Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Warren Cobb. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Warren, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

The first time I realized I wanted to pursue a creative path in the arts was when I was a senior in high school where I participated in the chorus. I had been playing guitar for many years prior and had just started to teach guitar at a local music store. At the same time, I developed an interest in using my voice as a secondary instrument. I had always enjoyed singing but I never pursued any formal vocal training, and had never thought of myself as a vocalist.

One day, our choral teacher brought in a guest conductor from The University of Kentucky. That day changed my life and the professional trajectory it would take. That guest conductor was the Director of Choral Activities, who frequented the local high school choirs in efforts to build the choral programs at the University. Her name was Professor Sara Holroyd, and she had conducted choirs for the great Atlanta Symphony Conductor Robert Shaw. At the end of that class, she pulled me aside and insisted that I consider coming to University of Kentucky to sing in all three of her nationally recognized groups which were The Chorus, The Choristers and the elite Chorale. She was intense, demanding, insistent on perfection and created a heightened sense of musical awareness I had never experienced before in a vocal group setting. For her to pull me aside after class, must have meant that she saw or heard something in my abilities that I was unaware of and needed to develop further. She was very encouraging and instrumental in my decision to pursue a major in music at the university level. This, in turn, led to my pursuit of a career as a professional musician beyond the classroom and collegiate experience, – which I did for the next 40 years.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I presently serve as the Executive Vice President of
A&R at Dreamland Entertainment Group, a recording label based out Nashville, Tennessee and co-owner of SCRIBE TV Network. I am the Executive Producer of the Overtones LIVE Radio Show and Podcast and also co-owner of Listen Locally, LLC Broadcast Media and Consulting Group. I am the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Room 17 Productions, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to telling the stories of Appalachia via live performance, preservation of aging recordings to digital format, oral history projects, and documentary film-making.

As I mentioned, my classroom experience with music and obtaining a degree in music led to an era where I honed my craft as a lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and band leader in a multitude of groups and genres. After many years of success on that creative path, I married and paused to raise a family, It did not take long for me to realize that the values around my musical dreams and the actions I had been taking to fulfill those dreams were not supported while I was married. So I put my career in music on hold while doing what most non-musicians would call “regular day jobs” for around the next twenty five years. This all changed when I reconnected with my college sweetheart Renee who had also experienced a similar life path by giving up her music AND business career for a non-supportive husband. We quickly realized we should have spent the last 40 years together and could now each encourage and support the other’s love of both music and business and turn that into a new reality by blending both of our talents and experiences moving forward. The result of this union has been the creation of all of our current endeavors, music businesses and our non-profit organization.

I feel what sets us apart is the way we encourage and elevate others to find the freedom to be their true creative selves, to express themselves fully, and reach their fullest artistic potential. It is our hope that we are enabling and showing others how to do the same for themselves and for others they know.

I am most proud of the personal and professional relationships we have forged along our musical way and the fact that both our efforts and those we have elevated through our encouragement, programming, events, and businesses have been recognized locally, nationally and internationally.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative to me is being in a position to help someone who has the same musical dreams and aspiration, actually achieve those dreams.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

For the first five years of our music business efforts, although we were not seeking any outside recognition, we were consistently nominated by others for local awards programs. However, we were never the winner of any awards during those early years. It wasn’t until 2019, in the awards and recognition arena, we were given our first local award as Best Music Business. Since that award, we have been recognized in many regional and international programs including:

Nexstar Media Group Remarkable Women Winner – Central Kentucky 2023 Room 17 Productions, Inc.
Stevie Awards Bronze Winner, Female Executive of the Year 2023, Room 17 Productions, Inc
Stevie Awards Bronze Winner, Female Thought Leader of the Year 2023, Room 17 Productions, Inc.
The Josie Music Awards Winner, Media Company of the Year 2022 and 2023, Listen Locally, LLC
The Hollywood Independent Music Awards, Best Live Performance Videography 2023, Overtones LIVE
The Appalachian Arts and Entertainment Awards, Best Short Documentary Film 2023, Room 17 Productions, Inc
The Lexington Music Awards, Music Business of the Year 2020, 2023 and 2024 Listen Locally, LLC
The Lexington Music Awards, Critics Choice, 2022 Overtones LIVE

Since most of these awards programs utilize a ‘pro panel’ of experts to select the winners, this has been a great validation that our efforts have been recognized not only locally, but globally.

When it comes to resilience, my advice to others is to keep doing your very best, ignore the noise of others, and be mindful that while you may think you are not making any impact, others are watching, listening and are fully aware of your efforts, Even if they never let you know. Keep moving forward and keep giving your all at ALL times.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.overtoneslive.com
• Instagram: Overtones Live
• Facebook: Listen Locally and Room 17 Productions and Overtones Live
• Linkedin: Dreamland Entertainment Group
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@overtoneslive8084/videos

Image Credits

Erica Chambers
Crystal Heis