Now the independent country is an unstoppable tide, so unstoppable that now even the music business of the mainstream can not ignore it and tries, indeed, to fit into this success that does not know crisis or decline in popularity for years.
Just think that the festivals that follow from spring to autumn are great, with dream line-ups and record sold-out in every corner of the United States.
We went back to making independent music as it was used in the 70s when artists were a real movement and collaborated with each other for the success of each other
So, Brent Cobb was the protagonist and witness of the rebirth of this movement that with difficulty has left behind the flattery and the ringing dollars of the music business that tried to cage him in crazy commercial rules.
Not everyone, despite the talent, managed to do it, but those who made it today are stoned in one of the most beautiful songs of recent years.
I start differently today to tell you about this record and I start by talking about a song that is a manifesto, a testimony, a celebration by an artist who was there, lived and shared the recording studios, the stage and life with the best artists of independent music, but also with those of the mainstream.
Brent Cobb with When Country Came Back to Town gives us a sort of playlist of the best country artists of this movement and does it with a wonderful ballad that took 15 years to complete and that will be in my speakers for many years to come.
He couldn’t fit everyone in, but there are names that fill the arenas today, but when they started they were opposed and played for $100 in drugstores and today they are the lighthouse that drives those who want to walk the same roads.
There is the “cousin Dave” who is Dave Cobb the production wizard who gave the movement, there is Jamey Johnson and his late guitarist Jason “Rowdy” Cope with whom he shared dreams, there is Sturgill Simpson who opened the way as Cody Jinks, there is Chris Stapleton and his wife Morgane, Nikki Lane and even who, despite being now incorporated in the Nashville carriage, remains a great artist and that is Miranda Lambert.
And so many others.
Not just a piece to listen to, but a piece to read and pass on to posterity: today independent music is the protagonist and it is thanks to artists like Brent Cobb, no doubt about that.
Southern Star is a perfect record, 10 songs that are a celebration not only of the music of the South of the States, the best part, for those who speak, of American music, but it is also a celebration of the life of the places where Cobb lived.
For example, the title track that opens the album is a dedication to his not-North Star, the one where he knows he can come back and feel better and that is his Georgia, but also to a bar where he used to frequent the legendary Jason Cope. An artist who was his inspiration and with whom he shared so much, before his tragic death.
The album was recorded at Capricorn Studios in Macon and the feeling that surrounds the album is the same that wrapped the records of those who were born and recorded here: the Allman Brothers Band, Charlie Daniels, the soul and the southern, as in the beautiful Livin’ the Dream.
Rhythm, soul and a splash of funk. Keyboards and harmonica, a warm voice and an ability to write really crazy quality songs.
Patina is a beautiful ballad of love written by Brent’s wife that relaxes the atmosphere, one of those pieces that we imagine listening to under a porch in front of a small fire. Beautiful in its disarming simplicity.
You wanted Southern rock and funk? Here’s to you ‘On’t Know When where the magic of the gospel feeling, which was the basis of his previous album (whose review you can find here https://www.trexroads.com/and-now-lets-turn-the-page-brent-cobb-2022-english/) meets the honky tonk and the southern. A fun piece with a world-class arrangement.
The rhythm does not give you even in Devil Ain’t Done, Southern trend: soul, funk and blues in a killer mix.
Put then the text that tells us about how ours does not want to give up the rebellious attitude and, indeed, considers it fundamental and you will have a piece that will not soon leave the playlists of those who love Southern rock and its appeal.
The work closes with another ode to the South, Shade Tree, which completely embraces the relaxed feeling with a ballad of the past that the warm and intense voice of Cobb makes even more incisive.
This guy’s songwriting has few equals in the independent world. Chapeau!
Southern Star is one of the independent records of the year, not only for the song that celebrates the exploits of its heroes, but because it enhances a territory and its feeling that are the best expression of American songwriting music.
Cobb after really beautiful albums, gives us another masterpiece to be handed down to posterity that puts him, without a doubt, among the best of his generation.
A record that in its quiet simplicity, hides a world of poems and stories complex and full of meanings, to be appreciated slowly, as if you were sipping a sweet tea in one of those glass jars, wrapped by the scent of peaches, sitting on a wooden porch.
I, like Brent Cobb, leave to others the star that points to the North, musically my star is a Southern star that points directly to the places where the best American music has been revealed to the world.
Good listening,
Claudio “Trex” Trezzani by http://www.ticinonotizie.it
(in Ticino Notizie web site you can find original italian version of this article)
