"[3] He regarded the experience as providing him with a strong work ethic and he remained in the home until the age of 16, graduating from Paxon High School in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville guitarist Jimmy Amerson, still a Paxon High student, was working on starting a band called the Emeralds and invited Cobb to join the group.

[3] It was at his first recording sessions in Atlanta that Cobb met Buddy Buie, a producer and songwriter and former manager of Roy Orbison.

They then added lyrics to a local jazz song which became the hit "Spooky" for the Classics IV, of which both Buie and Cobb were members.

[3] Cobb and Buie eventually co-wrote most of the hits for what became Dennis Yost & the Classics IV, including the gold-certified singles "Stormy" and "Traces".

In 1970, Cobb became a session guitarist at Studio One in Doraville, Georgia, playing with former members of the Classics IV and The Candymen, which had been the backing band for Roy Orbison.