Country/Americana singer Brent Cobb brings his Southern eclectic music to The Burl

One of the first songs to materialize during sessions for Brent Cobb’s new album appeared not so much as a melody or even a lyric. It surfaced as a riff — a quick, simple, ear catching guitar hook bolstered by rhythm, yet open enough to be expanded upon.

After years spent exploring modestly more inward — and perhaps even lighter — means of expression for his Southern-soaked compositions, the Grammy-nominated, Georgia-born Cobb decided a few good riffs, some garage rock immediacy and a dousing of elemental rock ‘n’ mischief with his band The Fixin’s was just wanted he and his music needed.

The tune — and, eventually, the entire album — would be titled after the back-to-booming-basics approach: “Ain’t Rocked in a While.”

The album won’t see release until July, but this weekend Cobb and The Fixin’s (guitarist Matt McDaniel, bassist Josh Williams and drummer Len Clark) will preview the new material, along with the narrative-rich, country/Americana-friendly, Southern-rooted music from his previous albums by way of a return performance visit to The Burl.

New album’s influences: AC/DC, Black Sabbath

“As these songs were starting to show themselves, I would be reminded of old songs that I hadn’t thought of in forever, like stuff from the first couple of AC/DC albums and some of that early (Black) Sabbath stuff. I kept thinking, ‘Man, I forgot how much of an influence all of this really had on my foundation. That got me excited to just riff, to write a riff. What I remember about first learning live music, to play live and to play with a live band when I was a teenager, was that we could just riff,” Cobb said.

“The lyrics were almost secondary. Then, even as a fan, if you’re listening to that music, you’re just kind of rolling down the road rocking. You’re not necessarily, especially as a teenager, paying that close attention to the lyrics. But when you start to really pay attention, it’s poetry a lot of the time, especially the stuff I was listening to. It was just so well put together. All of that gave me an outlet to write a song lyrically without having to feel the pressure of having to write a lyrical song.”

Why one song is on there twice

The key to unlocking the new album’s rock ‘n’ roll heart is a song of gratitude called “Beyond Measure” presented in two versions that bookend the record. The first backs Cobb’s singing only with lone, plaintive piano. The electric celebration with The Fixin’s then powers up and maintains its charge for the remaining nine songs of “Ain’t Rocked in a While,” including the towering Neil Young-meets-Nirvana electric reprise of “Beyond Measure.”

“I wrote ‘Beyond Measure’ with my wife and one of my best friends, who is going through some crazy stuff in life right now, as we all are. We started writing that from a space of knowing how blessed we are to even get to experience this life. But then sometimes we take that for granted. Whether I mean to or not, whether I’m aware of it or ignorant to it. I can take it for granted. When you’re like that, you get lost out there on an island isolated from everybody,” Cobb said.

“So that first track is just me and Matt playing the piano. I had the guys doing the harmony, so it feels like you’re going down the old lost highway. But then, if you can pull yourself out of that, you wind up rocking with all of your buddies, which is the rest of the album. We’re all rocking together. By the end, you realize you’re not alone in feeling that way. I’m not alone in feeling that way. We’re all going through, in our own way, that same thing. By the end, we’re all singing the same song. We’re all playing the same song.”

“Ain’t Rocked in a While” builds upon Cobb’s reputation one of the more versed and versatile voices within a new generation of Southern song stylists. His songs have wound up on records by country megastars Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Luke Bryan, among others. Cobb’s previous album, 2023’s “Southern Star” offered a more introspective insight into his heritage.

Before that was 2022’s “And Now Let’s Turn the Page,” a sampler of traditional gospel tunes. Preceding albums (2020’s “Keep ‘Em on They Toes,” 2018’s “Providence Canyon” and 2016’s “Shine on Rainy Day”) cover varying shades of the storytelling component that abounds in Cobb’s music.

All of these works establish a profile for an artist who continually defies expectations. His songs are rich with country imagery and sentiment, yet Cobb has little in common with the radio-friendly, pop-directed sound of modern country. Similarly, he is artist from the South who embraces rock ‘n’ roll, yet his music can hardly be branded with the conventional tag of Southern rock.

“I think of what I do to be ‘Southern eclectic.’ Sometimes I rock, sometimes I roll, sometimes a little country, sometimes a little soul. But it all rocks and it’s all Southern to me. Most of that music was birthed from the American South anyway. It’s the music that influenced me in my style, the culture that’s influenced every aspect, every fiber of my being. I can’t help but be all of it because I appreciate all of it.

“But also, I don’t want to get bored. I don’t want to bore anybody, either. There are many layers to this music It’s not one dimensional. It’s worth exploring and worth exposing to other people. It’s just a reflection of who I’ve always been.”

For Lexington audiences, introductions to Cobb and his new generational Southern music came by way of a sold-out October 2018 Rupp Arena concert bill he shared with Marty Stuart and headliner/Kentucky hero Chris Stapleton. Cobb’s alliance was hardly limited to that one performance, though. Stapleton enlisted Cobb as part of his All-American Road Show for three years.

“Somebody just now, like 10 minutes before you and I got on the phone, came over to me, introduced himself and said, ‘I just want to let you know that we listen to you all the time on Stapleton’s channel on Sirius XM. He plays you all the time and we love it.’

“Chris has been so good to me over the years. That dude has given me something to reach for. To know the bar can go that high is really cool. It gives me a goal. It gives me someone to look up to, you know?

“Man, I just get to do what I always thought I could do, which is just what I want to do. I get to keep my lights on and my babies fed by just becoming more and more who I’ve always been. And that is a good place to be for me.”

Brent Cobb/Madison Hughes

When: May 10 at 8 p.m.

Where: The Burl (outdoor show), 375 Thompson Rd.

Tickets: $25