Randy Gabbard has been in the rock and roll music scape for decades … now he’s turned all those experiences into an eclectic comic strip that explores the life of an aging, would-be rock star and his antic-driven sidekicks William, Bosco the dog and a gaggle of feisty ducks.
In 2016 Randy partnered with cartoonist Guy Gilchrist to create the online comic strip Brother Rock.
The partnership lasted a couple years.
Now Randy has got the strip into the Main Street Nashville weekly paper.
Gabbard’s strip Brother Rock debuts this week in Main Street Nashville East and will run weekly.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to run Brother Rock in Main Street Nashville East,” said Main Street Media publisher Dave Gould. “Brother Rock is based in Old Hickory, and we look forward to bringing this local comic strip to our readers.”
From the Main Street Nashville:
“The idea of the comic strip has been in the back of my mind for years,” said Gabbard. “I started formulating the characters around 2015-2016.”
In fact, after he conceived the characters, the strip’s voice came loud and strong, and he wrote much of the material in his truck while waiting for the doors to open at various studios where he would make his magic, fixing all things musically related.
He hooked up with the famous cartoonist Guy Gilchrist, associated with the mainstay comic Nancy and was hand selected to create Jim Henson’s Muppets comic strip.
Brother Rock
by Randy Gabbard
January 15, 2020 –
weekly
Main Street Nashville
[First appeared as an online comic strip in 2016]
It has apparently appeared in print earlier…
Gabbard has lived in Old Hickory since 1996 and said he’s thrilled Main Street Nashville East has picked up his strip. While it has run on both coasts of the United States, in Canada and in two United Kingdom magazines, this will be the first time Nashville area residents can get their eyes on it.
…but I don’t know what kind of publications.
The story notes that Randy and Guy “have parted ways since, and now Gabbard is illustrating.” I have found nothing in the way of Gabbard art, and don’t know if the Nashville strips are first going with the older Gilchrist strips before transforming into newer, Randy-drawn strips.
There is an archive of some of the Gabbard/Guilchrist strips online.