Dave Cobb on recording with Barry Gibb and Dolly Parton: ‘It’s a lot to take in’
Cobb #Cobb
What did producer Dave Cobb do when Nashville shut down earlier this year?
“I lost my damn mind,” Cobb said. “I’m somebody who never likes a day off. I don’t enjoy it. I have a really hard time tuning out. I love coming into the studio. I love being creative. I about lost it.”
Productivity, a chief enemy of 2020, wouldn’t be stifled for long. Cobb eventually returned to his home base, historic RCA Studio A on Music Row, and safely began recording again.
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“We have tests at the beginning of every session, anytime somebody new walks into the room,” Cobb said.
Cobb’s “don’t-take-a-day-off” proficiency shined in 2020 with a slew of releases— most tracked pre-pandemic — that earned him a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year.
The 63rd annual Grammy Awards take place Jan. 31.
Read on for highlights from an interview with Cobb about his Grammy-nominated work, staying positive during the health crisis and an all-star project kicking off 2021.
Cobb earned his second top producer nomination in as many years for releases including “Reunions,” a standout 2020 LP from songwriter Jason Isbell, and “The Balladeer,” the latest collection from lauded country wordsmith Lori McKenna.
He tracked a debut album from country supergroup, The Highwomen, featuring Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby. The record won Album of the Year at the 2020 Americana Honors & Awards.
“It’s beyond an honor to work with them,” he said, adding: “…it wasn’t just [The Highwomen] … Yola was in the group. Sheryl Crow was there, showing up — playing bass, playing piano, singing. Jason Isbell was there, playing guitar. The twins [Phil and Tim Hanseroth] from Brandi’s band were on it.
“It was just this big community record. It’s much bigger than just the group. It was absolutely about anybody who wanted to get on the ship and get behind the cause did. I thought that was a really beautiful sentiment.”
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Cobb produced the final recording from beloved songwriter John Prine, “I Remember Everything.” Prine’s label Oh Boy Records released the song in June, weeks after he died of COVID-19 complications. “I Remember Everything” earned a pair of nominations at the upcoming Grammy Awards.
He captured the song at Prine’s house.
“It wasn’t meant to be his last song, by any means,” Cobb said. “We had booked July to go make a new record. He was writing. You could see the twinkle in his eye. John was always a 15-year-old to me, writing his first song. He had that glimmer. He was so inspired.
“I left that night not thinking anything [like] this would be the last time I worked with John. It breaks my heart that this was the last time, because he was not finished by any means.”
In the studio, Cobb said he strives to “literally [not] do the same thing twice.”
It helps when you’re working with “people way smarter than you,” he said — like Carlile, Isbell or longtime collaborator Chris Stapleton, who brought Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench into the studio for his latest album, “Starting Over.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever reached something like, ‘Oh, man. I understand it now,'” Cobb said. “I walk in here and I try to figure it out.
He’s stayed positive this year by staying focused.
More: The state of the music industry in 2020? Not great. But Nashville’s leading.
“When you’re in the moment and you’re creating, you forget about the world for a second,” he said. “I’m really fortunate to be in here in Studio A. Within these four walls, I don’t know what it looks like outside. … sometimes, you forget and it’s all like it used to be, when the music’s good.”
On recording with Barry Gibb
Next year kicks off with an all-star release from Bee Gees star Barry Gibb. The 74-year-old songwriter enlisted Cobb to produce an album of reimagined songs with a country twist.
Called “Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1.,” the record features Gibb songs reworked alongside Isbell, Carlile, Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert, Alison Krauss, Keith Urban and more.
What was the first day of recording? Parton and Gibb, singing in a room together.
“They’re both four feet from me and I’m playing guitar and I start walking to where my guitar was and my legs starting shaking,” Cobb said. “Just terrifying. Not only are they legends, icons — Dolly has a theme park and Barry’s a knight. It’s a lot to take in.”
“Greenfields” drops Jan. 8, 2021.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Dave Cobb on recording with Barry Gibb and Dolly Parton: ‘It’s a lot to take in’