There are many influences in modern country, many genres have merged from the beginning until today. Perhaps the strongest turn to the genre was given in the ’70s by that group of rebellious artists known as Outlaws (outlaw because they decided not to follow the canons of what sold and was commercially fair). But if you want to talk about country you can not mention the genre that has given perhaps the strongest inspiration to all the artists who started the history, from Hank Williams to Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson and that is the gospel. Religious music has been one of the engines of country music, the traditional songs handed down by the Southern grandmothers are still loved in those latitudes and have marked more than a generation of musicians. Just remember that even Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, to mention two of the greatest performers of rock music, have as inspiring Muse the gospel music and often in their shows and records, performed traditional songs. Especially in the South of the United States popular music, from blues to country, has its roots in this kind of religious inspiration. And right from the South, from Georgia to be precise, comes Brent Cobb and after years in which he rummaged in the head to record a compilation of song of southern gospel music, finally decided and gave us what we can consider a kind of dedication to everything in which he has always believed and has always been inspired to. It took years and 4 discs to get there but above all a strong and devastating experience to push him towards spirituality. In 2020, a serious car accident almost deprived us forever of the talent of this great artist (one that in addition to 4 successful records, had also given unforgettable pieces for other artists such as Whiskey Myers or Miranda Lambert and numerous others) and from this experience Cobb tells how he found inspiration for a religious-inspired record. Brent Cobb comes from a musical family, his cousin Dave (also producer of this record) is one of the magicians of the Nashville production, his grandfather was one of the leading voices of the Baptist church of his native country and then his father sings in the gospel group Antioch, but the whole family does and for the first time with him on record. Perhaps the presence of his family gives this record a magical aura, a strong feeling that oscillates between the sermon on Sunday and the parish feast on Saturday night. A record of 9 pieces, 8 traditional and 1 written together with his wife Layne and Mike Harmeier of Mike and the Moonpies, pieces that you will have heard from other artists and grandmothers of the South of the States, know by heart. Not a commercial job but a sincere and heartfelt job that gives serenity and desire for happy memories, the voice of Cobb is a real wonder but also the choirs of Antioch and the voice of Caylee Hammoch and Anderson East, are same. A record that in its genre is a small jewel, one of those discs where there are no masterpieces or individual enthralling, but that reconciles with the music of the past. Just a Closer Walk With Thee is a wonderful piece that blends gospel and soul, piano and acoustic guitar and the soothing and sweet voices that accompany us among the benches of an old country church. The original piece, When It’s My Time, doesn’t seem to be written today so much as the gospel feeling that goes through it is strong, the piano and the voice that takes the soul with this so straightforward text that tells us how we should live life to the full, Don’t let the years pass you by because when you have to leave this world, you just go. A real poem and in my opinion one of the most beautiful and simple songs written by Cobb, who also in his career has written beautiful songs. To listen and listen to, southern gospel at its best, with a final guitar solo that fits perfectly. Are You Washed in the Blood? is a piece that has a flavor of southern blues rock and soul music, perhaps the only song that brings the rhythm over the top but does not clash and even here the guitar solo is a little gem. In church, yes, but after going to a swamp in Louisiana. How to interpret a piece at least 100 years old, making it look like a wild modern southern rock. Southern that we also find in the beautiful We Shall Rise, with a guitar ride soaked with that peach flavor of Georgia that makes this song church, a song that seems to come out of a record of the Allman Brothers Band. Old Country Church is a classic piece of gospel-inspired bluegrass and is performed with the participation of Antioch, his father’s group, another song that would be perfect sung at Sunday mass, for those who have attended at least once in their life these celebrations can understand the feeling that comes out of the coffers. The Cobb family closes this work with Blessed Be the Tie That Binds, a piece performed a cappella, very short but really intense and full of a very strong family feeling, a closing worthy of a nice record to listen in one breath. A record that is a celebration of the music that has inspired thousands of country artists, there are tracks that have performed virtually all artists of this genre as Old Rugged Cross, a work that Brent Cobb records in a personal way, with the heart and soul of a great artist to thank God for having arrived where he has arrived and for having given him a wonderful family, blessed by a truly uncommon talent. Full of songs for Sunday mornings, but without forgetting that the souls of men also pass from Saturday evenings and the good Brent Cobb can sing both at a party in a bar that shout halleluja from the altar of his Baptist Church of Antioch in Elleville, Georgia. I just have to leave you to listen to a record that is food for the heart and soul, to better understand where the country comes from and where it should go and that is to the feelings of people, which many in Nashville have now forgotten.
Good listening,
Trex Willer by http://www.ticinonotizie.it
(you can find original italian article at this link : https://www.ticinonotizie.it/brent-cobb-and-now-lets-turn-the-page-2022-by-trex-roads/ )
