Dave Cobb is best known as the award-winning producer of country and Americana artists like John Prine, Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton.

• For his latest collaboration, Cobb partnered with the rock band Halestorm whose members live in Nashville.

The intrigue: Although Cobb operates and frequently produces music at historic RCA Studio A on Music Row, for the Halestorm project he invited the band to record at a house in Savannah, Georgia.

• Halestorm didn't come up through the Nashville rock scene, but lead singer Lzzy Hale and other band members have lived here for over a decade. Halestorm melds together metal and radio-friendly hard rock for a sound that's made the band a commercial success.
• For their latest record, they were intrigued by the idea of working with Cobb. In an interview with the "Gibson Gazette," Halestorm's Joe Hottinger said the band wanted to "switch things up" and "get uncomfortable." They met Cobb backstage at a Stevie Nicks show and then reached out to him.
• The band's typical process was to bring about 60 song ideas into a new album project, and then pare it down to about 15 tracks for the final product.

Yes, but: After the band congregated in Savannah, he told them he "didn't want to start on anything you did yesterday."

• ""So what we ended up doing was writing the song and recording it in real time as we were writing it, so there was no choice but to go with your gut and trust yourself—it was absolutely terrifying!" Hale said. "But it was a great way to knock us out of ever getting too used to something or too comfortable."

Catch up quick: Cobb broke through a decade ago as Nashville's hottest producer, racking up Grammy Awards and working with a group of artists who pushed the boundaries of country music. His production on records by Isbell, Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson won Cobb acclaim.

• Cobb cemented his status as a country music powerbroker when he was named chief creative officer at Universal Music Group Nashville last year.

Flashback: Although country music has become a centerpiece of Cobb's work, his early career focused on rock.

• He produced music by the indie band the Shys, the punk group Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers and rock music royalty Chris Cornell.

Keep reading below

To celebrate Cobb's collab with Halestorm, our Music Monday playlist is a tour through his career, from his rock beginnings, to his Americana breakthroughs and his mainstream country successes.

• Be sure to follow our Music Monday playlist on Spotify.

Listen: The new album, "Everest," is out now.

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Tennessee is one of just nine states meeting the Anti-Defamation League's standards for combating antisemitism, according to a new report from the group.

The big picture: States and universities are facing pressure to adopt laws and policies aimed at battling rising antisemitism, but critics say some of those recommendations may silence criticism of Israel.

Zoom out: The ADL's Ratings and Assessments Institute report designated only California, Tennessee, Virginia, Arizona, Florida, Colorado, Texas, Illinois and New York as "leading states."

• That means those states showed high alignment with the ADL's recommendations on responding to rising antisemitism through their laws, policies, and public commitments.

Zoom in: California and Virginia received the highest marks, according to the organization's "Jewish Policy Index," which shows the percentage of Jewish Americans in each state and the recent actions the states have or have not taken to fight antisemitism.

State of play: Hate crimes in the United States last year hit their second-largest total since the FBI started keeping data, the agency said.

What he's saying: "We will not tolerate hate or intimidation against our Jewish communities, whether it's on our streets, in our schools, or on college campuses," Tennessee state Sen. Jack Johnson tells Axios.

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🏈 Cam Ward led the Titans to a touchdown drive in his encouraging preseason debut on Saturday. The Titans ultimately fell 29-7 to the Buccaneers. (TennesseeTitans.com)

👋 Pat Shea, one of Nashville's most influential nonprofit executives, is retiring. (Nashville Business Journal, subscription)

💈 Nashville barbershops are meeting community needs as health information hubs. (Nashville Banner)

Calypso Cafe, a beloved Nashville institution that closed some locations in recent years, continues to plot its comeback.

Driving the news: Calypso's Charlotte Avenue location now offers Uber Eats and DoorDash deliveries to the nearby Sylvan Park area.

• The location will accommodate walk-in orders in about a month, a spokesperson tells Axios. Full-service dine-in will be available in the near future.
• The Berry Hill spot is still going strong.

Zoom out: Calypso, a fresh, Caribbean-infused cafe, took the city by storm when it opened in 1989. It was labeled one of the city's best lunch spots.

• But some locations, including in East Nashville, closed over the last decade. Now under new ownership, Calypso Cafe is revving back up.

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More than one-third of coffee orders in Tennessee use oat milk, according to new data from shops that use the Square platform.

Why it matters: That puts Tennessee below the western and northeastern regions where oat milk reigns supreme.

• Dairy milk still wins over coffee drinkers in the South and Midwest, according to the Square data.

Does your neighborhood coffee shop have a delicious spin on an oat milk coffee drink?

• Reply to this email and let us know if there's an oat milk latte we should check out.