BANJO-BOY Live Cast Album Gets Released

Randy Hobler, composer, lyricist and book writer of the bio-musical Banjo Boy-about the youthful adventures of Meredith Willson-has announced the release of the Live Cast Album CD. Recorded in August, 2008 at the world premiere run of the musical at the Stephen Sondheim Performing Arts Center in Fairfield, Iowa, the album contains 20 original songs, written in the spirit of Meredith Willson's The Music Man.

The album was mixed by Cynthia Daniels, who, among many other projects, mixed The Producers and the revivals of The Music Man and Flower Drum Song. Justin Hill was the musical director of the show which was highly praised in the local press. Reviewer Patrick Bosold of The Fairfield Weekly Reader wrote, "The show's tunes are outstanding. And you've probably never heard a tune quite like ‘Sears, Dear Sears'. "
In the show, an elderly Meredith Willson travels back in time from heaven to invisibly influence his teenage self to avoid the three main life mistakes he regrets having made the first time around. The primary one concerns fixing things up with his father. Along the way, he meets a twenty-something Louis Armstrong, who sings the musical's showstopper, "Thanks Be To Music." He travels to San Francisco where he falls in love with a Chinese girl and has a memorable meeting with his musical hero John Philip Sousa. He forms a banjo band, "The Banjo Boys" that helps Mason City, Iowa (Meredith Willson's hometown, the original "River City") win the Iowa High School Band Contest.

The album includes homages to The Music Man, including a catchy barbershop quartet ("The Clip-Clop Life") and a mock love song to the Sears, Roebuck Catalog ("Sears, Dear Sears") that echoes "Wells Fargo Wagon" .
Two of the show's numbers are viewable on video on You Tube (www.youtube.com): "Sears, Dear Sears" and "Thanks Be to Music" (must include quotation marks in the search box.) Randal West directed, Adam Cates choreographed.

The Banjo Boy CD is available for sale online at cdbaby.com, where one can listen to samples of all the songs. For other purchasing options, one can visit www.banjoboy.net.