MAPLE VALLEY, Wash.—Dave Cobb was channel-surfing several years ago when he caught Brandi Carlile on “Austin City Limits†performing “The Story,†a song so triumphant he said it felt like “hearing a classic that you’d never heard before.â€
Last year, when he was co-producing Ms. Carlile’s latest studio album, her sixth, he wanted a centerpiece with the same power and emotion as her 2007 single. Two weeks into recording songs in Nashville, he told her he didn’t hear it.