When I first heard Jacob Brock sing at a house concert in Fairhope, he was wearing his work clothes: a nice tucked-in button-down shirt and slacks. When I met him the next day for an interview, he arrived wearing overalls, his other work clothes. You see, he has 2 personas: a banker at Community Bank by day and an incredible singer-songwriter performing all around the area by night. He calls his genre “ Y’all ternative, or better yet, Cosmic Country, but whatever it's called, its melodies and lyrics are heartfelt and beautiful.

In his early thirties, Jacob has had many life experiences that have inspired his music, and he has written thousands of songs. Playing around on his guitar, he will find a riff, a chord progression, or a groove, and it unfolds from there. “Whatever I’m feeling the most at the moment is when it happens, and it happens a lot,“ he says in a soft-spoken, Southern drawl. He is a great communicator with big soulful eyes that stay focused on me and my questions, and he answers in a storyteller's voice. ”Being a banker is a satisfying job that allows me to support my family and still leaves me energy to create,” he says. Sounds like a perfect balance of practicality and creativity, and he is aware of how lucky he is to have both. 

Born in Baldwin County, he attended private and public schools in the area before his father’s job moved him and his sister, Holly, to Montgomery. Homeschooled, they lived on 12 acres with a cattle ranch next door. Employed on the ranch, doing hard physical labor, Jacob’s inner cowboy was brought forth, an attitude that is with him to this day. His great-grandfather was a tenor in a Southern Gospel group, and his grandfather, who was his best friend, was a Southern Baptist preacher. 

The family sang together at church, and young Jacob was invited to sing ‘specials’. His dad put a guitar in his hand when he was eleven and taught him a riff by Stevie Ray Vaughan, from “Pride and Joy.” He then went on a musical deep dive, studying the biographies, reading liner notes, and doing intense research on some of his favorites, Mark Knopfler and Jimmy Page, to name a few.

“I was a Blues Boy, and because I was homeschooled, there was a lot of independent study,” he laughs, “so I would plug in my guitar and blow the house up! When I was 15, Dad took me to see Zac Brown, and I watched him flatpick and said, Hey. I can do that! That was when I started writing songs.” 

After high school, Jacob joined the military and was deployed twice. He was the lead vehicle gunner in Afghanistan, and then at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, he was assigned to external security at the prison. He said he just stood outside, looking at the water, holding a machine gun. And I bet he was also writing songs in his head. 

Upon discharge, he moved to Florence, Alabama, to attend the University of North Alabama, where he earned a degree in English Literature. All the while, he is writing songs. In a turn of fate, he became friends with Ryan Rogers, who is connected to the Muscle Shoals music scene, and he gets Jacob plugged in with So So Def, a hip-hop music label. 

“Ryan saw something in me and helped me make connections. I recorded demos with teams of engineers and let them try to package me. I had meetings with Sony and Capital Records, but it felt like they were trying to put me in a box, and I realized this was not what I wanted. Sometimes you have to see it up close to know you don't want it.” 

In 2018, he had an identity crisis and a medical crisis. He was supporting himself by playing gigs around Florence when he noticed his voice wasn't sounding right. His fiancée, now wife, Amanda, got him to see Doctors at UAB, and they found a polyp on his vocal cords.  Scared and frustrated, he felt like he should give up music altogether.

After the surgery to remove it, he couldn't talk for a month, so he recovered quietly in the Blue Ridge Mountains with lots of time to think. And guess what? The guitar started calling to him. He realized his music was a “Have To,” but he was going to do it on his own terms this time. 

In 2023, he, Amanda, and his baby girl, Harper, moved home to the Eastern Shore. He worked at PNC Bank and later at Community Bank, while “Gigging around” at local places like the BlueGill and Felix’s. He only wanted to play his original music and didn't want to do cover shows anymore. 

While playing at Oyster City Brewing in Mobile one day, a couple of local musicians complemented his repertoire, and the next thing he knew, he had a band, Jacob Brock and His Horsepower Band. “Playing at Callahan's Irish Social Club was on my bucket list, and thanks to Lynn Oldshue and Mobile Bay Radio, I'm booked to play there on August 1st!” The band is rehearsing now with well-known, highly accomplished musicians, Quintin Ayers, Robbie Yeager, Carson Dyer, and his sister, Holly. Holly sang with Jacob at the aforementioned house concert I attended, and their sibling harmony is magical! 

Jacob is recording 2 albums right now, working with sound engineers in Muscle Shoals, one titled “High Noon” and the other “ Gift Horse.” “Gift Horse” is about unexpected blessings that have occurred in his life, something he knows very well. Cowboys and horses are recurring themes in his music and merch, all stemming from his experiences and cowboy sentiments. 

“Something's not right, 
My rope won’t land 
I make my move, I slow my hand 
Scared Hands don't throw so well 
Lasso.” 

Jacob Brock’s music can be found on Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music, or hear him live at venues in the Scenic 98 Coastal Area.