TOWN
Profile
Strings Attached Greenville enjoys a close relationship with the Music City, thanks to a few key players
Photograph courtesy of Bob Farnsworth
/ by Holly Stephenson, M. Linda Lee, and Jac Chebatoris
A
bowl of granola cereal with a healthy squeeze of Hershey’s chocolate syrup—the kind of idea that makes you wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?” This is Bob Farnsworth’s afternoon snack. “I love chocolate,” Bob says with a prolonged, mischievous grin, and his ingenuity should come as little surprise. While creating the audio branding for nationallybeloved ads such as the “Budweiser Frogs,” “Always Coca-Cola,” and Wrigley’s “Double Double Your Refreshment,” Bob is back and forth between his home and his music house, Hummingbird Productions—both situated, side-by-side, in the heart of Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood. After graduating with a music degree from Furman University, Bob moved to Nashville, like so many others, to make it big in the music biz. “We were supposed to be the next Simon and Garfunkel,” Bob says, quite matter-of-factly. But right after he and his band recorded their first full-length album under ABC Records, John Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever was released, and as Bob put it, “The whole world went disco.” The year was 1974, and Bob had all but cashed in his dreams for a one-way ticket back to his hometown of Greenville before his landlord lent him a piece of unsolicited advice: “He put his arm around me, drunk,
All Together Now: Bob Farnsworth (center) and two close friends left Greenville for Nashville to “be the next Simon and Garfunkel,” he says. The band dissolved, but Farnsworth stayed in Nashville to start his hugely successful music house Hummingbird Productions.
AUGUST 2013 / 45
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7/19/13 4:20 PM