Its high time Brent Cobb started getting his propers – his recent LP Shine On Rainy Day is just about all anyone is talking about around town when it comes to recent record releases, and he’ll be opening for Chris Stapleton in front of a sold out Ascend Amphitheater crowd this Saturday.
While Cobb’s recent rising distinction may come as an overnight success to the uninformed, Cobb has been toiling away in a storied Nashville fashion that included gigging out around town and cutting records for the likes of Luke Bryan, David Nail, and The Oak Ridge Boys, but that’s neither here nor there on Shine On Rainy Day; its entirely Cobb’s narrative, and a damn good one at that. Tracks like “South of Atlanta” and “Down In the Gulley” paint juxtaposing pictures of Cobb’s life through both winsome and onerous lenses with a cool southern croon.
The album as a whole is utterly disarming in its distinctly reminiscent of rambling country from the 1970s and more contemporary troubadours like Patterson Hood or even Rayland Baxter, all the while maintaining the tenants of Cobb’s oeuvre. While those tenants might be new to most, that will surely change in the coming days, weeks, and months, as Cobb’s been hitting it hard in Nashville for 8 years now.
In honor of Cobb’s considerable time in town, the success of Shine On Rainy Day, and his upcoming Ascend show with Chris Stapleton this Saturday, Cobb shared his Nashville Five of beloved things in and about Nashville.
-Sean
Brent Cobb’s Nashville Five:
To quote Willie Nelson who quoted Roger Miller in his book The Facts Of Life: And Other Dirty Jokes, “The hardest part about writing a book is the first sentence. Well, glad that’s over with.” I could write a book about my favorite things about Nashville. I think it’s harder to come up with a list of only 5 but here it goes…
• Otaku Ramen in the Gulch is my favorite restaurant in town. With that said, PepperFire is my favorite hot chicken and they also make the best collard greens I’ve ever had. I’ve had a lot of collards over the years.
• Music Row on a Sunday. Unfortunately, (because it’s sacred history is in danger of being developed), it’s been going through some changes lately. For now though, I can still go down there on a Sunday afternoon and feel the history and it’s simple easy going rhythm that I like to believe it has always had.
• That 
Nashville is southern. Of course, the city will welcome anyone with open arms as it did me but growing up in rural southwest Georgia, for me it was very comforting to make the move. It was like leaving home to come home.
• The Weather. Nashville has seasons. They all run their course. Spring is green. Summer is hot. Fall is cool and colorful. We only had snow once when I was growing up. It has snowed every winter in Nashville since I’ve been here. Some people complain about how much it rains. I like the rain. Talking about the weather reminds me that there are NO gnats. So, number 5. No gnats.
Again, there are so many things to love about Nashville and I’m happy to have called it home for the past eight years.
Lockeland Springsteen 