Brent Cobb will return to his indie roots with the new album Keep ‘Em on They Toes, following a pair of albums on Elektra subsidiary Low Country Sound. The follow-up to Cobb’s 2018 album Providence Canyon, Keep ‘Em on They Toes will be released October 2nd via Cobb’s own Ol’ Buddy Records and includes the easygoing title track.
Part Roger Miller and part James Taylor, “Keep ‘Em on They Toes” is a song about defying expectations, of zags where zigs are anticipated. In his Georgia drawl, Cobb — who penned the song with his wife Layne — spells it out plainly: “The best thing you can do/When their ignorance shows/Walk on to your own beat/Keep ’em on they toes,” he sings. It’s accompanied by a Christian Hansen-directed video that follows a couple through the life cycle of a relationship, concluding with one of the people following that advice.
Produced by Brad Cook (Waxahatchie, Bon Iver), Keep Em on They Toes also includes “The World Is Ending,” which was released in June and felt timely for the pandemic, despite having been written years earlier.
Over the weekend, Cobb was involved in a serious traffic accident that left him with a broken collarbone and torn ligament in his back. His son, who was in the truck with him, was unharmed. “We survived and damn, it feels good to be a gangster,” he wrote on Instagram. “Seriously, could have been so much worse.”
Keep ‘Em on They Toes track list:
- “Keep ‘Em on They Toes”
- “Shut Up and Sing”
- “Good Times and Good Love”
- “Sometimes I’m a Clown”
- “This Side of the River”
- “Dust Under My Rug”
- “Soapbox”
- “When You Go”
- “The World Is Ending”
- “Little Stuff”
