The wild and wooly music of Jesse Cobb
is defined by his dazzling Telecaster picking, genre-busting songwriting, and ornate arrangements crafted for repeat listening.
Stubbornly swimming upstream of modern musical trends, he began forming his own impressive six-string style at the age of 15, working as a professional musician in the dives, dumps, and concert halls of the Bay Area.
Cobb and his trusty band, The Golden West, blend various strains of musical history and expression into a tangy rock n soul stew. Folding in the slick jazz-funk sounds of Steely Dan, the soulful sonic explorations of Prince, and the joyful live improvisation of western swing, the Golden West has a raw, fiercely original sound that rings with echoes of the past while still striding boldly into the future.
Cobb has spent his musical life dedicated to the electric guitar, sharing stages with and earning accolades from local luminaries such as Chris Cain and Jim Nichols, earning a reputation as one of San Francisco’s most promising electric guitarists. The release of his 2018 EP, Nasty, Brutish, Short, earned accolades from guitar god Joe Satriani, who praised the groups “fresh, eclectic energy [and] inspired performances.” Noteworthy live performances include sold-out shows at the legendary Great American Music Hall and Biscuits & Blues, as well as a successful tour of the U.K.
For over a decade, Cobb has held a monthly residency at The Saloon, one of San Francisco’s oldest bars, where audiences from all over the world come to hear some of the best bar bands on the west coast.
Due for release in September 2021, Bleeding-Heart Monkey is a deeper foray into unexplored territory for the band. The album was written on the eve of the pandemic, leading to a new sense of freedom in the studio; songs could be arranged and produced without thought to how they would be recreated live, resulting in the most creative and intricate music of Cobb’s career. The eleven songs retain a familiar sense of bar-band boogie and swagger, yet lean into other diverse influences, from modern neo-soul to Claude Debussy.
Blazing instrumentals Lavender/Gray and Stagecoach sound as if the Allman Brothers were hired to score Mario Kart, while tracks Let U Go EZ and The Right & The Wrong are soulful groovers built upon a rich harmonic framework. These explorations of disparate genres, woven together by Cobb’s idiosyncratic approach to the guitar, make Bleeding-Heart Monkey a must-listen for guitar geeks, the musically adventurous, and anyone who spent the last year missing hot live music in a crowded bar .