Mrs. Hobbs is a songwriter, chanteuse and accordionist. Her songs are often about the bittersweet tensions of love and loss. Drawn into the magical world of the accordion in 2005, she has charmed many a soul into changing their perception of the accordion. No, it’s not about Polka for Mrs. Hobbs. It’s about folk, jazz & blues, French chansons, cabaret and the avant-garde.

ACCORDION BABES

She is one of the Accordion Babes Pinup Calendar girls: Miss December 2011, Miss January 2012, and Miss October 2013. Founded by Renee de la Prade, the Accordion Babes Album & Pinup Calendar features original songs by real squeezebox-toting women and some pretty calendar pictures showing that the accordion is one sexy instrument.

ACCORDION EVENTS

Mrs. Hobbs has played such accordion events as The Big Squeeze in Orange County, The Cotati Accordion Festival, The LA Accordion Festival, and Jason Webley’s Monsters of Accordion. She has performed in and organized three Accordion Babes Revues in Los Angeles, which featured touring Accordion Babes and a selection of alternative accordion bands in Los Angeles. The January 2012 Accordion Babes Revue at Fais Do Do was infamous with 17 accordion bands in 4 hours!

FESTIVALS & VENUES

But it’s not just accordion-themed events! There’s also The New Los Angeles Folk Festival, Make Music Pasadena, The Abbot Kinney Festival, Christmas With Bessie, The Santa Barbara French Festival, as well as venues such as The House of Blues, The Echo, The Stronghold, Bordello Bar, Cinema Bar, Villains Tavern, Molly Malone’s, The Viper Room, Witzend, as well as Whole Foods Market and a variety of charity events, private events, and more.

BIG IN BREMEN

In early 2013, Mrs. Hobbs co-founded Big In Bremen, an ensemble playing a folk, gypsy, celtic, spaghetti western, international smorgasbord. It features Mrs. Hobbs on accordion, Kesh on guitar, Marty Barret (of Fogelfoot), on trumpet, Masha Petrowisky (of Authentic Sounds of Silverlake, Free Range Orkestar, and Killsonic) on trumpet, and Dvoraka La (of Forkroot) on violin, with various members singing.

KETCHUP SOUP

From 2009 to 2012, Mrs. Hobbs performed primarily with singer/songwriter/guitarist, lovemando and together they created the whiskey bottle blues/folk/jazz duo-band, Ketchup Soup. They enhanced each other’s music with their different sensibilities and harmonized or took turns singing, occasionally bringing in other musicians as well.

THE OOKS OF HAZZARD

In late 2013, Mrs. Hobbs started playing accordion with the multi-ukelele Americana band, The Ooks of Hazzard.

FREE REED CONSPIRACY

Mrs. Hobbs has played with Daniel Corral’s all-accordion ensemble, Free Reed Conspiracy, at REDCAT (The Roy & Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), the Los Angeles Public Library, MOCA, and the Electric Lodge.

DORIAN WOOD’S “DIFFICULT WOMEN”

Mrs. Hobbs has sung in Dorian Wood’s choir, The Difficult Women, on his album “Rattle Rattle” and at the record release at The Echo in early 2013.

THE MRS. HOBBS EXPERIMENT

The Mrs. Hobbs Experiment has been a music-inspired theatrical endeavor, collaborating with performers of different media such as Naked With Shoes’ Anne & Jeff Grimaldo (modern dancers), Amy Kaps (performance artist), Milo Martin (poet), Poli Marichal (puppeteer), lovemando (guitarist), Quentin Josephy (percussionist), Annabelle Cabrera (violinist), Jerry the Priest (trombonist), and Deirdre Gaffney & Alex Vlahov (clowns). Several smaller performances inspired the multi-media opera-like piece, “Chimera,” which was performed at Highways Theatre in 2010.