The secret to the success of the Red Clay Strays and Luke Combs? It could have something to do with Brent Cobb. Brent Cobb stopped by the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk about having his music featured in hit TV shows like Yellowstone and Landman, a wild night at a Grammys after party, how his young son inspired him to release his rock record Ain’t Rocked In A While, how his incredibly talented cousin, producer Dave Cobb, produced his very first album, a story about how Tyler Childers once opened for him and much more. Cobb is an accomplished, Grammy-nominated artist in his own right. But what you might not know is that he helped play a role in making some lesser known acts into household names. The first story he told us was about him meeting and helping the Red Clay Strays before they made it big. The country singer says their friendship was birthed from a simple direct message through Instagram: “I originally met them when they were damn near fresh out of high school. Maybe they were up here (in Nashville) for something, I don’t know. They had hit me up on Instagram, and this was 2017 or 2018. They had just been listening to my music for a long time. They are really aware of the writers. They knew I had written ‘Bar, Guitar and a Honky Tonk Crowd.’ They reached out, happened to be in town and we hung out. They wanted to write. We’ve just kind of buddies.” Brent Cobb went on to stay in touch with the band, and really became close with Drew Nix, who plays electric guitar and handles back-up vocals (and harmonica) for the Red Clay Strays. They talked a lot early on in the Red Clay Strays’ career, and Nix was apparently always bending Cobb’s ear: “Drew would wear me out. He’d call me all the time and try to ask for advice on things. I don’t have the answers, obviously. It’s only taken me 20 years to get to the bottom of my career. But I could tell ’em what not to do.” One of the biggest pieces of advice that Brent Cobb ever communicated with the Red Clay Strays? The country artist told us that he recommended the band not to sign any contracts too early as they began to rise in fame: “I remember the year that they kind of popped off was 2022 or whatever. The top of that year, Drew called me and he was like, ‘Man, we’re starting to get some label interest and we’re getting booking agent interest. What do you think we should do?’ It was right before they did the Elle King tour and then they had those few shows with Eric Church. I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know much, but I’d say don’t sign anything yet. Do those tours and look at your numbers right now… people can’t come to your all’s show and see you and not be blown away. Just wait until the end of those tours and compare your numbers.’ I know I’m not the only person that told them that, but they did that, and by the end of those tours, they were superstars.” @whiskeyriff “They are really students of, the same way I am, of songwriting.” @Brent Cobb @The Red Clay Strays ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff Pretty good advice from Brent Cobb. And they aren’t the only ones that the “Black Creek” singer helped. Cobb also recalls meeting and helping country music superstar Luke Combs when he first moved to Nashville: “Right when he first moved to town in 2014, I was taking a break from it all. And my buddy Andy Miller, who’s from my hometown, one day he was like, ‘Man, there’s this dude who just moved to town from North Carolina. He’s a fan of your music. He wants to know if you’d be willing to hang out. He wants to ask for advice.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know what I can tell him, but I’d be happy to have a beer.’ We had some beers and he asked me some things, and I remember even that day he was like, ‘Man we can do that. Why aren’t we doing that on the radio?’ I was just drinking my beer and eating my chicken wings. I guess the whole time I was focusing on that, he was focusing on taking over the world.” Sounds like Luke Combs was built for it from the get-go, and Brent Cobb was one of the people that helped him eventually “take over the world.” But long before Combs was selling out stadiums, Cobb remembers dropping him off at his first Music City apartment, and watching him slowly but surely grow into the larger-than-life artist that he is today: “I dropped him off at his first apartment in Hermitage that first day we hung out. This little s****y apartment. Then a couple years went by and I wrote with him at his condo in Germantown. Then a couple more years go by and I’m opening stadium shows (for him) in front of 40,000 people. It’s insane.” @whiskeyriff From hanging out in tiny apartments to playing stadium shows together, @Brent Cobb and @Luke Combs’ friendship has stood the test of time. // Check out the latest Whiskey Riff Raff episode on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube now! #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff #brentcobb #lukecombs ♬ original sound Whiskey Riff All that to say that if there are any younger artists out there looking for a mentor… Brent Cobb seems to have the Midas touch in that department. You can hear him talk more about helping acts get off the ground (so they can then rocket into the stratosphere) by downloading the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Just search “Whiskey Riff Raff” or click here. We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts. Cheers, y’all. Audio Video The post Brent Cobb On Mentoring Luke Combs & The Red Clay Strays: “I Could Tell ‘Em What Not To Do” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Dan Tyminski might be the most underrated man in all of music. The bluegrass artist owes a lot to the success of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and he’ll be the first to admit it. When people think of the 2000 film, there’s no doubt that their mind also goes to the musical stylings of The Soggy Bottom Boys. The song “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow” was a smash hit for the movie (and is an all-time ear worm). Origins of the track go all the way back to 1913, when Dick Burnett apparently wrote it, but the song was never bigger than when it was included in the film that was based on Homer’s The Odyssey. Country music’s Dan Tyminski sang lead vocals on the song that went on to win a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration. In his career in the years after the movie came out, Dan Tyminski says there have been plenty of times where audience members slowly but surely figure out that he’s the voice behind The Soggy Bottom Boys, as he explained: “I’m still in that category where people continue to come out to shows and don’t realize, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re the guy… I knew who you were, but I don’t know who you are.’” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Playback Podcast (@playbacksessions) Funny enough, people are once again realizing that Dan Tyminski is the voice behind a hit song… only this time, it’s not for his role as the lead singer of The Soggy Bottom Boys. Chances are, you’ve heard the song “Hey Brother” by Avicii. The electronic-dance-bluegrass crossover was released as a part of the late Swedish DJ and remixer’s debut album in 2013. It quickly became a massive hit. It peaked at number one on almost every country’s dance music chart, and reached as high as 16 on the U.S. Hot 100. The track helped introduce Avicii to the world, and the vocals on the track belonged to none other than bluegrass legend Dan Tyminski. Music fans are just now putting two and two together on that. First they realized that Tyminski was the one who sang “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow,” and now they are catching on to the fact that Dan’s vocals are the ones that drive the hit EDM song “Hey Brother.” For some, those are two of the more defining songs of their music fandom lifetime. And Dan Tyminski was behind both of them: View this post on Instagram A post shared by radiowv (@radiowv) Well, it’s official. Make Dan Tyminski a part of a project that includes the word “brother” in it and it’s destined to be a mega hit. I’m glad Dan is finally and deservingly getting his flowers for his musical contributions. Tyminski says one of the best benefits of being in the iconic film, or being a part of Avicii’s song, is the fact that people still come up to him to this day and thank him for helping them get into country and bluegrass music. That, he says, is more valuable than any of the royalties he’s received for lending his voice to O Brother, Where Art Thou? or the hit EDM track. The fact that he possibly led some people to explore country and bluegrass music through this EDM song is an incredible accomplishment: “Hey Brother” by Avicii The post Did You Know The Voice Behind Avicii’s Hit “Hey Brother” Is The Same Guy Who Famously Sang In “O Brother Where Art Thou?” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed today that young air traffic controllers are bailing on the academy because of the Schumer Shutdown. Watch below:   He also warned or airline flight delays during . . .

President Donald Trump on Thursday shut down trade talks with Canada after he accused Ottawa of airing a “fraudulent” television advertisement wilfully misquoting former President Ronald Reagan in an anti-tariff ad campaign.