	To The Sunset		Producer	2018
Colter Wall	Songs of the Plains		Producer	2018
Shooter Jennings	Shooter		Producer	2018
Ashley Monroe	Sparrow	Warner Bros. Nashville	Producer	2018
Wheeler Walker Jr.	WW III	Thirty Tigers	Producer	2018
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit	The Nashville Sound	Southeastern	Producer	2017
Chris Stapleton	From A Room: Volume 1	Mercury Nashville	Producer	2017
Europe	Walk the Earth	Hell and Back Records	Producer, co-writer	2017
Zac Brown Band	Welcome Home	No Reserve/Elektra	Producer	2017
The Lone Bellow	Walk Into A Storm	Descendant Records/Masterworks	Producer	2017
Colter Wall	Colter Wall	YMRC/Thirty Tigers	Producer	2017
Judah & the Lion	Folk Hop n' Roll	CTV/Caroline	Producer	2017
Wheeler Walker Jr.	Ol' Wheeler	Thirty Tigers	Producer	2017
Various artists: Anderson East, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson	Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates 10 Years of the Story (An Album to Benefit War Child)	Looking Out Foundation	Producer	2017
Anderson East	"Forever Young" featured in Ram Trucks Television Commercial	Low Country Sound/Elektra	Producer, Performer	2017
Chris Shiflett	West Coast Town	Le Coq Napoleon/SideOneDummy	Producer	2017
All Them Witches	Sleeping Through War	New West Records	Producer	2017
Jillette Johnson	All I Ever See In You Is Me	Rounder	Producer	2017
Lori McKenna	The Bird and the Rifle	CN Records	Producer	2016
Brent Cobb	Shine On Rainy Day	Low Country Sound/Elektra	Producer	2016
Whiskey Myers	Mud	Wiggy Thump	Producer	2016
Amanda Shires	My Piece of Land	Lightning Rod	Producer	2016
Judah & the Lion	Folk Hop N' Roll	CTV/Caroline	Producer	2016
Bonnie Bishop	Ain't Who I Was	Thirty Tigers	Producer	2016
Brett Dennen	Por Favor	Elektra Records	Producer	2016
Various artists: Anderson East, Brandy Clark, Brent Cobb, Holly Williams, Jamey Johnson, Jason Isbell, John Paul White, Miranda Lambert, Morgane Stapleton feat. Chris Stapleton, Rich Robinson, Shooter Jennings, Zac Brown Band	Southern Family (compilation)	Low Country Sound/Elektra	Producer	2016
Lake Street Dive	Side Pony	Nonesuch Records	Producer	2016
Mary Chapin Carpenter	The Things That We Are Made Of	Lambent Light Records	Producer	2016
Rival Sons	Hollow Bones	Earache Records	Producer	2016
The Sore Losers	Skydogs	Excelsior Recordings	Producer	2016
Holly Williams	TBA	Georgiana Records	Producer	2016
A Thousand Horses	Southernality[28]	Republic Records	Producer	2015
Corb Lund	Things That Can't Be Undone	New West Records	Producer	2015
Kristin Diable	Create Your Own Mythology[29]	Thirty Tigers/Speakeasy Records	Producer	2015
Chris Stapleton	Traveller[30]	Universal Music Group Nashville	Producer	2015
Anderson East	Delilah[31]	Elektra Records	Producer	2015
Chris Isaak	First Comes The Night	Vanguard	Producer	2015
Christian Lopez Band	Onward	Blaster	Producer, Mixer	2015
Houndmouth	Little Neon Limelight	Rough Trade Records	Producer, Mixer	2015
honeyhoney	3	Concord Records	Producer	2015
Finger Eleven	Five Crooked Lines	Concord Records	Producer	2015
Lindi Ortega	Faded Gloryville[32]	Last Gang Records	Producer	2015
Europe	War of Kings	Hell and Back Records	Producer, Mixer	2015
Wheeler Walker Jr.	Redneck Shit	Pepperhill Music	Producer, Mixer	2015
California Breed	California Breed	Frontiers Records	Producer	2014
Rival Sons	Great Western Valkyrie	Earache Records	Producer	2014
Whiskey Myers	Early Morning Shakes	Wiggy Thump Records	Producer, Mixer	2014
Eliot Bronson	Eliot Bronson	Saturn 5 Records	Producer	2014
Sturgill Simpson	High Top Mountain	High Top Mountain/Loose Music	Producer	2013
Sturgill Simpson	Metamodern Sounds in Country Music	High Top Mountain/Loose Music	Producer	2014
The Wans	He Said, She Said	Independent	Producer	2014
Jason Isbell	Southeastern	Southeastern/Thirty Tigers	Producer	2013
Jason Isbell	Something More Than Free	Southeastern/Thirty Tigers	Producer	2015
Rival Sons	Head Down	Earache Records	Producer, engineer, writer	2013
Lindi Ortega	Tin Star	Last Gang Records	Producer	2013
Rival Sons	Pressure & Time	Earache Records	Producer, engineer, writer	2011
Jamey Johnson	The Guitar Song	Mercury Nashville	Producer	2010
Jamey Johnson	The Lonesome Song	Mercury Nashville	Producer	2008
Shooter Jennings	The Wolf	Universal South	Producer	2007
Shooter Jennings	Electric Rodeo	Universal South	Producer	2006
Shooter Jennings	Put the "O" Back in Country	Universal South	Producer, engineer, co-writer	2005
Waylon Jennings	Waylon Forever	Vagrant Records	Producer	2008
Rival Sons	Before the Fire	Earache Records	Producer	2009
George Jones	Squidbillies – Theme Song	Cartoon Network	Producer	2011
A Thousand Horses	A Thousand Horses EP	Interscope Records	Producer	2009
The Secret Sisters	The Secret Sisters	Universal Republic	Producer	2010
Brooke White	High Hopes & Heartbreak	June Baby Records	Producer	2009
Michael Johns	Hold Back My Heart	Downtown Records	Producer, co-writer	2009
Nico Vega	Nico Vega	Myspace Records	Producer	2007
Black Robot	Black Robot	Brightman Music	Producer, engineer, co-writer	2007
Chris Cornell	Carry On ("Safe and Sound")	Interscope Records	Producer	2007
The Strays	Le Future Noir	TVT	Producer, co-writer	2006
The Ringers	Headlocks and Highkicks	Independent	Producer, co-writer	2006
Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers	So Many Musicians to Kill	Atlantic	Producer	2005
The Shys	Astoria	Sire/London/Rhino	Producer, co-writer	2005

