Brian Hobbs Music

Second Glances on the way

Brian — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:06:30 +0000

I’m currently working on an instrumental album called “SECOND GLANCES”. As a songwriter for other artists you sometimes never have, or take, the time to develop your own material. After my “wake-up call” (see previous post) I decided to focus on some of the music that I’ve written over the years that has never had a chance to see the light of day. SECOND GLANCES is an album that covers my entire songwriting journey; the earliest song on the album is from 1977 and includes stuff I’ve written from then up to now. It’s been fun to look back on these songs and try to dress them up in a new way. I have always been heavily influenced by Brazilian music so the album will contain some Bossa Novas as well as some jazz. No set release date yet…. still laying down the tracks… but I hope for a release in 2010.

You can hear one song from the album, SPRING SONG, and watch a video I shot near my home in Stockholm.

To listen, click here.

Wake-up call

Brian — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:16:46 +0000

Last month I underwent surgery for the first time in my life to remove a tumor, and as it turned out, my entire thyroid. Even though I was assured it was not life-threatening… you can’t stop asking yourself- “is this the end of my run?” I was lucky. It wasn’t. Plus I probably feel better now that I’ve adjusted to the hormone treatment. So now I’m trying to get started on all those projects I had put aside; you know the usual excuses…. the projects I’ll do when I have more money, when I don’t have as much work, once the kids graduate, etc.

But now I’ve decided to go forward and do it. We’ve all been affected by someone dying of cancer or some unexpected accident, and to be honest, there are no guarantees… we’ve been given this life as a gift and we need to do something with it. I hope I can live up to my promise to LIVE not just exist. For me, that means expressing myself musically and in words and by enjoying the gift of life and sharing it with others. I am thankful for all my friends and family… and even though we don’t agree on everything (in some cases, nothing) I still love you all.

So… the rest of this year I’ll be working on trying to fulfil my promise and finish all those projects and also live life in the process. I hope all of you don’t wait until it’s too late to follow your dreams… and they don’t always lead you where you think they will, but if we follow, I think our dreams will eventually lead us to the right place.

Coming soon: An Independent Man- the musical, Second Glances (an instrumental album of songs I’ve written between 1978 and now), a singer-songwriter album and hopefully more short stories and if I can pull it out of me, a novel. OK, now I’ve said it and it’s out there in cyberspace- I have to do it.

2010!

Brian — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:43:32 +0000

Things are already taking shape for 2010. I’d just like to take this opportunity to say thank you to a few people who have helped me over the past year: I got a lot of help with documentation and copies of newspapers for my musical, The Independent Man. I’d like to give a special thanks to Chris Meekins, Brian Edwards, and Tom & Mary Cherry for their help in this area.

Lots of things to do this year: finish the recording of the musical, script revisions, hopefully an album or two of new material… who knows?

Please keep in touch and if you’re interested in W.O. Saunders please check out the page here about the musical based on his life. My goal for this year is to get interest and funding to give the musical a staged reading or a workshop performance. If you would like to read the script or listen to the rough score please contact me.

Best,

Brian

Candle in the Window on Spotify

Brian — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:09:17 +0000

My Christmas album, Candle in the Window, is now on Spotify. Take a listen and get in the holiday spirit.

SPOTIFY

You can also buy the album here:

CANDLE IN THE WINDOW

New edition of Nordic Soundscapes

Brian — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:14:22 +0000

Hi everyone,

The new edition of my CD feature on Nordic Wellbeing, Nordic Soundscapes, is now posted. This issue has features on

Dotty Blue

Andreas Aleman

and

yours truly!

Check it out, sign up for the newsletter and you have a chance to win free CDs. Also, all newsletter subscribers will get a link and password for free downloads.

About Nordic Wellbeing

nordicwellbeing.com is the world’s first e-magazine for wellbeing with Nordic inspiration. At NW.com we are driven by values that we believe are the keys to good living for the future of all people. These include closeness to nature, creativity, personal space, togetherness and solidarity.

nordicwellbeing.com provides readers with a wide range of interest articles for a wellbeing lifestyle. Throughout the calendar year we regularly rotate feature articles from different lifestyle areas on the e-magazine. Various features of the magazine are updated weekly.

Our feature articles fall within the following five lifestyle areas:

Design
Food
Gardens & Herbs
Outdoor Life
Relaxation

First draft of – The Independent Man – done!

Brian — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:40:18 +0000

The big news this week is that I finished the first draft of my musical, THE INDEPENDENT MAN.

I actually finished the writing over Labor Day weekend (the 30^th anniversary of the day I moved to NYC to write musicals).

And by the way, big thanks to Chris Meekins, Brian Edwards and Tom & Mary Cherry for supplying me with books, articles and newspapers about the life of W.O. Saunders.

I’m cleaning up the score, starting on the incidental (underscore) music, and trying to get everything ready so I can have “real” singers perform the songs. Right now, I’m singing all the parts – not ideal.

One thing I have found out by writing this show is this: it’s a lot more work than I ever expected AND, you’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish if you DO work.

This has taken up a major portion of my time this year and there’s still a ton of work to do… and that’s even before the struggle of trying to get people interested and having any kind of staged reading or production. It’s going to be a long haul…but you know what? I love it.

You can read my synopsis under MUSIC-THE INDEPENDENT MAN

Please let me hear from you: brian@brianhobbsmusic.com

New website!

tiimi — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:22:33 +0000

Hi everyone. Thanks for stopping by. I’m so excited to have a new site up and running. Major thanks to my friends Tapani Rauha and Sami Vesamo for helping out!

2009 has been a productive year. My company, Eidolon Productions, released Andreas Aleman’s album, THIS IS LIFE, (I was co-writer on almost all the songs and executive producer) in January. The album was very well received and we are working on a follow-up right now. Later in January, Andreas and Peter Getz (another friend and co-writer) had a sold-out show at Fasching Jazz Club here in Stockholm.

I reached another milestone in my life in May when one of my short stories, The Taste of Fruit Stripe Gum, was published in the Sierra Nevada Review.

I’m also working on a new musical about the life and writings of the controversial, North Carolina newspaper editor, W. O. Saunders. Read more about that under – Music – The musical – The Independent man.

This site has many more features than the old one and I hope to share more of my writing, music and thoughts about the creative process, the music business, and life in general.

And please check out some of my songs in the player to the right. It features some of my favorite songs sung by artists such as Andreas Aleman, Johan Becker, Mia Löfgren, Björn Skifs, Monica Silverstrand, Peter Getz and others. You might even hear the ocassional instrumental piece by me.

I always love hearing from you so please shoot me an e-mail at brian@brianhobbsmusic.com or brian@eidolon.se and let me know what you think.

I’d also love to connect with you on FACEBOOK

Best,

Brian