2010 was a year of revelations. I released my new album, SECOND GLANCES,  in October in my hometown of Elizabeth City, NC and was pleased to see the tremendous support I received from both old and new friends and family (especially my cousin, Gary Hobbs, and my sister, Denise Hobbs Brothers). It was a fantastic experience! SECOND GLANCES is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bhobbs and also available for download on iTunes and other sites. Once again a big THANK YOU to everyone who came to the release party and bought the CD!

Another important event was a showcase for invited guests to listen to excerpts from my musical, THE INDEPENDENT MAN, based on the life and writings of Elizabeth City newspaper editor, W.O. Saunders. The response was incredible and the whole night was a wonderful experience. I would like to give special thanks to these people who donated to the cause of helping me finish the musical:

Phyllis Bosomworth

Gary Hobbs

George & Blair Jackson

Patsy & Heywood Houtz

Marian W. Stokes

Lucien & Debbie Morrisette

Signe Albertson

I was also very lucky to get to talk to Maxine Sweeney (who at one time was W.O.’s secretary), and with Miss Emily White, who put me in contact with W.O.’s grandaughter, Byrd Bland Smith Barnes, who was very enthusiastic about the project.

Special thanks also goes out to Ray Meiggs, director of Arts of the Albemarle, and to Robert Kelly-Goss of the Daily Advance for their enthusiasm and support for this project.

I hope you’ll all be happy to know that the first draft of Act 1 is now completed and I am working on recording the score!

If 2010 was a year of revelations I think 2011 will be a year of changes. I’m looking forward to finishing the musical and am hoping for an opening in Elizabeth City.

My old friend and drummer, David Albert and I have already started on our first recording project together; an album of original big band charts. We formed our own jazz band when we were both 16 so I think it’s about time we recorded something together. “Albert” has been a great friend and always supported me in my writing. And he played on and recorded some of my earliest demos. I’m really looking forward to our album coming out sometime in 2011…

I have plans for another solo album, this time a vocal album of my songs. And I’m also working on finishing the new album by Andreas Aleman.

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

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