See also

• Albums produced by Dave Cobb
• RCA Studio A

References

1. Powers, Ann (June 22, 2015). "The Making Of Jason Isbell's '24 Frames'". NPR Music. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
2. Lane, Baron (November 5, 2015). "David Cobb – The Man Behind The Roots Music Tide". Twang Nation. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
3. Powers, Ann (December 16, 2015). "An Outsider Remakes Nashville's Traditional Sound". NPR Music.
4. Kerns, William (June 19, 2009). "Oak Ridge Boys: Legendary vocalists reinvent band with stripped-down sound". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
5. Bosso, Joe (October 6, 2014). "Nashville's hottest producer, Dave Cobb, talks "sound purity"". MusicRadar.
6. Monahan, Pat (March 30, 2015). "Episode 87: Dave Cobb by Patcast by Pat Monahan". Patcast by Pat Monahan (Train). starts at 19:40^{[permanent dead link]}
7. Moss, Marissa R. (July 23, 2014). "Producer Profile: Dave Cobb". Rolling Stone.
8. Leight, Elias (November 19, 2015). "Producer Dave Cobb Talks Working With Chris Stapleton & Country's 'Tipping Point'". Billboard. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
9. Gerome, John (May 29, 2009). "Oak Ridge Boys tackle White Stripes on new album". Pioneer Press. Associated Press.
10. Bacon, Tony (February 2019). "Dave Cobb: Producer & Engineer". Sound On Sound. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
11. "Sturgill Simpson & Dave Cobb – Interview". LR Baggs. August 12, 2014.
12. Verity, Michael (October 23, 2015). "The Producers, Part 1: Dave Cobb". The Bluegrass Situation.
13. Orr, Dacey (July 23, 2015). "How a bathroom break at The Bluebird sold superproducer Dave Cobb on Anderson East". Nashville Scene. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
14. East, Anderson (March 2, 2015). "Anderson East – Find 'Em, Fool 'Em and Forget 'Em [Live from FAME Studios]". Anderson East.
15. Orr, Dacey (July 24, 2015). "Dave Cobb and Anderson East Talk Bromance, Nashville, FAME Studios, Chris Stapleton and More". Nashville Scene. Archived from the original on August 22, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
16. Rau, Nate (April 14, 2015). "Red-hot producer Dave Cobb partners with Elektra Records". The Tennessean.
17. "Billboard Top Country Albums- Year-end Chart". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
18. "Billboard Top Country Albums- Year-end Chart". Billboard. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
19. "Grammys: Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, the Weeknd Lead Nominations". Rolling Stone. December 7, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
20. Vain, Madison (January 6, 2016). "Dave Cobb explains 'Southern Family'". Entertainment Weekly.
21. Willman, Chris (March 29, 2024). "Oliver Anthony to Release Dave Cobb-Produced Debut Album on Easter Sunday". Variety.
22. Bosso, Joe (February 16, 2015). "Dave Cobb's top 5 tips for producers". MusicRadar.
23. DeYoung, Bill (January 8, 2013). "5 questions: Brent Cobb". Connect Savannah.
24. Mansfield, Brian (September 18, 2014). "Jason Isbell dominates Americana Music Awards". USA Today.
25. "Dave Cobb mixing with Endless Analog CLASP". Endless Analog. February 28, 2010.
26. "Dave Cobb Chooses CLASP for Secret Sisters". Clyne Media. November 5, 2010.
27. "Dave Cobb using the B80 Mothership / B32 Vancouver". Burl Video Productions. October 10, 2013.
28. Roland, Tom (July 22, 2015). "A Thousand Horses Hope They Have The Public's Number With 'Drunk Dial'". Billboard.
29. Horowitz, Hal (February 24, 2015). "Kristin Diable: Create Your Own Mythology". American Songwriter.
30. Lindenmuth, Katy (June 1, 2015). "8 Music-Related Reasons Nashville Is Buzzing Right Now: 6. The Existence of Chris Stapleton". Billboard.
31. Billboard Staff (July 17, 2015). "Tomorrow's Hits: R. City, Anderson East & Rico Richie". Billboard.
32. Dauphin, Chuck (August 6, 2015). "Go Behind the Scenes With Country Singer Lindi Ortega as She Records New Album 'Faded Gloryville': Exclusive Video". Billboard.

External links

• Official website
• Dave Cobb at AllMusic
• Brightman Music: Dave Cobb