Richard Hartshorne, known to all as Dobbs, has been writing stories with music since 1985: humorous, witty, zany, funny, touching, and beautiful stories which he narrates while simultaneously playing the music on his bass violin. He’s been performing them live in crazy places like Iraqi refugee camps, Afghan drug rehab centers, Palestinian UN schools, Ugandan prisons, Bolivian villages, and South African orphanages as well as jails and prisons in the US. They require virtuosic bass playing, singing of all kinds, plus an insane number of different voices and accents. Over the years he has recorded most of them and now that we’re all sheltering in place, suffering from the worry and uncertainty of the corona virus pandemic, it’s a great time to share them with the world. Laughter will help all of us get through this crisis. Enjoy!
After all the buzz about my Christmas Album I decided to release my greatest hits album before any of the hits were released to save time. An unusual selection of the songs I love to sing.
Finally a Christmas Album from Dobbs. How long have we waited for this. Hooray!
Strange diets for monkeys and humans examined.
Sophisticated American football concepts come to the South African Game parks
The Aspen music festival during the summer of 1967. A memoir with music from the time.
A nostalgic and true account of young love at the roller rink back in the fifties. Somehow appropriate on this Christmas Eve as we look back over the crazy year of 2020.
Salute to an American Hero with variations on a patriotic theme, op. 17 (January 1996) Who was the greatest American flyer? Wilbur Wright? Chuck Yeager? Neal Armstrong? This true story tells all. Hint; it involves balloons and lawn chairs.
The true account of a hitchhiking trip from Dallas to NYC in 1965 with funny songs that comment on the action. My affirmation of BLACK LIVES MATTER
Conversation by the Nile, op. 35 (September 2009) What do Crocodiles and Camels talk about hanging around down by the river in Egypt? This story will tell you.
Not the Worst Thing, op. 9 (September 1992) I spent parts of two years (1961/62 and 1964/65) living in Denmark and by the end could pass for a Dane. I was obsessive about speaking, reading, thinking only in Danish and it was an intense immersion into the culture. All of the music and some of the speaking is Danish (the intent being to recreate my experience for the listener) but eventually it should all make sense. Dobbs 1.
La Vendetta, op. 26 (March 2001) A simple account of an attack by “bandits” in Saudi Arabia is revealed to be something else entirely.
Mistaken Identity, op. 30 (2006) Another crazy but true story that was told to me in Kabul by a good friend of the woman in the song.
op.16 September 1995 but finished in a new version today. Visiting the three smallest countries in Europe in a day; a true but comic travelogue. Recreated from old files from 1995. Good story and a funny retelling of it. The title is a reference to the title of the novel Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler. You will see the relevance.
Interview with the Dwarf, op. 14 (January 1995) Get the story behind the story of Snow White. One of the Dwarves reveals all but it’s not what you expect.
A send up of "The Messiah" with fake Handel, a fake quartet of soloists (me) and a messiah who died in a state of grace in Memphis. Live recording.
Originally intended for a spot on late night TV that never materialized. Scenes from five movies that just should have ended up on the cutting room floor but didn't.
Bear Naked, op. 39 (2017) A bear breaks into a home in Vail, Colorado and does what?
In far off Benghazi there lived a poor scullery maid called Hillary. This is her surprising and twisted and satirical, need I say tragic story which will make you laugh I guarantee.... maybe, possibly, if there is any justice in the world definitely.
2. A Parable, op.20 (January 1997) If you are seeking enlightenment, this story will show you the way. A desert mystic reveals the secret by telling a parable of sheep in wolves’ clothing. Yes this leads to enlightenment and low vibrations.
This is Opus 1. Telling movies is a way to verbally convey the essence of a movie with no restrictions on balance or truth or fairness, using exaggeration or ridicule and giving false importance to some scenes or some dialogue. In the hands of a master you can be convinced to either definitely see a movie or definitely not see a movie. This technique was used extensively by my group of friends when we were kids back in the 50s in upstate New York.
6. The Saddest Day, op. 27 (April 6, 2002, 1:33 p.m.) Dobbs relives a loss suffered during his youth. The inexplicable and somewhat astonishing parting of a boy and his turtle inspires songs of farewell in German, French and oh yes, Doo Wop.
Another Fairytale, op. 25 (December 2000) Birch trees and beavers, love and the circus. It all begins with “ Once upon a time”.
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