Brent Cobb ★★★★ And Now, Let’s Turn To Page… OL’ BUDDY. CD/DL/LP

Country gospel, just like Johnny and Loretta used to make.

Country and gospel have been kissing cousins for as long as they have both existed, although in recent decades the ties have loosened somewhat. Not for Brent Cobb, however, who was spurred into making this album after a car crash last year. As he points out, making a gospel album was almost a rite of passage for artists such as Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Bobbie Gentry or Loretta Lynn. Tackling eight traditional songs, he plays Just A Closer Walk With Thee and Old Rugged Cross relatively straight, but turns the likes of We Shall Rise and Are You Washed In The Blood? into glorious Southern boogie, replete with screaming guitar solos. The one new song, When It’s My Time, fits so snugly into the tracklisting that it reinforces Cobb’s deep understanding of both this music and his place in its story. cuts are the chanson-leaning Artemis and Exist For Love, the delicate Heathens and moody Susanne Sundføresque closer A Little Place Called The Moon. It’s hard not to wonder whether Aksnes has been crowded-out on her own album.